Prince William Sound All Day Custom Glacier, Wildlife Viewing and Shrimping Tours

Are you planning your great Alaska vacation? The calls are coming in from all states at the moment! Many of our callers have been here before but now they’re bringing guests and they want to show them the real Alaska. Do you want to go to the wilder side of Alaska, off the beaten paths you went down when you first came to Alaska? Do you want to see what you don’t get to see on the common big boat tours? Now you can explore the wilderness of Prince William Sound with an all day custom marine tour that will be your most memorable Alaskan adventure. Whittier Water Taxi caters to small groups offering custom tours covering all of the South Western Prince William Sound. Whether you’re looking for glaciers, whales, historical sites, beach combing, shrimping, berry picking, birding or wildlife viewing, we can take you to the more remote locations where the wildlife is more abundant and beyond the areas utilized by the industrial tour companies. You will see a part of Prince William Sound that is usually only accessible to a handful of local Alaskans. Our boat, the Bayhawk, is custom built for exploring these waters, is heated and fully insulated for your comfort and has a large open front deck to view and photograph from. The Bayhawk is designed to ride smoothly and is able to land on shore, providing easy access with its custom bow gate. We are a small local Alaskan business and Captain Matt has been operating his own boats in Prince William Sound and the North Gulf Coast for over 25 years, with some years clocking over 1500 hours of time on the water in one season! The advantages of touring on a small boat are: It is more personal – the focus is on you and your guests. The smaller boat is less intrusive on the wildlife with less noise and environmental impact. The boat is on your schedule and you can choose where you want to go and what you want to see. We offer an all day tour where you decide how far and how long your tour is for $150 an hour for the whole boat – with up to 6 people. An 8 to 10 hour tour is the most common request. In this tour, there is enough time to explore the area from Whittier to the South West entrance of Prince William Sound. We will see glaciers with lots of ice and plenty of wildlife including a variety of birds. With our local knowledge of the area we can show you several bird rookeries as well as marine mammal haul outs and sea otter pupping areas. Humpbacked whales are often sighted several times during our all day tours. We may also see members of the several pods of orcas that visit Prince William Sound during the summer. If you don’t have enough time for an all day tour, we also offer a 3½ hour glacier viewing/shrimping tour. We depart from Whittier to visit the black-legged kittiwake rookery in Passage Canal and then cruise on to Blackstone Bay looking out for wildlife on the way. In Blackstone Bay we will visit the tide water glaciers: Blackstone and Beloit glaciers. There are several other hanging glaciers you will see flowing from the ice field which stop short of the ocean as well as some impressive waterfalls. On the mountain sides and along the salmon streams in the bay we often see black bears. After exploring Blackstone Bay we stop at one of our shrimping hot spots and pull up our shrimp pots and check out our catch. This tour is designed for those who don’t have the time do a full day tour, giving you a taste of what Prince William Sound has to offer. We are a small local Alaskan business and our tours and water taxi service schedules fill fast so it is best to reserve your tour well ahead to ensure you get the dates you want. Whittier Water Taxi operates from mid- March through mid-December and we transport mostly Alaskans and their guests as well as independent travelers. Our fall day tours offers bird migration viewing, humpback whales, Dall porpoise, sea otters, sea lions and harbor seals to name just some of the species. For information on all our services and Alaskan adventures check the Whittier Water Taxi web site at  www.whittierwatertaxi.com If you are looking for remote public use cabins in the Prince William Sound area try http://www.princewilliamsoundcabins.com/ Our Prince William Sound Cabins website makes it easy  to book with direct links to the cabin reservation pages for the Chugach National Forest Public Use Cabins and the Alaska State Park Cabins in Western Prince William Sound.

Spring Black Bear Drop Offs

It’s spring and by now you can see the bottom of the freezer – there are just a few packets of last years fish left! Soon spring black bear season will be starting and that means fresh meat for the freezer. That’s right - black bear are good eating and spring is a choice time to harvest them. The best cuts are the rump roasts, back straps, tenderloins and ribs. Don’t waste a single scrap - many hunters I transport rave about the bear bratwursts, Italian bear sausages and breakfast bear sausages made by their local butcher shops. I have personally tried the bratwursts and summer sausages made by Pioneer Meats in the Mat-Su Valley and they are excellent. My next bear will be going to them – I can’t wait to try the breakfast sausages! Every year many hunters ask for recommendations on where to hunt in Prince William Sound. First, I must point out I’m a licensed game transporter so I can not guide you, but I can say the most successful hunters I transport are those that camp. That’s right: they camp! No cabins, no lodges, just tents – that’s the trick. Hunters who stay in cabins and lodges tend to spend too much time hanging out at the lodge or cabin. Lodges and cabins are fixed locations that the game in the area key into and avoid. If you have a bear that hangs around a cabin or lodge, more than likely it’s an immature bear trying to scavenge food from the occupants. It’s not very good sportsmanship to shoot a begging bear. In addition to this, they tend to be small and not as healthy as those that fend for themselves. Camping places you in the territory of the game. You will both hear more and see more wildlife. Often game will check out something new in their territory such as a camp. Hunters who camp not only get more game but they fork out less money. Hunters that stay in lodges are spending more than double that of hunters that camp. Let’s face it if you are spending more than $200 per person a day to hunt from a lodge maybe you should check into the price of a full beef freezer package from Mr. Prime Beef in Anchorage! Camping not only gives you the advantage of being in the territory of the game it also gives you the opportunity to distance yourself from other hunters. In a lodge you have to share the area with other lodge guests. The next most important tip I have is: Do your homework: Many hunters I transport check the forums for hunters who write about their hunts. The Alaska Department of Fish & Game has tons of info on their web site and you can call up the biologist who studies the area you are looking to hunt in. Google Earth maps will give you an idea of what the terrain is like. Also, take the right gear: if you didn’t use it the last four times out hunting, more than likely you won’t need it (unless it is safety/emergency gear). Bringing the same duplicated gear as your hunting partner is a waste of space – be sure to check each others gear and if you both have the same items, pick the better of the two and leave the extras at home. Having too much gear will bog you down loading, unloading and lugging to and from your campsite. How long should you hunt: this is very important and too often we have hunters that plan too short of a hunt. You will need a day to set up and a day to pack up and you should plan for at least 2 days of solid hunting and that’s at a minimum. Bad weather also needs to be factored in. Personally I plan for at least 5 days, which gives me three full days of hunting. Whittier Water Taxi caters to Alaskans: we provide a wide range of transportation services through out Prince William Sound. Our rates are the lowest and our service is the most reliable. We operate from mid March through mid-December. Whittier Water Taxi is a licensed big game transporter #928. We are also a licensed transporter for the Alaska State Parks. Plan your Alaskan adventure now checkout out web site www.whittierwatertaxi.com or give me a call Captain Matt 1-907-362-1291.