Wow. Amazing. Incredible. After leaving the Bering Sea Crab Fishermans tour aboard the Aleutian Ballad, that is exactly how we would describe it! We had a rare day off during our first season and Michael made arrangements to go on this very popular Ketchikan tour for my birthday which was EXCELLENT!

The Deadliest Catch tour is aboard the Aleutian Ballad, a king crab fishing boat that was on the Deadliest Catch TV Show. This is the boat that took the rogue wave while out fishing.
The three guides on board were well seasoned fishermen in the Aleutian Islands/Bering Sea and were all on a king crab fishing boat that participated on the TV show, the Deadliest Catch. Terry, Kiwi, and Chief were amazing guides – explaining everything we wanted to know about Alaska crab fishing in the area.

They had some amazing stories to tell! We went to 5 different crab traps and also pulled a longline that had some spiny rockfish (also known as red snapper) and crab traps with....

Alaska King Crab! Here is "Kiwi" and I with a King Crab pulled up during the tour!

Dungies! Dungeness Crab (my favorite!)

Snow Crab!

Box Crab!

Octopus!
& others. They went through the motions – tossing the grappling hook to grab the trap, placing the line in the winch block, pulling the traps up into the boat and back off again.
Each crab trap they pulled had different types of crab inside and they let us check them out up close & personal and even getting to hold several of them. I loved seeing the different types of crabs and hearing their sea stories.
Michael’s favorite part was when we got to see the eagles. We went to a corner of Annette Island where the deckhands threw out the rockfish they had caught earlier in the day along with some herring, and the eagles in the area all came running and would fly around and skim the water, snapping up the fish. It was the highlight of the tour!

It was a sight! There were probably 20-30 eagles and they were maybe 10-15’ away from the boat. They were beautiful – we never tire of seeing them.
The tour was absolutely spectacular. I highly recommend it to anyone. The crew is sincerely happy to have you on board and spends as much time on questions as you wish. They share with you their love of the sea and you will leave with a new appreciation for what they do!
The cost of the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour starts at $229 for Adults & $189 for Children, and worth every penny. The Tour is 3 hours long and has a "VIP" add-on available that will get you assigned seating, a half-pound of crab to eat (Yum!), and take home memorabilia for an added $50. It is often less expensive to book directly through them than it is going through your cruise ship shore excursions.
You can book your tickets online.
The tour includes complimentary coffee, tea, & hot cocoa and rain jackets/blankets, as needed. Seating is covered and they have heaters that are turned on to help keep it nice & warm during the tour.
The Tour is currently ranked #1 on the Tripadvisor Ketchikan excursions, and is ranked with 4.9 stars!
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