I’ll focus most of this review on the bird-related aspects in order to help other birders interesting in doing a Fjords tour.
Overall, this trip was a great experience. Captain Sherry (who described herself as a bird nerd) asked anyone who was a birder to identify themselves to the crew so that they could be on the lookout for any species in particular. I myself wasn’t personally looking for any one species, but I did identify myself to the crew and the Captain did an excellent job of pointing out most if not all of the IDs of the birds that we saw.
I also want to give a special shoutout to Elizabeth, one of the crew members who was also a birder. Upon mentioning I was a birder, she was incredibly helpful in helping me with bird IDs and had a great knowledge of all the birds we were likely to see & where, given her experience while on other tours. She was the definitely the real MVP.
I will note that it was sometimes difficult to take photos / get good looks at some of the birds due to the movement of the boat. Given that most people on the tour were not birders, the crew also could not (understandably) slow down for every bird that we saw. Some of the birds that I saw (and their location) are as follows:
Multiple places throughout the tour: black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls, marbled murrelets, pelagic cormorants
Near/past Fox Island/Rugged Island: common murres, red-necked phalarope, some horned & tufted puffins
Harris Bay / Northwestern Fjord: Kittlitz’s murrelet (!) which love to hang out in the water near glacial outflows
Cataract Cove: pigeon guillemots, harlequin ducks
Chiswell Islands (the highlight of the birding!): many horned puffins, tufted puffins, black oystercatcher, red-faced cormorant (!)