Kayaking in Alaska?
 

We'll be spending a week on the Kenai peninsula this coming July, and were thinking about doing some kayaking. Does anyone have any recommendations for the best place to do this and a good company to use? We haven't ever kayaked before so we'd want a guided tour of some kind that's suitable for beginners. The places we'll be are Valdez, Seward and Homer.

Thanks

Hi. We just returned from our trip(I posted detailed trip report last week). We did a nice Kayaking and Hiking trip in Homer with Three Moose - you can get the info from their website (www.threemoose.com). You leave early in the morning and take boat ride across to Kachemak Bay State Park. Then nice moderate 2 mile hike thru the forest to the lake in front of the glacier. You kayak in front of the glacier (very beautiful) - no experience necessary. Stop on Rocks right by glacier and eat lunch. Then kayak for a bit, head back to shore; pack up and then hike back out. Boat picks you up for return to Homer.
Kayaking in Seward is great if you want to see wildlife - like sea otters, maybe whales, etc. Two companies there are Sunny Cove and Miller's Landing. Both do 3 hour bay trips for beginners.
Enjoy your trip!

Since Kathi lists Sunny Cove and Miller's Landing for Seward, you might be interested in knowing that both SC and ML offer 2-for-1 guided kayak tours in the TourSaver coupon book (www.toursaver.com). There are all-day tours as well as shorter ones. My brother-in-law and I will be doing an all-day tour with Miller's Landing next month ourselves. The Lonely Planet Alaska guidebook also recommends one additional place in Seward: Kayak Alaska. For Valdez LP recommends Pangea Adventures and Anadyr Adventures. In addition to Three Moose, for Homer LP recommends Seaside Adventures, St. Augustine Charters, and True North Kayak Adventures.

Am I ever envious . Check out www.paddlingnet.com. Have a wonderful time

Thanks for the replies. We will definitely check out the companies mentioned. I was hoping, though, that someone might be able to give us an idea of the best city to do this from. Where would we find the best scenery, wildlife-viewing, etc.? Do any of the places I mentioned have an advantage over the others in this regard? It would be great if there's someone out there who could compare and contrast.

Thanks again!

You aren't going to see a lot of wildlife from a kayak, but if that is a preference then also consider the boat tours out of Seward- excellent varied wildlife viewing, you need at least 6 hours on the water as most sightings are out of the bay. Kayaking in any of the areas would be extremely scenic, so choose who fits your timeframe best for scheduling.

If you're willing to spend the money, you can see lots of wildlife and get up close to glaciers by taking the ultimate all-day kayak trips offered by both Sunny Cove and Miller's Landing. You first ride in a water taxi for a couple of hours to get into Kenai Fjords National Park. Then you kayak for several hours before riding the water taxi back to Seward. The Sunny Cove trip costs $325 and the Miller's Landing trip costs $385. (In contrast, my all-day Resurrection Bay trip with Miller's Landing costs under $200.) If you check the Web sites for the kayak tours in Valdez and Homer, I imagine you'll find similar options.

One last comment. The TourSaver 2-for-1 offer from Miller's Landing I mentioned upstream has a value of up to $125. However, when I asked if it were possible, ML subtracted the full $125 from my bill for two people for our more expensive trip. Sunny Cove might do the same.