Nancy's Marine Tours

                                         Marine Highlights

I got to take 4 marine tours on small boats.  One was out of Seward on the Kenai Peninsula; the other 3 were in the Inside Passage at Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan.  The highlights for me were seeing whales quite close on each of the trips but other wildlife were almost as exciting!

Ketchikan's resident Orca pod is 70 whales strong.  Our boat had 15 surfacing at the same time.

Harbor Seals on an ice floe at a Seward glacier

These Surf Scoters are large sea ducks.  They feed by diving for crustaceans and molluscs.  We saw flocks of several hundreds all tightly packed together.

sea otter with pup

Humpback whale out of Sitka

Harlequin ducks

Orcas in Juneau

Steller's Sea Lions - this male estimated at 2000 lbs

Pigeon Guillemots lay their eggs on rocky cavities near water.  They are only found in the Pacific Ocean waters.  After the breeding season, birds in Alaska migrate south to open waters.

Humpback whale sifting food through the baleen plates in the mouth

Tufted Puffin

Sea otter with pup

a goodby to some magical moments