Uniquely designed Whale park for you to enjoy walking the beautiful nature and look out for whales…read morebeyond the sea. Great picnic area, has a bathroom available. Please be careful some places will have lots of steps that are made of wood, some not safe to walk if you adventure more outwards.

My family and I was on an alaskian cruise on a vacation. We were passing by this science center…read more The cost was about $2 a person. There is alot of hand on experiences. Touching the sea creatures like starfishes, hermit crabs and sea amenities. Great experience for all ages

Honestly, it's better for families with young children. The main attraction is the touch tanks full…read moreof sea stars, sea anemones & urchins, sea cucumbers, sea snails, and more. They advise you to use a short & gentle 2 finger touch. I didn't touch any of them. Lol! I was just happy to see these colorful creatures walking all over their tank. As you enter, you'll see a large orca skeleton hanging over the tanks. I didn't get a picture of it, but you can see it in the reflection off the touch tanks in some of the videos. I enjoyed seeing the grouchy looking sculpin, as well as the sweet wolf eel named Wanda. She's actually quite adorable until she shows her teeth. What's interesting is that she's not really an eel. She's a fish. She came out of her home to greet me. How sweet! It was also cool to see the colorful rockfish. There's more, but I won't ruin it for you. We didn't get to see the salmon hatchery. We were too early for salmon spawning season. It's a better value to wait until the summer months to see it. The admission price was higher than what has previously been mentioned in reviews. It didn't come with a tour. They offer a behind the scenes tour for an additional charge. The proceeds help to maintain the facilities and programs. Would I visit the aquarium again? Probably not. It's a one-time experience for me. There's a gift shop next door that also houses Ludvig's Chowder Cart. The buildings are located on Sage Beach near the Sea Walk trail. It's a beautiful area!

Spectacular! It was the absolute highlight of our entire Alaska trip. Neil is so knowledgeable and…read morefriendly. He clearly loves what he does, and he seemed as thrilled as WE were seeing them for the first time. I can't wait to go back and experience this all over again.

What a great time! Neil was friendly and welcoming. He explained safety protocols and we were on…read moreour way. We told him what our interests were and he delivered. He's very knowledgeable and went out of his way to make sure we had a full range of experiences from whale watching to birding and just getting a good overall view and education about Sitka. Highly recommend!!

Highly recommend their Deluxe Private tour!!! Although we…read moredid not see any whale this day (6/17/23) - we did see sea lions, and sea otters. Captain Cole also spotted a bear, but it ran back into the woods before we could catch a glimpse. We then made our way to St Lazaria to view all the wonderful seabirds that inhabit that island and the waters surrounding it. Next, we headed over to Mertz Island of Misfit Toys for million dollar views and a nice box lunch. Sara took us around on all the little trails, it was so magical and private! We were able to see Mt. Edgecumbe on this beautiful clear sunny day and explore more marine life in the tide pools. All in all a 10 out of 10 experience. Wildlife viewing is never guaranteed, but the experience out on the water and the island were totally worth it!

These guys were great. Met us right at the pier in Sitka and took us directly to a minivan, it was…read morea small group just seven of us, so it was really personal. The driver,Rob. was so friendly and funny. He did a great job telling us information as we traveled, pointing things out along the way, slowing down so we could get pictures of some things on our way to the Eagle place and then the bear place. He stopped at Silverlake where we were able to see a whale in the water and get some pictures. In addition, he just kept us entertained all the way throughout and really moved us through each of the activities quickly and in a way that we learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves the entire time. If you are coming in on a cruise, I highly recommend booking an excursion through bumble.

Booked excursion not thru the cruise line for our trip to Alaska and 100% recommend. Tour guide was…read morevery friendly and knowledgeable. I love someone who knows their city. Even offered to take pictures of us along the stops

Ann Marie was out driver and she is simply fantastic. This tour operator is very local and clearly…read moretakes pride in what she does and making us feel like we're at comfortable and at home. The vans are nearly new, if not new. She is a great mother hen to keep everyone gathered together without any fuss, a splendid experience. This seems like a small and local tour operator that had a few vans driven by immediate family, this is where I really enjoy spending my money. Ann Marie gave us a true locals tour along with anecdotes from her time living here as well, giving us an alleviation for what it's truly like living in a version of paradise, much appreciated! When done back to Alaska and Sitka, will make sure to take this tour, or any other tour, they offer.

