St Matthew Island, with its spectacular thousand-foot-high cliffs, lies close to the smaller Hall Island in the Bering Sea. The islands of the Bering Sea represent a small but unique Arctic maritime environment. Tundra-covered and surrounded by sea ice in winter they serve as protected refuges for the world's largest herds of fur-bearing seals and sea otters, as well as sea lions and walrus. Visit Cape Upright on the northern coast of St. Matthew Island where you may spot hundreds of seabirds, including cormorants, puffins, and gulls. Also visit Bull Seal Point and on the beach look for agates and seashells and in the nearby hills you may spot more birds, among them the snowy owl.