I will be spending a couple of days in Seward, AK on the Kenai Peninsula in Late July 2008. I plan to take a cruise along the Kenai Fjords National Park and have two questions:

1. Is the cruise worthwhile from a photographic point of view?

2. If the answer to above is yes, which cruise would provide better photo opportunities: full day or half-day. Time is more critical than cost. I would hate to blow a full day to only get images of distant ice caps.

3. If the answer to question #1 is no, what is the best way to photograph is Fjords N.P. I don't want to hock the homestead for a helicopter ride. We will be a party of four and would be willing to charter a smaller craft to get in closer.

Hey Richard,

Wish I could help you out. We have a couple of folks who live in Alaska, but I don't know if anyone has done particularly what you are asking about.

It sounds like a particularly awesome trip and I look forward to seeing any photos you get as a result.

James

I would like to know that myself ? From what I have read if your going a private boat it should be great, the group ones are rarely setup for photographers. but I don't have any first hand knowledge.

Sorry aboput the late response as I was out of town photographing.

The cruise boats are set up for photography and it is about the only way to p[hotograph the Kenai Fjords National Park. There are several different companies to take you out. Big boats are more stable but smaller boats gets you closer. The full day cruise takes you more places and allows more photography of whales. Both the day and 1/2 day cruise takes you to Hobart glacier for you to photograph the glacier calving. The photo ops are whales, dolphins, glaciers calving, about 130 species of birds and fantastic scenery. The Chiswell Islands are great to photograph. For variety of photo ops, I recommend the full day cruise. I go out and photograph the Kenai Fjords National Park about once per year for the last 24 years and live only 2 hours from there. My favorite company to take me out there is Renown Tours. Their phone number is (907) 224-3806.

My wife and I took the National Parks tour (11:30a departure) on Kenai Fjords Tours in mid September 2006. Overall it was a great trip. Unfortunately that late in the season the humpbacks had left for the breeding grounds in Hawaii and most of the interesting birds have migrated south. I did get a very nice shot of a mountain goat relaxing on a seaside cliff and some good shots of the Ailik Glacier. We also saw some sea lions, a sea otter and some porpoises. The day was quite foggy and overcast so the landscape shots were not there that day. I do recommend the longer trips if you're interested in glaciers. For wildife, most any trip should yield good results in July.

Regarding gear, I highly recommend image stabilized lenses if you have them. I mostly used a 100-400F4L IS lens since even when idling on a large boat, there's still a good bit of movement. Didn't use any wide angle stuff since like I said, the weather was foggy and rainy. And don't forget foul weather protection for you and your camera. Hope this helps.



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