Jayleen's Alaska — Local services in Juneau

I can't say enough about Jayleen and the whale watching trip. We went on her 6 person trip and enjoyed the small group of people. I have a lung disease that requires me to use O2. Jayleen and the other passengers were very accommodating for me to bring a portable O2 concentrator. We saw a whale before leaving the harbor. We saw a total of 4 adult male whales and a mother with her baby. Some of the whales were lunge feeding. That was a sight to see! There were several rainbows along the journey that were beautiful. A couple were full arch rainbows. Jayleen stopped the boat, went to the front area, and took pictures of a couple of the gorgeous rainbows. We saw a small glacier that was connected with the one we had seen earlier that morning from the ship. The weather was perfect and the scenery equally as perfect. The only thing that could have made the day better would to have seen Big Foot. LOL. That's a joke another person on the boat made because as a child he believed in Big Foot. Seriously, this was the perfect whale watching trip!! Thank you Jayleen for sharing your passion, knowledge, and kindness with us. Plus, the gift of picking from your professional pictures at the end was like a cherry on top of the perfect day! This was a trip we will never forget. Jayleen is extremely knowledgeable about Juneau and the surrounding area. I find it fascinating that he dad bought her a bought at the age of 11 and allowed her to travel to Juneau alone. Growing up there, having parents who owned and operated a whale watching business (which she worked for as a child), and her knowledge she freely shares makes her the perfect person to trust for a once in a lifetime experience. If you can book with Jayleen, go for it! I happened to call and a couple had just canceled. I felt bad they were giving up their spots, but was thrilled for the opportunity.

We had time to kill before being picked up to head to the harbor. We walked through a few shops, walked around town a little, and went to the Red Dog Saloon. The meeting point for the Jayleen's shuttle is right outside the Red Dog Saloon's front door. We had warm soft pretzels with an delicious beer cheese dipping sauce. YUM!!!! There was an older gentleman who was quite a character who played music, sang, and did comedy. It was a fun and relaxing experience to enjoy while waiting for the whale...

If you are looking for a superior whale watching experience when visiting Juneau, I HIGHLY recommend Jayleen’s Alaska!

We booked a private, 4 hour tour for our family yesterday. I booked this nearly two years out because I wanted to be sure we were with the best of the best, and we are still in awe at our experience a full day later.

We thought our day was going off the rails when the tender-to-shore process from our cruise ship went COMPLETELY awry, but Jayleen’s Alaska, and our phenomenal Captain, Alana, rolled with it and immediately put me at ease. I was anxiety ridden and panicked at being nearly an hour late for my dream excursion, and completely understood that our tour would be shortened by that time. Instead, they adjusted our tour for the missed hour, which meant the absolute world to me on my dream excursion.

In our party we had some kiddos, aged 3 and 7. As their mom, safety was my #1 priority and I was so happy to see that they not only provided, but required the kids to wear life jackets.

Secondly, the snacks. The snacks were the highlight for the three year old, but such a thoughtful touch. The caffeine addicted part of me was so happy to see Coke products being provided when our cruise ship only supplies Pepsi products. 😂

The boat we were in was supremely comfortable for all of our party members of all ages.

Now, onto the tour itself. Captain Alana is an angel, and anyone that is lucky enough to be on a tour with her is blessed. I LOVED that she was the one with us from beginning to end of our tour, instead of handoffs at each checkpoint/location. At every turn, we were presented with options to move forward in our tour. It really felt so customized and really built to our preferences. We kept our eyes glued to the water looking for whale spouts. In total, we saw bald eagles, humpback whales (a mom and her calf, Flame and Match), sea lions, and even a group of orcas!!! My inner child who was obsessed with Free Willy as a child was in heaven, and my soul is so so full. Seeing wild animals, in their natural habitat, is a true gift and such an honor.

If we are lucky enough to come back to Juneau again, we will definitely be setting up another tour. Although I was drenched to the bone, it was one of the best...

I’m a local who has spent considerable time on these waters since I was a little kid, and Jayleen’s Alaska still managed to blow me away. I had followed them on instagram for a while and had some idea of what to expect, but it was so much nicer than I realized!

The captain was extremely knowledgeable, sharing all sorts of geographical, historical and biological descriptions as she guided us out. She was clear to manage our expectations on what was likely, and didn’t oversell anything. She was extremely respectful of the marine life (which seems to be rare in my experience, so it made me very happy) yet still managed to get us onto some incredible displays with a reasonable distance, and she shared about whale sense and local laws to keep the whales safe. We were very fortunate to see whales bubble net feeding, two baby humpbacks playing, and even breach! The captain was able to guide our attention to where the bubble net feeding would happen next and we could have our cameras ready.

After a bit, our captain gave us the option to look for orcas and we took it, knowing it’s probably a bust - but we saw a pod, including a baby! They even had a microphone they deployed to listen to the humpbacks and orcas, it was so cool to hear singing and echo location!

The boat itself rode like a dream, extremely smooth and despite being so fast, it was quiet enough to have a casual conversion, and no exhaust made it into the cabin (which seem to happen on a lot boats and had made me sea sick in the past). The boat was loaded with a variety of nice beverages and snacks (they had the good stuff!), a blanket to keep warm, TONS of laminated informational signage to identify what we were seeing, and they even had binoculars that automatically focus and stabilize (also they were a nice focal length - didn’t haven’t to look everywhere to find the wildlife). Something to note is that the boat was squeaky clean - a first for me, often the handles and such have been greasy in my past whale watching experience and it was nice to be on a clean boat.

A number of locals told me Jayleen’s is the one to book, and I have to agree. Looking forward to our next trip...