Sound Eco Adventures
Operating from Whittier, Alaska . 99693 . USA
Email: sea2@alaskan.net . . .
Call: (907) 242-0637
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This page is currently being revised often
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BACKGROUND
Prince William Sound is a treasure trove . . .
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Pigeon guillemots are seen on many of the photo tours. |
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and Fuel Cost |
Tour prices listed below assume a price of $3.60/gal for unleaded gas at the Whittier fuel dock. A fuel surcharge (or discount) based on the actual fuel price on the date of your tour will be applied to these prices. Unleaded gas at the fuel dock was $4.56/gal on May 24, 2011. |
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Spring Wildlife
Duration: Full day, up to 10 hours Tentative Cost: $679, 459, 399 or 359 each, for 1,2,3 or 4 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. These prices are currently being evaluated, and may change. Main Attractions: Mountain goats, Steller sea lions, harbor seals, humpback whales and Dall's porpoises. Birds include bald eagles, tufted and horned puffins, parakeet auklets, pigeon guillemots, marbled murrelets, black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged and mew gulls, black oystercatchers, surfbirds, red-necked phalaropes, late-migrating loons and grebes. |
Canon 10D, EF100-400 @ 273mm, 1/750, f/4.0, ISO 200, hand-held
In spring and early summer, fights between Steller's
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Canon 5D, EF100-400 @ 400mm, 1/800, f/8.0, ISO 250, hand-held
Mountain goats often descend to within tens of feet of tidewater
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Summer Wildlife
Duration: Full day, up to 10 hours Tentative Cost: $679, 459, 399 or 359 each, for 1,2,3 or 4 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. These prices are currently being evaluated, and may change. Main Attractions: Steller sea lions, harbor seals, humpback whales, Dall's porpoises, black bears, possibly orcas. Birds include puffins, parakeet auklets, pigeon guillemots, marbled murrelets, black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged and mew gulls, Arctic terns, black oystercatchers, parasitic jaegers, fork-tailed storm petrels and more. |
Canon 5D, EF100-400IS @ 400mm, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 500, hand-held Tufted puffins nest several places in Prince William Sound. |
College Fjord
Duration: Full day, up to 10 hours Tentative Cost: $679, 459, 399 or 359 each, for 1,2,3 or 4 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. These prices are currently being evaluated, and may change. College Fjord is a bonanza of five tidewater glaciers, including 1-1/2 mile wide Harvard Glacier, the Sound's second biggest. Abundant icebergs, waterfalls and spectacular mountain landscapes. Good concentrations of Sea Otters and Harbor Seals, both of which often haul out on icebergs. Common birds include bald eagles, mew gulls, Arctic terns, black oystercatchers, harlequin ducks, common mergansers, marbled murrelets and the endangered-petitioned Kittlitz's murrelet. |
Canon 5D, EF70-200 @ 200mm, 1/640, f/7.1, ISO 400, hand-held Harbor Seals are abundant in College Fjord where they are often seen hauled out on icebergs. |
Whale Photography
Duration: Up to 12 hours Tentative Cost: $799, 559, 449 or 399 each, for 1,2,3 or 4 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. These prices are currently being evaluated, and may change. Humpback whales are common in southern Prince William Sound in summer and fall. The chances for encountering orcas as well increase beginning late summer, when different family groups (pods) form "super-pods" for socializing and the bulls from one pod cavort with females of another pod. Two-day option available. |
Canon 10D, EF100-400mm @ 400mm, 1/1500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, hand-held
Orcas occur year-round in Prince William Sound, but are seen
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Black Bears and Wildlife
Duration: Full day, up to 10 hours Tentative Cost: $679, 459, 399 or 359 each, for 1,2,3 or 4 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. These prices are currently being evaluated, and may change. This tour will focus on black bears, but also provide some opportunity for other wildlife. We anchor near salmon streams to capture bears feeding on salmon and their social interactions. By staying aboard the boat, we minimize the chances of spooking the bears. .
This mama black bear and her two cubs were a little too early for the late chum salmon run in early August 2007. |
Canon 10D, EF100-400mm @ 400mm, 1/500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, hand-held
A young black bear, its muzzle stained red from salmon blood,
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Rationale For Photography Tours
Tide - With the Sound's 16-foot tidal range, tide height is a major consideration that influences the occurrence and behavior of many wildlife species at any given location.
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Harvard Glacier, 1-1/2 miles wide at the head of College Fjord, is the Sound's second biggest glacier.
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Canon 10D, f/2.8 EF70-200mm @ 108mm, 1/2000 @ f/4, ISO 200, hand-held |
Iceberg detail, College Fjord. Generally, the bigger the glacier, the bigger the iceberg. College Fjord, Columbia Bay, and Icy Bay host the Sound's biggest glaciers and icebergs. |
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Breaching young humpback whale - Humpbacks are most common in the southern sector of Prince William Sound. |
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Flocks of surfbirds feed heavily on invertebrates in the rocky intertidal zone in early spring before dispersing widely into alpine tundra, where very little is known about their nesting behavior. |
Canon 5D, EF28-105mm @ 28mm, 1/500 @ f/20, ISO 100, hand-held |
Yale Glacier, at the head of Yale Arm in College Fjord, is visited infrequently because of its remoteness and iceberg-clogged approach. |
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1:00 AM at Naked Island in May
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Copyright © 2012 by Sound Eco Adventures. All rights reserved. Updated January 16, 2012