Photo by: Kathy Adams Clark
Location: Sitka Alaska

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PHOTOGRAPHY TOUR

Alaska Sitka: Bubble Net Feeding Whales, Wildlife, and Culture

$400 Double Room Discount Per Person

  • Personal mentoring and instruction from your photography leader, and your captain is an expert naturalist guide.
  • Three daily excursions of photographing whales and wildlife from your small group boat, maximum 6 participants.
  • Witness one of nature’s great events, humpback whales simultaneously launching out of the water, throat grooves bulging with herring.
  • Watch the seawater come alive as gulls & bald eagles frantically converge, plucking leftovers seemingly from their open mouths.
  • Included on the boat: wildlife booklets, binoculars, basic beverages and snacks, refrigerator available for your use to bring your personal packed lunch & drinks.
  • Accommodations in SINGLE ROOMS on the Sitka harbor, credit given to those sharing a room, walking distance to downtown.
  • Two days you will travel to various places in the lovely seaside City of Sitka. Examples include: Russian Orthodox Cemetery, Sitka National Park with its totem poles, Alaska Raptor Center, and Fortress of the Bear.
  • Photograph sunsets from land and your personal boat during the tour. Perhaps even the northern lights if weather and sun spots cooperate.
Region

North America

Destination

Sitka Alaska

Dates

March 27-Apr 2 2023

Duration

6 days

$3995

per person, double occupancy*

All spots are currently taken for this tour.

Join the Waitlist

*U.S. dollars based upon minimum of 4 participants. There is a small group surcharge of $400 if 4 participants. We try to accommodate travelers who request single accommodations, as well as travelers who are looking for a roommate. If a single room is requested (subject to availability), or if we are unable to find a suitable roommate, there is a single room surcharge of $Included.

Overview
Photos
Itinerary

Tour Overview

Sitka Alaska is an island community boldly living between the mountains and sea, where the arts flourish and an ancient native culture still thrives. Surrounded by rainforest, the residents share their home with brown bears, bald eagles and all five species of Pacific salmon. This is the place where wilderness and culture blend.

 

For the best of Alaska whale watching tours, the Bubble-Net Feeding Humpback Whales Tour is your best option. You...

Sitka Alaska is an island community boldly living between the mountains and sea, where the arts flourish and an ancient native culture still thrives. Surrounded by rainforest, the residents share their home with brown bears, bald eagles and all five species of Pacific salmon. This is the place where wilderness and culture blend.

 

For the best of Alaska whale watching tours, the Bubble-Net Feeding Humpback Whales Tour is your best option. You will have amazing full-day tours as you witness one of Mother Nature’s greatest events. Capture frame-worthy images while witnessing this awe-inspiring group-feeding display that occurs as often as 70+ times per day. There will be whales, raptors, herring, eagles to name a few along with the expansive Alaskan landscape. Weather and sunspots cooperating, there may even be opportunities to capture the Northern Lightsas they may be seen between August and April, when less daylight leads to darker night skies.

 

Your time in Sitka will be spent visiting the local historical sites and photographing the landscape. Sitka National Historical Park features a remarkable collection of totem poles carved by Native American artists that are placed along a well-maintained trail in the forest. The Alaska Raptor Center rehabilitates injured birds, mostly bald eagles, and releases them back into the wild. Depending on bear hibernation times you may visit Fortress of the Bear, which features a three-quarter-acre habitat for orphaned brown bear cubs complete with covered viewing areas.

 

What makes Sitka Alaska so unique is it is the only Southeast Alaska community that fronts the Pacific Ocean, hugging Baranof Island’s west shore in the shadow of the impressive Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano with a graceful cone reminiscent of Japan’s Mount Fuji. There are 9,000 residents of Sitka, which is marked by the picturesque remnants of its Russian heritage, including the onion-shaped domes and gold colored crosses of the beloved Saint Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

Features of your vessel:

  • A spacious heated cabin, restroom equipped.
  • Deluxe comfortable seats for all guests.
  • Large wrap-around windows for unobstructed viewing, expansive deck space for multiple perspectives.
  • Great stability to ensure safety and comfort. Vessel is not wheelchair accessible.

 

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Photo Leader

Kathy Adams Clark

Tour Itinerary

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March 27: Home - Sitka, Alaska

Depart home today on your flight to Sitka, Alaska (SIT). You can arrive anytime today (hotel check in 3PM/out 11AM) and transfer to the hotel via taxi on your own or the hotel will provide complimentary shuttle coming and going if they are available. Rest and relax on your own until the first meeting in the hotel lobby with Kathy this evening, time to be announced. Overnight six evenings Sitka Alaska, Meals Included: First and Last night Dinner

PLEASE NOTE: When researching your flights you may find choosing an airline that partners with Alaska Air will have the best connections.

March 28-30: Sitka

Given the proper natural conditions you will experience amazing humpback whale and other wildlife photography over the three days from your daily boat excursions. This time of the year is the perfect season and Sitka is the best place to get stunning pictures of humpback whales bubble-net feeding. It was with good reason that the BBC chose Sitka during this timeframe to film the documentary Planet Earth’s bubble-net feeding content. You will witness this awe-inspiring group feeding display as often as 70+ times per day.

Kathy and your boat captain will assist you to photograph one of nature’s most extraordinary events on a 3-day guided photography expedition. During this expedition they will work to have you in the right spot at the right time for you to capture fantastic moments. Imagine the shots you will get when up to twenty 45 foot long humpback whales simultaneously explode out of the water with their throat grooves bulging with herring and seawater, as gulls and bald eagles frantically converge, plucking leftovers seemingly from their open mouths. The leading female dives first and then the rest follow, diving in formation and in the same order each time.

Your time on the water will be dictated by the wildlife and photography, it could be a full day of eight hours at sea, chasing the whales on your very comfortable boat, or perhaps the day will be split in to two sections with a break at the hotel, returning to the local harbor for sunset photography.

 

March 31-Apr 1: Sitka

You will be photographing in beautiful areas around Sitka over the next two days with Kathy. There will be locations walkable from hotel, and further locations in which the hotel will transfer you or taxis will be arranged if necessary. Local photo shoots include the Alaska Raptor Center and The Fortress of the Bear, where each organization cares for animals in need. At the Raptor Center healed birds are released back in to their natural environment. In Sitka National Park you will walk along a coastal trail viewing and photographing the history created by Native American artists in their Totem Poles. You will capture traditional architecture as you make your way through Sitka, along with sunsets from the harbor. There is also a Russian Orthodox cemetery located at the edge of town, steeped in history with overgrown old headstones and crosses, providing a very atmospheric graveyard for your eye and camera.

April 2: Sitka - Home

The hotel may be able to transfer you to the airport, if not you will have to travel on your own via a taxi. The hotel is just a mile from the airport.

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