Sitka Sound | Sitka

Sitka Sound, an expanse of silver-blue water embracing the town of Sitka, Alaska, is one of the most biologically rich and visually arresting marine environments on the Pacific coast. Encircled by forested islands, volcanic peaks, and glacier-fed bays, this vast inlet forms part of the Alexander Archipelago, where the Gulf of Alaska meets the Inside Passage. The Sound’s beauty lies not just in its scenery but in its vitality-thousands of seabirds, whales, and sea otters animate its surface year-round, creating an ever-changing tableau of wilderness life.

The Setting

Sitka Sound stretches westward from Baranof Island into a labyrinth of channels and coves protected by small outer islands like Japonski, Kruzof, and Biorka. From shore, you can often see the broad cone of Mount Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano whose snowcapped symmetry rises dramatically above the mist. The Sound’s waters shift in mood constantly-one hour calm and glassy, the next whipped by ocean wind and rain. In early morning, a low fog often drapes the islands, blurring sea and sky into a silvery haze.

Marine Wildlife

Few places in Alaska offer such intimate encounters with marine life. Sea otters float in rafts just offshore, rolling through kelp beds with pups balanced on their chests. Harbor seals surface silently near the rocks, their sleek heads glistening in the light, while Steller sea lions bark and jostle for space on buoy platforms and rocky outcroppings. Orcas patrol these waters throughout the summer, their tall dorsal fins slicing through the calm, and humpback whales feed in the deeper channels, their blows rising in misty columns that catch the sun.

During July and August, humpbacks gather to feed cooperatively, using their famous bubble-net feeding technique-circling beneath schools of herring and surfacing in unison through a column of fish and foam. The spectacle, accompanied by deep exhalations and the slap of tails, can be witnessed from boats or occasionally even from the shoreline near Sitka National Historical Park.

Birdlife and Coastal Ecosystems

The Sound’s islands and headlands teem with birds. Bald eagles perch in Sitka spruce along the waterfront, scanning for fish or scraps, while marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, and tufted puffins dive through the waves offshore. During migration seasons, rafts of seabirds blanket the surface, and their calls mix with the rhythmic wash of the tide. The intertidal zones-those narrow bands between forest and sea-are dense with life: anemones, starfish, crabs, and sea urchins thriving in tide pools that glisten under fleeting sunlight.

Fishing Heritage and Human Presence

For Sitka’s residents, the Sound is as much livelihood as landscape. Generations of fishermen have worked these waters for salmon, halibut, and black cod, while Indigenous Tlingit communities have relied on its bounty for centuries, practicing a relationship of respect and reciprocity. Even today, the smell of fresh-caught fish drifts through the harbor, and gulls wheel over the docks as boats return with their catch. The hum of engines, the slap of water against hulls, and the cry of eagles form a soundtrack that belongs only to Sitka.

Seasons and Atmosphere

Each season brings its own rhythm. In spring, herring spawn turns the water milky turquoise and draws an explosion of feeding wildlife-whales, seals, and clouds of seabirds. Summer offers long days of gentle seas and vibrant activity, while autumn often shrouds the islands in low clouds and golden light. Winter is quieter but strikingly clear, with sharp views of the surrounding mountains and the occasional sea lion breaking the stillness.

A Living Sea

Sitka Sound is more than a scenic bay; it’s a living, breathing ecosystem where every tide carries movement and sound. Standing on the shore, with the scent of salt in the air and the cry of an eagle overhead, it’s easy to feel the pulse of life that connects everything here-the people, the forests, and the wide northern sea beyond.