Sitka Bay Part 1

While the cruise ship was anchored in Sitka, we took a wildlife viewing boat trip (in a smaller boat) around Sitka Bay then went to visit a Raptor Rehabilitation Center in Sitka then walked around town for a while.

Here are some of the shots from the boat trip round the bay. We weren't sure it was going to be very good because it was a pretty grey and overcast day, but the boats crew assured us that overcast is better for viewing the marine wildlife in the bay. Turns out they were right!

Within just a few minutes we came upon this raft (group) of sea otters. We thought we would be lucky to see one sea otter on the trip, man did we get lucky! I had no idea they hung out in such large groups like this, but there are not that many places where the population of otters is high enough to witness this. This happens to be a group of males. Males and females do not co mingle except for the few weeks of mating season.

Here's a good shot as moved away of how big the raft was.

Alaska's Inside Passage

After leaving Glacier Bay, we traveled up the Inside Passage to Juneau. That evening (around 10pm), amazingly still water and the Alaskan twilight made for some beautiful views.

This one happens to be my favorite shot, because of the sky.

Glacier Bay- the Final Chapter

Glacier Bay Part 10

It can be really hard to tell scale in these photos, so I was thrilled when I saw a boat. Keep in mind that's no little ski boat, that's a big boat with a fully enclosed cabin on the deck, yet you can barely see it because it is so tiny compared to the glacier.

If you look at the next photo and wonder how often chunks break off, it's pretty often. The naturalist said the face of the glacier loses an average of about a foot a day. It may not sound like much, but think back to the shear size of the glacier in the pictures with the tiny dot of a boat out in front of it. We saw several chunks fall off while we were there, it was really cool.