Visitors to coastal Alaska can see a variety of whales -- sometimes three species in a single day.
Humpback whales
Where to find: Humpbacks spend the summer in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Passengers on cruise ships, excursion boats and charter fishing boats may see the whales surfacing and breeching in the Inside Passage, Prince William Sound, the Kodiak archipelago and Glacier Bay and Kenai Fjords national parks.
Tips: Humpbacks may spend 30 minutes underwater at a time, so be patient when waiting for these baleen whales.
Killer whales
Where to find: Look for killer whales, also known as orcas, along the Inside Passage, Prince William Sound, the Kodiak archipelago and Glacier Bay and Kenai Fjords national parks.
Tips: Orcas often swim in pods that move in concert with tour boats.
To be accurate, a killer whale -- Orcinus orca -- is not a whale but instead the largest member of the dolphin family.
Orcas are often called killer whales because they attack and eat whales and other large prey such as seals and sea lions. "Orca" and "killer whale" are often used interchangeably.
Belugas
Where to find: Beluga whales are most easily found in Cook Inlet -- and especially in Turnagain Arm near Anchorage.
Drivers on the stretch of Seward Highway between Mile 106 (10 miles south of Anchorage's Potter Marsh) and Mile 95 (northwest of Girdwood) sometimes see pods of these gentle white whales surfacing to breath as they swim along in search of salmon or hooligan.
Tips: Good places to watch are between Beluga Point (Mile 110) and Bird Point Scenic Overlook (Mile 96), but there are a lot of turnouts where drivers pull over to watch the whales. The best viewing comes when the tide is in.
Bowheads
Where to find: Bowhead whales, Alaska's state marine mammal, are found in the Arctic Ocean and northern Bering Sea. They are most likely to be seen after being harpooned and brought ashore in the spring and fall by whaling crews in Barrow or other northern towns.
Tips: Bowheads, a baleen whale, have been used for centuries as food by northern Alaska's people. Bowheads are distinguished by the elevated "crown" of their thick-boned skulls. They spend the short arctic summer in the Beaufort Sea atop Alaska and Canada, migrating each spring and fall past Barrow and through the Bering Strait, where Alaska and Russia nearly meet.
