Snorkelen in Alaska

When looking for outside excursions for our June 2022 Alaskan cruise, I was super excited to come across Snorkel Alaska. I am a certified scuba diver and was hoping that I could introduce my extended family to snorkeling. We had all ages and most had never been snorkeling before. I was a little leery that the water would be super cold for the first week in June, but the wet suits kept everyone toasty warm. Being a scuba diver, I wasn't sure how much marine life we would end up seeing in the cold north, however I think we saw more marine life in Alaska than in the Caribbean. Swimming through the abundance of clear jellyfish throughout the water was definitely a highlight, as well as all of the starfish and other marine creatures. Some of our party went salmon fishing instead of snorkeling, and I think they were jealous! If you are scared to try snorkeling in Alaska, don't be. The crew at Snorkel Alaska does an excellent job with newbies to experienced, and they make you feel part of the family. We loved the warm water poured into our wetsuits at the end and the yummy smoked salmon treat back at the dive shop. If we visit Alaska again, we are definitely snorkeling with Snorkel Alaska again!

Book this excursion! This Alaska experience will give you great stories to come away with. It's awesome to come home and tell your friends and family you snorkeled in Alaska. You will get this confused look I guarantee you! Why book this excursion? For starters, this is a local business and all the monies go towards the business. Whenever you book through the cruise lines, they take a large profit from the companies for playing the middleman. Fred is the owner and he was also one of our guides for our excursion. Fred and Kurt were outstanding hosts. I say hosts because we felt like guests invited in to their "playground." We had many good laughs as we suited up in all the gear and were literally "toasty warm" before we even boarded the bus. Warning! It is not so easy putting on those suits, but it was certainly an entertaining experience with my three teenagers. We took a very short ride down to the bay and were all excited when we had to dump cool water on ourselves to prepare the suits for the ocean water. There was sea life everywhere before we even entered the waters. We saw more starfish just on the shores where the tide had receded that we could even begin to count. One guest snorkeling close to me pulled a massive crab from the ocean floor to show us all. Kurt collected multiple sea creatures for my three teenage daughters to hold. If you know how difficult it can be to please one teenager, imagine our excitement when all three would not stop talking about the things they saw. The absolute best part was that while we were snorkeling, we were being stalked by a sea lion. It kept a good distance from us, but was curious and would pop up to stare, then slip down and pop up a little closer. No wonder they chose the logo of a sea lion for the business. I would not only recommend this particular experience but would tell you to book your snorkel experience with Snorkel Alaska! Support those local businesses. We would absolutely do this again because as snorkelers know, each time in the water is never ever the same.

Fred and his team are top notch. Very focused on making sure you have a great time in this once-in-a-lifetime activity. We always snorkel when cruising the Caribbean so we thought we’d try this independent tour while on an Alaskan cruise. We were very glad we did! Fred made sure we had a great time and we were able to get back to town in time for the 4th of July parade. We felt safe, surprisingly comfortable in the wetsuits and agree with the dozens of others who gave them 5 stars. The warm water at the end of the excursion was a perfect finish to an awesome day. Highly recommended!