I had to please everyone in our travel party: my Dad; who's bucket list trip was Alaska. My Mom; who just wanted to make my Dad happy (and shop). My husband; who wanted to do EVERYTHING and my 10 year old step son; who wanted to mine for gold or his life would be incomplete. And me...who wanted to have a good Alaska experience without missing out on the major things or going broke with extensive Port Adventures.
The one thing that had been resonating in my mind was a float plane. Having just done a helicopter tour in Kauai on the Hawaii cruise I knew how amazing it was to get a view from the air. You really get a view you couldn't get any other way and just the thought of that flight takes my breath away.
I agonized over which plane to take, which port to take it in, I emailed what feels like a million people, I read reviews, I stalked Trip Advisor, I read extensively what Disney Cruise Line was offering and then I finally made a decision. For our family the Disney Cruise Line Port Adventures were just too expensive for the airplane options. The flight times were a little less than what the companies were offering directly and it had other things in there that seemed to raise the cost unnecessarily. We agreed to brave out on our own; knowing the consequences and willing to take the chance.
My research lead my to believe that Ketchikan was the place we wanted to see by air. The Misty Fjords were something we all wanted to experience and the only way to do it is from the air. After much 'ado the reservations were made and we were ready to go.
We hopped on this little plane and took off. Our ride started out a little foggy as it was raining-this came as no surprise considering that Ketchikan measures it's rain in FEET, not inches. Our experienced pilot quickly had us out of the fog and over the fjords in crystal clear skies.
My favorite thing was all the rainbows we saw. I counted three during our flight and against this scenery there really was nothing more beautiful, you feel like you could reach out and touch it!
We saw lush green forests, rushing waterfalls, calm blue waters and snow topped mountains. It doesn't seem you should be able to witness all these things in one place, let alone all in one hour. It was a truly breathtaking experience and I took over 500 photos in that one hour. We did land on the water, which looked like glass and stepped out onto the water feet (pardon my super technical flight jargin) which was an entire adventure all on its own. I felt like a tiny spec floating in the middle of all this natural majesty...it was a once in a lifetime experience that I'd recommend to anyone.
All in all, the flight was a thumbs up...as noted by our experienced pilot and the co-pilot for the day (I can't remember how many times I said "DO NOT TOUCH ANY BUTTONS" from the back seat...I was assured that there were no back seat pilots allowed and all was well.
We booked our excursion with Misty Fjords Air and Outfitting and were happy with the service and the tour. You can see reviews about their company on Trip Advisor.
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