Pangaea Adventures — Attraction in Valdez

In August some friends and I went on a 6 day/5 night excursion, kayaking from Columbia Glacier to Shoup Glacier with Macee H as our guide. It was an adventure of a lifetime!

Macee is truly an exceptional guide, there are endless good things I could say about her - here are some highlights: She had excellent paddling routes and camp sites planned out, as well as backup plans/alternatives depending on what we wanted to see Her kayak packing and campsite management skills are fantastic, and I'm proud to say we got (marginally) faster at loading/unloading and campsite setup/tear down as the trip progressed. Macee also taught us some new knot-tying skills which will absolutely come in handy Her guidance on packing and clothes management (one set for day, one set for night) was crucial AND she was able to secure rubber jackets for us, which were clutch on our two rainy days Her knowledge is incredible and she answered our near-constant questions (and no doubt some repetition...) with so much patience - I observed and learned about tides, glaciers, ice bergs, sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals, jelly fish, star fish, black bears, salmon, kittiwakes, murrelets, harlequin ducks, scoters, guillemots, pelagic cormorants, oystercatchers, gulls and more! Macee found out I am a bit of a bird nerd and went absolutely above and beyond and did some bird research ahead of our trip, which I really appreciate because I know most people are not that into the birds :) She successfully accommodated two vegetarians with a variety of delicious, nutritious meals (and desserts) - I wasn't expecting a gourmet experience, so I was delighted and impressed with her cooking skills Generally, Macee is very observant and attentive to her guests needs - we would mention something in passing and Macee would remember it and make it happen - WOW! She's fun, friendly and chill and again, I cannot say enough good things about her and how lucky our group was to have her as our guide. Go Macee!! I hope we meet again!

Also shout out to Dave, who shuttled us out to Columbia glacier and made sure to slow down to let us gawk at the wildlife, and to Ryan who got us safely back to Valdez and help us with our final gear unload.

I highly recommend Pangaea as an outfitter - everything was well planned and any borrowed gear was solid, I felt confident and safe at all times and think this was incredibly good value for...

The Columbia glacier is nice but the guide we had was very impatient. The gear they provide including the pants and boots are not waterproof at all. My socks and pants were all wet on the return boat trip that lasts for more than 2.5 hour. When we wanted to take more warm dry clothes to the boat. The guide mocked us saying why we carried so much everyone only took a small dry bag inc lunch and gear etc. If you really have to join them, I can tell you the boat is actually big enough to carry your day bag or dry clothes for a change after the kayak. The trip out to the glacier is at least 2.5 hours. But we had to put on all plastic ‘waterproof’ clothes already in Valdez 2.5 hours in advance. It’s very uncomfortable and hot. There are 2 guides in this trip. Each guide takes around 4 kayaks. The guide I had called Amanda. She was so impatient when she was getting my gear. Unlike the other guide on the same boat, she didn’t help us take any photos. There are west and east faces of the columbia glacier, we were kayaking in the west side with only small icebergs. I can understand the concerns of navigating among bigger icebergs but you should be aware that you don’t get to kayak like the promotional pictures. First of all, no one helps you take that photo and you are not going to visit the bigger icebergs in the east arm anyway. I’m disappointed with this tour. Moreover, the company didn’t send confirmation email before the trip and we had to keep asking what time we gather and what gear we should bring etc via a few emails.

I choose to kayak in Colombia glacier over Holgate glacier when I panned my trip. after visiting Holgate glacier using Major Marine and kayaking in Columbia glacier, I think it’s much better to kayak in Holgate and because there are far more wild life there and the standard of companies who run kayak trips are of higher standard than those in Valdez. Seward has more competitions and companies can’t survive if they are not real good. In Valdez only 2 companies...

It was my second time on Pangaea, service was getting worse. I may not consider to take it next time. The trip I took is 10 hours Columbia glacier tour Kayak equipments are not daily-maintained, it is dirty with sea water in the seat, easily get wet for whole day. We were facing terrible weather but I was expecting our guide to provide useful information/recommendations if the clothing would, all groups are all wet and freezing after the tour. It also can be avoid by changing the schedule. Captain is not professional IMO, when we approached the kayaking site. Three passengers are waiting a line for bathroom. I felt that is a reasonable action for preparing a long kayaking. The captain said angrily “what’s going on? I told you use bathroom 1 hour before landing! “ the three guests are forced to go off the boat. Not feel it is a service, more like treating customers as his kids. After we were back in the trip, we encountered the killer whale, the funny thing is captain just grab his camera taking photos rushing to the front deck! Leaving wheel as itself! I felt very unsafe at that moment. Taking amazing photos are not your priority, my captain, the customers’ safety are! I suggested at least guide could provide photo option or communication before the trip so ppl would like to take memorial moment can have it. Unfortunately Our guide in this trip just enjoy him/herself kayaking almost all time long.

There are more unprofessional details than I listed on top. Overall I didn’t feel it is worth $329, I would go to jetski in Whittier as an alternative to...