Bird Island Boat Tour

We saw several signs advertising boat tours to see Puffins and other sea birds, seals and Bald Eagles.  We stopped by their office and signed up for the 1:30 tour for the following day. 
 The tour lasted about 3 hours and we toured around 2 islands that are bird sanctuaries.

We started our tour in the small gift shop located at the office where we purchased our tickets.   Imagine that!  :)

 

The family that owns the tour boat business also have cabins to rent and a small campground on their property.

 

 

 

The boat is covered to protect everyone from windy or rainy weather.  It was a beautiful day for a boat ride. 

 

I'm ready!

 

The Puffin Express

The captain and his son took turns driving the boat and pointing out interesting info about the area.  As we got closer to the islands, they would point out the various birds.

Me and the captain are keeping an eye out for the Puffins while his son drives the boat.

Nothing yet....

The Puffins are much smaller than I was expecting.  Below is a picture of what they look like.  They are so cute!  We were only able to see them in the water or flying by the boat.  This is because the Bald Eagles are in the area this time of year and the Puffins don't go into their nests (holes in the rocks) to feed their young as often as they normally would.  The Eagles eat the young Puffins, so the parents are trying to protect them. 

 

  

We had to zoom up to get these pictures, so they are not as clear as they could be.

 

 

Two Bald Eagles and a gull.

This Eagle has some raw meat in his possession......hmmmm.  Wonder what was for lunch?

Puffin flying.  These birds would fly away each time the boat got close.  Hard to get a good picture.

 

 

The captain told us that around 200 seals live on the rocks around the island.  The waters are overfished in this area and the population has started to dwindle due to lack of food.

 

 I spotted these two gulls in their hole on the side of the cliff. 

 

 

 

 

 There were lots of Bald Eagles that day.  The captain said that was not unusual, however, the large amounts of Puffin for this time of year was somewhat unusual.  There were large groups of Puffins swimming in the water, but they were just a little too far away to get a good picture.

 

 

 

 

 

More seals around the very rocky coast.  They are hard to spot because they blend right in with the rocks.

 

 

 

 It was a great day for a boat ride.  We were very fortunate to have great weather.  It was much warmer than we thought it would be.  That suites me just fine!