we did a 8-hour tour of prince william sound in a small, fast boat and while the weather was pretty dismal the scenery was remarkable.
toward the end of the day we came upon a black bear sow grabbing salmon as they made their way up a small stream. as our boat got closer i noticed three cubs in a tree. when the cubs saw us they started howling and mom climbed the tree, fetched her cubs and they all took off into the woods. it was our first bear siting in alaska and our only black bear siting. unfortunately black bears are more timid than brown bears and we couldn't get closer.
we came across an island full of stellar sea lions, which are bigger than the sea lions in california and a lot quieter as they do not bark. here's one that was pretty freshly branded by researchers trying to discover why the sea lion population is in decline.
we saw quite a few eagles and this one was close enough for me to capture with my 100-400L.
right after pulling out of whittier we came across the breeding grounds for many sea birds like these kittiwakes.
ed rader
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