We disembarked from a cruise ship at Whittier, and climbed aboard Captain Gerry's boat - the Sound Access - for a day trip before heading up to Anchorage. Being Australian and with the exchange rate *not* in our favour, we paid a hefty fee for the day - but boy, was it worth it!

For a start, the Sound Access only seats about six people, so the tours are quite informal. You can chat with Captain Gerry if you like, and if anyone sees a dolphin, otter, seal, etc, they just sing out and he slows up for better viewing. Gerry has an incredible knowledge of the area, and took us to see seals, sea lions and puffins. Lunch was at a remote beach near a gorgeous waterfall (with cool jellyfish visible in the nearby waters - not something I'd expected to see in Alaska, I must admit). We saw fishermen with seine nets (and a sea lion lurking to 'help' with the catch) and several times paused to watch otters (fascinating little critters and very cute!).

Undoubtedly, however, the highlight of the trip was seeing a fin-slapping and breaching humpback whale - an absolutely awe-inspiring sight. We'd been whale watching already, earlier in the trip, and had discovered that it's actually quite a tricky pastime - usually all you see is a bit of black and a spurt of water as the whale rises for air, then a flash of tail flukes as the whale dives again. But this experience was like what you see on nature documentaries on television - a lone humpback leaping into the air again and again, seemingly for the sheer joy of it.

Seeing this whale was an unexpected bonus for this trip, which was a general marine wildlife tour and not advertised as being particularly likely to see whales (Captain Gerry himself was surprised that we saw the animal where we did - it apparently wasn't a normal area for a humpback to be in). The bonus of being in a small boat, of course, was that we could stay close to the whale and watch as long as we wanted, without hordes of other tourists jostling to get to the front and see. This was also apparent at other points during the day - such as when we drifted quietly close to the sea lion haulout, and watched several youngster swim close to the boat, watching us with bright, curious eyes (I doubt they would have approached so closely in a larger vessel full of noisy tourists).

Captain Gerry was also great - very knowledgeable, and friendly, and he even e-mailed me several photos of the breaching whale we saw (I only had a simple point-and-shoot camera at the time, and the best I managed was pictures of some splashes and a tail fluke!).

I'd definitely recommend checking out this tour if you're in Alaska - and can tell you, from personal experience, that you can disembark a cruise ship in the morning, go for the tour, and be back in time for the evening train up to Anchorage.