First things first: let's all let out a round of applause for Sitka! A quintessential, quaint…read moreAlaskan town with a gorgeous, well-maintained trail system! This trail is one of the best. It starts next to...somebody's house. It officially ends at "lunch rock", but many people call this "Mt Verstovia". It's all very confusing but Mt Verstovia is actually the craggy peak viewable from where the trail officially ends. To get there, you'll need to do a little bushwhacking, some rock scrambling, and maybe some snow climbing. If, at any time, it feels extremely hard/dangerous, you are probably in the wrong area, and should descend and try somewhere else. There isn't really a trail so you just have to route-find your way up to the summit. The summit, is pretty spectacular. There is a granite (?) "diving board" on the summit that overlooks all of Sitka and the volcano in the distance. I'm usually not big on "summit photos", let alone "summit selfies", but even a crusty stick-in-the-mud like me had to pose for a summit photo here!

Lisa helped us get all our safety gear on then we hoped on the zodiac. We sat on pommels which were…read moremore comfortable than they looked. Although the description mentioned speeds in excess of 50mph, our tour was more sedate. We did get lucky and saw a couple whales, but just the beautiful scenery would have made the tour worthwhile. Our guide was great. He was knowledgeable and a lifelong Alaskan. It was an enjoyable day on the water.

Awful! We cruised in on Holland America. Very calm seas. We went o suit up at 8:00. The bus…read moredriver said we were running late? How. Our ticket said 8:00. The facility to suit up was extremely clean. The suits were clean and had no smell. That is where the good ends. Went o the dock. Met Captain Dave. Asked him if we would be going to the cave. No, way too windy. Would not be near it. We were going to focus on birds in the bay. You have got to be kidding me for $199 each. We went to an outcropping of rocks. We stared at star fish and two small birds for 15 minutes. Then he saw a whale. We went in that direction saw a little bit of the whales back. Dave said it was shallow do the whale would not dive deep so no fluke would be seen. 30 seconds later the fake came up, but naturally our cameras were away as we were told too shallow for the whale to dive that way. Dave waited about 15 minutes more for the whale to come up. No whale, he finally left. During this time very little talking. Very little boat movement. The raft was in silence. Then he goes to a small island we see what he says are otters. I think they were. We were so far away I am not sure. Then some more otters, we were so far could not see them well. Then some little bird with a red long beak that he was thrilled about. He then went by a black sand (volcanic) beach. A couple of eagles, and a nest that you could barely see. Then back to shore. We got undressed. A woman came up to the van driver and said something about being late. So they wanted our driver to go into Sitka. All of us were ok with that so she dropped up there. Our tour ticket says it started at 8. It was now 10:15. The tour was supposed to be 1 1/2 hours long so they ended our tour early. Extremely boring. No thrills-----none. Not a little bit. If you have ever been on a lake in a speed boat---way less thrilling than that. Boring. Thank god he ended it early. Not what was described and paid for. Holland America said how people passengers and crew love the tour in other words--too bad so sad you wasted your money. No love here. Very tame, extremely boring ride. Nothing to recommend it except hat the gear was in good clean condition

The Totem Square Hotel & Marina is located near the marina docks behind an open field with a large…read moretotem pole. There is a nice area to sit on benches to enjoy the outdoors with a view of the marina on one side and the hotel on the other. The hotel seems to feel like it is resting on the top of a hill so it has beautiful views of the waterway below. The hotel landscape is beautiful and there were bushes with flowers and edible berries.

I am a full time traveler (pilot) and I was very impressed with this hotel for the following…read morereasons: Location couldn't be better, everything you need is within walking distance, the hotel is spotless and furnishings are new, good cable and nice size TV, quiet, good WiFi, microwave and small refrigerator, nice staff to greet you, plenty of parking if you have a car. I arrived at 3pm and my room wasn't ready because of staff shortage, waited 45 minutes, no big deal.