Active Pursuits

On the Water

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 colony 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 adults, $39 children. A 3-hour cruise Saturday at 9am costs $79 adults, $49 children. The boat leaves from the Crescent Harbor Visitors Dock late May through early September. Buy tickets on board. These are different excursions from the ones offered to cruise ship passengers. Allen Marine, which also builds vessels, has a long-standing reputation for the quality of its offerings.

For $120 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 Kent Hall and Beverly Minn, a married couple who are both former wildlife biologists, 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.

Saltwater Fishing -- Many charter boats are available for salmon or halibut. The Sitka Convention and Visitors Bureau keeps a detailed charter boat list online. Using the grid view (www.sitka.org/grid.html), you can compare boats, rates, and services, and link to the vessel's own home page. Or book through Alaska Adventures Unlimited (tel. 907/747-5576), which has set up charters in Sitka since 1982.

If you can handle your own boat, skiffs rent for $95 half-day and up from Sitka Sound Ocean Adventures (tel. 907/747-6375 or 907/738-6375; www.ssoceanadventures.com). Make contact at the blue bus in the parking lot of the Harrigan Centennial Hall.

One Halibut Per Customer -- For years, ever more charter boats carried Southeast Alaska visitors in pursuit of halibut, all chasing the same resource of fish. Although anglers take far fewer halibut than the commercial fishing industry, they have repeatedly overrun the annual limits set on their total catch. Consequently, managers invoked a one-fish-per-day bag limit starting in 2008. In other parts of Alaska, the limit stays at two halibut per day, but conservation problems exist in Southcentral Alaska as well, so the new rule may spread.

Sea Kayaking -- Sitka's protected waters and intricate shorelines are perfect for sea kayaking. You're almost sure to see sea otters, seals, sea lions, and eagles, and could see whales. Sitka Sound Ocean Adventures offers tours for beginners every day in the summer when they have at least two customers to go along. Guides don't follow regular routes, seeking wildlife wherever animals have recently been seen. A 2-hour paddle (plus a half-hour for instruction and gearing up) takes kayakers into the islands around Sitka and costs $70. A half-day paddle could also go to a historic World War II fort, where you can walk through the abandoned bunkers. That's $100. The firm offers all-day paddles and rents kayaks, too.

Onshore

Freshwater Fishing -- Anglers should pick up the Sitka Area Sport Fishing Guide, which has lots of tips on streams, lakes, and fishing methods in the area. You can download the guide from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at www.alaska.gov/adfg (click on "Sport Fish" and then the Southeast region. The site also has weekly fishing updates. The local Fish and Game office is at 304 Lake St., Room 103, Sitka, AK 99835 (tel. 907/747-5355).

Forest Service Cabins -- The Sitka Ranger District, 204 Siginaka Way, Sitka, AK 99835 (tel. 907/747-6671; www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/districts/sitka), maintains two dozen wilderness cabins on Baranof, Chichagof, and Kruzof islands, in sea kayaking coves and on remote fishing lakes, where rowing skiffs generally are provided. The cabins and their facilities are described in a Forest Service handout or on their website.

You will need camping gear and a boat or floatplane to get there, a much greater cost than the nightly rental of $35 to $45. For cabins on saltwater near Sitka, the most affordable way may be a water taxi, such as Esther G Sea Taxi (tel. 907/747-6481 or 907/738-6481 cell; www.puffinsandwhales.com). Operator Davey Lubin also offers marine wildlife tours and kayak drop-offs to remote shores. Harris Aircraft Services, 400 Airport Rd. (tel. 877/966-3050 Alaska only, or 907/966-3050; www.harrisaircraft.com), offers floatplane charters to cabins or anywhere else. Either way, allow time in your schedule in case bad weather prevents backcountry travel.

Hiking -- Sitka is a great hiking area, with trails threading all over the mountains behind the town. There are a dozen U.S. Forest Service hiking trails accessible from the roads around Sitka and another 20 rough trails you can get to by plane or boat. A beautifully made little book, Sitka Trails (Alaska Geographic, $8), covers each trail with a detailed description and fine-scale color topographic map. If you need further advice, contact the ranger district office.

From downtown, the 4-mile (one-way) Indian River Trail is a relaxing rainforest walk rising gradually up the river valley to a small waterfall. Take Indian River Road off Sawmill Creek Road just east of the downtown. For a steeper mountain-climbing trail to alpine terrain and great views, the Gavan Hill-Harbor Mountain Trail is near the end of Baranof Street, which starts near the Russian Bishop's House. It gains 2,500 feet over 3 miles to the peak of Gavan Hill, then continues another 3 miles along a ridge to meet Harbor Mountain Road. The Sitka Cross Trail connects these trails and neighborhood streets, allowing you to start almost anywhere.

At the north end of Halibut Point Road, 7 1/2 miles from downtown, several wonderful trails loop through the Starrigavan Recreation Area. On the right, the Estuary Life Trail and Forest Muskeg Trail, totaling about a mile, are well developed and accessible to anyone, circling a grassy estuary rich with birds and fish. The pleasant Mosquito Cove Trail, starting from within the bayside loop camping area on the left, circles 1.25 miles along the shore to the secluded gravel beach of the cove, returning over boardwalk steps through the old-growth forest. Camping here is covered below.

Tide Pooling & Shore Walks -- Halibut Point State Recreation Area, 4 1/2 miles north of town on Halibut Point Road, is a great place for a picnic, shore ramble, and tide pooling. The Mosquito Cove Trail is also promising. To find the best low tides, check a tide book, available all over town. It's best to go at the lowest tide possible, arriving on the shore an hour before the low. To identify the little creatures you'll see, pick up a plastic-covered field guide at a bookstore.

Whale-Watching -- Humpback whales stop to feed in Sitka Sound on their way south in the winter migration. During October, November, December, and March, you can watch from shore -- the local government has even built a special park for the purpose. At Whale Park, just south of town on Sawmill Creek Road, spotting scopes are mounted on platforms along a boardwalk and at the end of staircases that descend the dramatic, wooded cliffs. Excellent interpretive signs, located near surfacing concrete whales in the parking lot, explain the whales. The Sitka WhaleFest, in November, is the best time for whale enthusiasts, as then you can watch whales in the company of cetacean scientists. For summertime whale-watching, take a boat: Choices are above under "Sightseeing and Wildlife Tours."