Linda Nicklin

After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in biology and anthropology, Linda Nicklin relocated to Alaska, where she fell in love with the state while spending summers in remote wilderness camps doing botanical surveys for the U.S. Forest Service. She has lived in Juneau for twenty-four years.

Linda has more than two decades of experience in guiding, environmental education, and natural history interpretation. She has served as naturalist guide, expedition leader, and itinerary planner for private yachts and eco-tour companies in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Russia, the Galapagos Islands, Central America, the Caribbean, Antarctica, and the South Pacific. She believes that above all exploration is fun, and that knowledge shared can heighten enjoyment of travel.

Linda teaches workshops for guides, docents, and naturalists that are designed to improve communication skills and help her students create meaningful connections between their audience and subject or place. She is co-designer of the Alaska Tour Guide Training curriculum developed by the Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development, and has provided workshops using that curriculum throughout the state. Currently, Linda serves as Director of Training and Tour Quality for Gastineau Guiding Company in Juneau, where she is responsible for tour development and training a staff of approximately 60 people in natural history, human history, and the art of interpretation.

Taking a cue from whales and plovers, Linda divides her year between Alaska and Hawaii, where she is involved with a long-term behavioral study on humpback whales.  With her husband, photographer Flip Nicklin, she is coauthor of two nonfiction children’s books published by National Geographic, Face to Face with Dolphins, and Face to Face with Whales.