Seward: Which Kayaking Trip to Aialik Bay?
 

I've narrowed down my choices to Sunny Cove, Liquid Adventures, Kayaking Adventures Worldwide, and Adventure Sixty North. They all seem to offer a similar trip, at a similar price:

* 2 hour water taxi out to Aialik Bay
* 5-6 hours of kayaking
* 2 hour water taxi back to Seward

So it's a 10-hour day for about $400 per person.

I want to kayak where I'll see glaciers, so I think that I'll have to go out to Aialik and not take one of the shorter day kayaking trips to Resurrection Bay, Thumb Cove, Fox Island, etc. The tides aren't accomodating on the day I have available (mid-August), so I can't visit Bear Glacier.

It may sound strange, but one of my criteria is to pick the company that uses the largest water taxi/charter boat. I think that Sunny Cove uses a 40-foot Delta boat, Liquid uses an 18-passenger boat, Kayak AK looks like they use the Weather or Knot, and Adventure Sixty looks like they use The Little Gem.

Does anyone have experience with any of these companies or can make a recommendation?

We did not Kayak Ailik Bay. We kayaked only resurrection last summer. We did see Ailik Glacier on a big tour boat. You are doing it the right way. This will be very special and excellent. To be able to sit and look at the glacier for several hours would just be incredible. I do think this would be the only glacier you would see, as it is a few miles to the next glacier, the best I recall. We did enjoy seeing the glacier calve, but if I ever go back to Alaska, I am going to do something similar to what you are considering. we used www.kayakak.com. I am not sure whether or not they do anything like you have in mind, but I would use them again.

Hi spiro-
Do you remember if you took one of these trips?:
http://www.kayakak.com/resurrection_bay_day_trip.cfm

What time of day did you go out?

We did the custom family trip as our daughter was 13. I think they are pretty strict on doing a family trip if you are under 16. They called it a family trip, but it was more like their midnight sun tour. My wife, daughter and myself, and the one guide (Wolfie was his name) was all that went. I think they only go in small groups and generally don't add other people to your group. It was a four hour trip. It was from 6:00pm until 11:00pm. We were first time kayakers, so this was about the right amount of time for us. He gave us the choice of heading to a neat waterfall and another choice that I have forgotten what it was. We paddled about 4 or 5 miles before taking a short 1/4 mile hike to the waterfall. Wolfie carried bearspray. He served us some snacks and hot chocolate after the waterfall. After the snacks we headed back. I think it lasted a little longer than 4 hours. Probably about 4 hours on the water, plus getting to and from the kayak shop and instruction. It was a very good tour. In case your interested we also went did a helicopter landing on a glacier with dogsledding. Also did flyout fishing trip from Soldotna. We did a glacier hike above Alyeska that I would rate as just fair. Everything else was spectacular. We were still glad we had done the glacier hike. The train from Seward to Anchorage was really nice as well. We went to Alaska and didn't even get to Denali. We will definately go back in a year or two. Trying to decide whether to go in the winter to see northern lights or go back in the summer.

Just found out today from another forum and called some of the Seward kayak outfitters to confirm that there is going to be a lodge built in Aialik Bay this summer. There will be some significant construction going on all summer to put up a lodge for 40 or more people. What a shame - part of the joy of kayaking in remote parts of Alaska is to be surrounded by water, mountains and sky, not bulldozers and buildings.

Hi there,

Last summer my husband and I visited Seward and went on one of these Kayak trips to Ailak Bay. I have to say it was well worth the money. We went on a smaller boat, which was actually the best part because it could reach areas and see wildlife that with a larger boat you could never go nor see. It was such a wonderful experience. When we went started out the morning was quite foggy (this was June) and cold. As we approached Aialak Bay, much of the area we were to kayak in was covered in large chunks of ice. The captain of the boat was careful to get us in far enough to a small inlet and drop us off. Within a couple of hours, the sun burst onto the seen, the ice broke up and it turned out to be the most beautiful day ever. We saw seals with their pups on the floating ice near by. Glacier chunks falling, which was incredible, ahh it was amazing.
I now relish in the moment even more now knowing what kayak crazy said about a lodge being built there. Such an absolute tragedy, honestly, is nothing sacred anymore? At least we have our fond memories and great pics to remember the beauty of the "once" remote part of this area in Alaska.