Neets Bay Bear Watch & Flightseeing

The Neets Bay Bear Watch and Flightseeing adventure, which grants visitors exclusive access to one of the most famous black bear habitats in Alaska, is one of the very best tours in Ketchikan (or anywhere in the state!) for encountering Alaska’s scenic beauty first-hand. This limited-availability adventure and one of the most exclusive Ketchikan cruise excursions begins with an incredible flightseeing adventure above awe-inspiring wilderness, followed by a short hike through lush, ancient rainforest toward Neets Bay Creek, home to a pack of black bears that fish for salmon in the crystal-clear waters. If you’re a wildlife-lover with an interest in scenic flightseeing, this standout tour is a hard-to-beat opportunity for experiencing Alaska’s massive mammalian life up close!

As is the case for other Ketchikan cruise excursions, our Neets Bay Bear Watch and Flightseeing tour starts with pick-up right at the cruise docks. Then you’ll hop on an iconic DeHavilland floatplane for a stunning flight up over the Tongass Rainforest and wild Revillagigedo Island. The planes are equipped with wide, picture-friendly windows, as you’ll want to snap lots of photos of the granite domes and tumbling waterfalls that dominate the area! Hang on tight for a thrilling water landing! Then it’s off through the old-growth Alaska woods with your expert naturalist guide for a quarter-mile jaunt past the Neets Bay Salmon Hatchery, the annual birthplace of many thousand Alaskan salmon fry! Soon you’ll find yourself alongside Neets Bay Creek, where you’ll see for yourself what makes this one of the best tours in Ketchikan Alaska: with luck, you’ll behold hulking black bears swatting for salmon and feasting on the bountiful summer harvest.

Talk about an exhilarating encounter! Once you’ve gotten all the photos you can handle, it’s time for an additional exciting flight back to port. With its truly memorable aerial panoramas and a high likelihood of encountering Alaskan wildlife in its natural habitat, it’s fair to say that the Neets Bay Bear Watch is among the very best wildlife tours in Ketchikan Alaska for creating unforgettable memories!

For a bear viewing tour that doesn't include a floatplane ride, check out the Black Bear & Wildlife Exploration.