The little islands and rocks that dot Sitka Sound are an invitation to the sea otter in all of us; you must get out on the water.
Sightseeing & Wildlife Tours
When conditions allow, tour boats visit St. Lazaria Island, a bird rookery where you can expect to see tufted puffins, murres, rhinoceros auklets, and other pelagic birds. Storm petrels show up by the hundreds of thousands at dawn and dusk for those who charter a boat to stay overnight at the rookery. The volcanic rock drops straight down into deep water, so even big boats can come close, but in rough weather even they won't go to the exposed location of the island. Even then, there's plenty to see in protected waters. Humpback whales show up in large groups in the fall and are often seen by the half dozen in the summer. There are so many bald eagles that you're pretty well guaranteed to see them even from shore. But the lowly sea otter is the most common and, in my experience, most amusing and endearing of marine mammals, and you'll certainly see them from a tour boat. The public tubs at Goddard Hot Springs, 17 miles south of town, are another possible stop for charters.
The Sitka Wildlife Quest, operated by Allen Marine Tours (tel. 888/747-8101 or 907/747-8100; www.allenmarinetours.com), runs a popular marine tour with well-trained naturalists to explain the wildlife. You have a good chance of encountering humpback whales and sea otters. Tours visit St. Lazaria Island when sea conditions permit. A 2-hour cruise Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm costs $59 for adults, $39 for children. A 3-hour cruise Saturday and Sunday at 9am costs $79 for adults, $49 for children. The boat leaves from the Crescent Harbor Visitors Dock late May through early September. Buy tickets onboard. These are different excursions from the ones offered cruise-ship passengers. Allen Marine, which also builds vessels, has a long-standing reputation for the quality of its offerings.
For $100 per person, you can charter a six-passenger boat for a 3-hour tour to St. Lazaria Island, for whale-watching, and to learn about the sound with a married couple who are both former wildlife biologists, Kent Hall and Beverly Minn, at Sitka's Secrets (tel. 907/747-5089; www.sitkasecret.com). They do fishing charters, too. Ester G Sea Taxi offers small-boat marine tours as well.
Sea Life Discovery Tours (tel. 877/966-2301 or 907/966-2301; www.sealifediscoverytours.com) offers a chance to see the rich underwater life of Sitka Sound from an extraordinary boat with big windows 4 feet below the waterline; it's really cool. They charge $86 for a 2-hour tour; call for times.
