Haines Alaska

Eph60 · April 9, 2013

Some ships stop in Haines but you can always take a tour of Haines from Skagway. Skagway at one time was mainly a military base. The buildings that housed the military are still there and many now are lived in by the locals. Like Skagway going to or from Haines you have a good chance of seeing whales.

Haines is really a small town but what they are really known for is the wildlife. Haines is the place to go see the raptor center. Here they take care of wounded eagles and other birds. You will see a lot of eagles at the raptor center as well as in the wild in Haines. If you want some great eagle pictures you can get them most anywhere in Alaska on a cruise but especially in Haines.

They do tours of the town of Haines which will include heading through where the military base was. You can also take tours from Haines over to Skagway. If you decide to head to Skagway keep an eye out for the whales along the way. A trip to Skagway will add quite a bit to the tour due to the boat transportation to Skagway and back.

For me Haines has some interesting thing but one time to Haines is more then enough. If you are a bird lover I am sure it would take more then one trip just for the birds alone.

WeCruiseToo · April 11, 2013

We haven’t visited Haines yet but we’ve seen it while sailing in and out of Skagway a couple of times. In light of to the above comments we won’t look for an itinerary that includes Haines but we certainly won’t avoid it either. Regarding the eagles: we stare in awe at these majestic birds – just like all the tourists – but more than once we heard locals refer to them as “the pigeons of Alaska”! I guess it’s all about your perspective! :laugh:

Eph60 · April 11, 2013

There is a reason they call the eagle the pigeons of Alaska. That reason is the fact that eagles are considered a very lazy bird. The eagle is a scavenger. It will pick the easiest meal it can find. Eagles like to be around low tide because there will be some small pools with fish stuck in them and that makes them easy meals for eagles. A bald eagle is actually totally black or brown when born. It will not get its white head until it reaches adulthood. They are a beautiful bird and Alaska has more then anywhere else in the world but they are a scavenger and not a bird of prey.