Photo by: Kathy Adams Clark
Location: Sitka Alaska
PHOTOGRAPHY TOUR
Alaska Sitka–St. Lazaria Island National Wildlife Refuge
$600 Double Room Discount Per Person
• Personal mentoring and instruction from your photography leader, and your captain, an expert naturalist guide.
• Three daily excursions of photographing sea and wildlife from your small group boat, maximum 6 participants.
• Sail to St. Lazaria Island, the home of over 50,000 pairs of sea birds.
• See the distinctive tufted puffins.
• Catch a glimpse of bald eagles and peregrine falcons and marvel at beautiful volcanic scenery.
• Spot common & thick-billed murres, black oystercatchers, rhinoceros auklets, and pigeon guillemots.
• Observe loons, marbled murrelets, harlequin ducks, and, at lower tides, feeding surfbirds and black turnstones.
• Included on the boat: wildlife booklets, basic beverages and snacks, refrigerator available for your use to bring your personal packed lunch & drinks. Spacious heated cabin, comfortable seats, restroom, large wrap-around windows, and expansive deck space.
• Accommodations in SINGLE ROOMS (discount if sharing), 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.
Region
North America
Destination
Sitka Alaska
Dates
TBD
Duration
TBD
$4595
per person, double occupancy*
This tour is not currently scheduled. Contact us if you want details when tour dates are announced, or if you are interested in running a private trip for your group.
*U.S. dollars based upon minimum of 6 participants. There is a small group surcharge of $400 if 4-5 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 $Single rooms included.
Tour Overview
Alaska is a birders paradise with hundreds of species of shorebirds, sea birds, and raptors. What’s more, Sitka has one of the most diverse populations of birds in the whole of Alaska. Join your expert naturalist guide and captain to spot tufted puffins, enjoy fresh clean air, and take in the awe-inspiring sights of the Jewel of the Pacific on our birdwatching photo tour, one of the best Alaska excursions.
We’ll head out on our spacious and comfortable catamaran to explore the wildlife...
Alaska is a birders paradise with hundreds of species of shorebirds, sea birds, and raptors. What’s more, Sitka has one of the most diverse populations of birds in the whole of Alaska. Join your expert naturalist guide and captain to spot tufted puffins, enjoy fresh clean air, and take in the awe-inspiring sights of the Jewel of the Pacific on our birdwatching photo tour, one of the best Alaska excursions.
We’ll head out on our spacious and comfortable catamaran to explore the wildlife paradise that is Sitka Sound. Our destination will be St. Lazaria Island, a 17-acre, rocky, volcanic outcropping where every square foot of ground is home to the burrows and nesting birds.
Teddy Roosevelt designated St. Lazaria Island as a refuge for seabirds in 1909, and it received official wilderness designation from congress in 1970, and further added to the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in 1980.
During summer, we are often lucky enough to see chicks and throughout the year it is an excellent location to observe tufted puffins, common & thick-billed murres, black oystercatchers, rhinoceros auklets, and pigeon guillemots. The birds use the grassy and rocky slopes to nest and hatch young. Atop the rock faces, we often spot the immense bald eagles and peregrine falcons searching for a meal.
Kruzof Island with Mount Edgecumbe is prominent in the landscape and provides much protection for Sitka from the open ocean. The southern half of the island is an extensive volcanic field, with black sand beaches, boulders of basaltic formations rising from the sea. Kruzof and St. Lazaria Islands provide amazing landscape photography each day.
You will also have two days to enjoy Sitka Alaska, an island community boldly living between the mountains and sea, where the arts flourish and an ancient native culture still thrives. 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.
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. Fortress of the Bear, which features a three-quarter-acre habitat for orphaned brown bear cubs complete with covered viewing areas.
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Photo Leader TBD
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