The First Dolphin Jet Boat Adventure: Paradise Found
The serendipitous beginnings of Dolphin Jet Boat Tours began in the early ’90s with Douglas Ward and his wife traveling through Alaska on a romantic anniversary vacation. The aspens in Fairbanks had bent down from the early snowfall as the couple drove south through the rain toward Juneau, where they hoped to look up their old friend Chuck and explore the area. Despite the torrential rain and precious little light of the fall season, they fell madly in love with Juneau. Fueled by a passion for Southeastern Alaskan wildlife and culture, the couple soon moved everything they owned from Florida, bought two sightseeing boats, and settled in one of the most beautiful and soulful places they had ever been.
At the time, there were no whale watching tour boats in Juneau. It was on the Sommer Star (one of their boats, named after their daughter) that their sightseeing passengers began to see multitudes of whales leaping, playing, and breaching in the nutrient-rich Pacific waters. Dolphin Jet Boat Tours came into being at the right place and the right time, and soon other tours began to spring up in the area because of what the Wards had discovered. Yet to this day, none of the other tour boats are as personal and fulfilling as Dolphin Jet Boat Tours, whose adventures continue to reflect a genuine passion and affinity for Alaskan culture and wildlife.
We Look Forward to Seeing You Here!
It has been an exciting and prosperous couple of decades for Dolphin Jet Boat Tours, and we continue to build new boats and share the magic of the Alaskan humpbacks, orcas, and teeming wildlife of Juneau with spellbound visitors. It remains our goal to keep our tours small and intimate so that visitors may experience the awesome magnitude of what Doug fondly calls the charismatic megafauna.