Prince William Sound Photography Tours

Sound Eco Adventures
Operating from Whittier, Alaska . 99693 . USA
Email: sea2@alaskan.net . . . Call: (907) 242-0637

This page is currently being revised often

BACKGROUND

Prince William Sound is a treasure trove . . .

30-foot boat

described below

Pigeon guillemots are seen on many of the photo tours.

Tour Prices
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.

2012 PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS
This page will be updated soon

Spring Wildlife Dates: May to early June. Book any open date or join a booked tour (see tour schedule). 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 sea lion bulls leave some with visible wounds.
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 in spring and pay little heed to boats that are immediately adjacent.
Summer Wildlife Dates: Mid-June through August. Book any open date or join a booked tour (see tour schedule). 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 Dates: Mid-June through September. Book any open date or join a booked tour (see tour schedule). 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 Dates: August-September. Book any open date or join a booked tour (see tour schedule). 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 most often in late summer and fall.
Black Bears and Wildlife Dates: Mid-July through mid-September. Book any open date or join a booked tour (see tour schedule). 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. . Canon 5D, EF70-200mm +1.4X @ 280mm, f/4 @ 1/640, ISO 500, hand-held 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, heads into the woods for a nap.

Rationale For Photography Tours

These tours will follow the regulations, observation guidelines and principles of ethical field practices endorsed by:
Four-client limit on day trips, or when you stay at a lodge, and two-client limit on sleep-aboard overnighters gives everyone enough room. Meal charges will apply on sleep-aboard overnighters.
The aim will be to have four photographers on each trip. However, if four have not booked by the tour date, the tour will proceed if only one to three have booked. If parties of one to three want to assure having the tour all to themselves in advance, they pay for four seats.
Tours will have general objectives, but they will take advantage of spontaneous opportunities.
Most shooting will be from the boat, but beaching the boat may sometimes be desirable. However, since I do not have a guide permit for Chugach National Forest, I cannot actively guide nor accompany clients if they venture onto CNF land on their own while the boat is beached.

Environmental Considerations

Weather

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.

A Prince William Sound Gallery Sampling

Harvard Glacier, 1-1/2 miles wide at the head of College Fjord, is the Sound's second biggest glacier.

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.
. Canon 5D, f/2.8 EF70-200mm @ 108mm, 1/2000 @ f/4, ISO 200, hand-held	Breaching young humpback whale - Humpbacks are most common in the southern sector of Prince William Sound.
. Canon 5D, EF100-400mm @ 400mm, 1/1250 @ f/10, ISO 250, hand-held	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.

Canon 5D, f/2.8 EF70-200mm @ 70mm, 1/125 @ f/10, ISO 100, Giottos monopod

1:00 AM at Naked Island in May

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