Alaska and Hawaii are surrounded by water. In one of this site's boat quizzes they sit near the bottom; in the other they are near the top. Same water — different question.
A marina is a business that keeps boats: docks to tie up to, a spot to leave a boat when nobody is out on the water, often fuel and repairs too. It serves people who own a boat.
Basis: U.S. Census Bureau industry definition (NAICS 713930, Marinas): establishments operating marinas, providing docking and mooring for boats.
A sightseeing boat business sells a ride: a harbor cruise, a whale-watching trip, a glacier tour, an airboat ride. It serves people who arrive with no boat at all.
Basis: U.S. Census Bureau industry definition (NAICS 487210, Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Water): sightseeing cruises, excursions and boat tours.
So the two tables are asking different questions — and they give different answers. Alaska and Hawaii sit near the bottom of the marina table and near the top of the sightseeing-boat one.
Basis: This site's Census data; both of those placements are machine-checked before the page is built.
Why the flip? A reasonable guess: marinas fill up where lots of people keep their own boat close to home, while tour boats fill up where lots of visitors come to see something that is best seen from the water. A table of businesses can't prove that — it only counts businesses.
※ A hypothesis is an idea that isn't proven yet.
📊 Sources for the rankings mentioned in this note (links to the original data and retrieval dates) are on each quiz page below.