7 Day Cruise - Sample Trip

DAY 1
A s you join us in Petersburg , your captain and crew will assist you with getting your luggage onboard and settling into your home for the week ahead. Following a safety orientation around the boat, we will depart Petersburg enroute to Thomas Bay , the first stop on our wilderness adventure. Lunch will be served underway shortly after departure. Depending on the tide, we will either explore the outwash plain and foot of the Baird Glacier or experience the verdant beauty of Southeast Alaska 's temperate rainforest as we walk a creek side trail.

Returning from our outing to the warm comfort of the 58' Purse Seiner, you are invited to enjoy a glass of wine, a beer, or other beverage and talk over the day's activities with your fellow adventurers and crew. Tonight's dinner is the first of many gourmet meals to be enjoyed at our large dining table. While dining in our picture-window enclosed lounge, we are treated to a slowly changing scenic panorama as the boat turns gently at anchor.

After dinner, you may choose to relax in the lounge or outside, enjoying the Alaskan beauty in the extended daylight. Although we turn off our generator in the evening so the deep stillness is not broken by even this muffled sound, you can read in bed (feel free to sample our well-stocked natural history library) as late as you wish since all staterooms are equipped with 12 volt lights. However, we bet that few reading lights will remain lit very long as the gentle motion of the boat and soft water sounds lull you to sleep.

DAY 2
While we will get underway early today, you should have no difficulty sleeping in if you so desire. Breakfast will be served underway, around 8 am.

For those who wish to rise with the anchor, coffee and other hot drinks are available. You are always welcome in the comfortable and spacious wheelhouse with its 360 degree view and state-of-the-art navigation electronics. Your captain is happy to explain the operation of the electronics and show you how to navigate the boat, or you can simply enjoy the spectacular views. Several comfortable outside areas are also available for sitting, and the bow is an incredible viewing area on the numerous occasions we have the good fortune to be visited by Dall's Porpoise. Whale sightings are a common occurrence, especially as we transit Frederick Sound , and those choosing to remain in bed will be awakened for wildlife sightings if so requested.

We will arrive at tonight's anchorage, Wood Spit, a former terminal moraine of the Dawes Glacier, about noon , and lunch will be served in the lounge. After lunch, those so inclined will have the opportunity to learn to paddle sea kayaks, instructed and accompanied by our kayak guide. This is an intimate way to quietly explore the beautiful shoreline and marvel at the rock formations and wildlife. We will also have time to walk on Wood Spit, looking at seasonal wildflowers, wildlife, and the assortment of rocks called glacial erratics, transported here from miles away by the now retreated glacier which carved the Endicott Arm Fjord. Those wishing to try halibut fishing will have an opportunity to do so this afternoon.

We return to our boat for dinner and enjoy the evening stillness with a backdrop of mountains, ocean, glacier, and forest. On clear nights, a performance by the aurora borealis is always a possibility during the short period of darkness.

DAY 3
After breakfast this morning, we weigh anchor and transit the narrow channel through the moraine and into Endicott Arm. We are headed for the 200 foot high face of the Dawes Glacier, 30 miles distant at the head of Endicott Arm. Wildlife viewing along the shoreline is often rewarding, and we will take advantage of the deep water of this fjord to cruise close to shore, stopping as wildlife viewing opportunities present themselves. Raising one's binoculars from the shoreline to the 5,000 foot high peaks often reveals mountain goats. As the steel-hulled 58' Purse Seinerweaves through increasing numbers of icebergs, harbor seals hauled out on the ice become more abundant. One cannot help but marvel at the infinite shapes and shades of blue exhibited by the floating ice.

Assuming the icebergs are not too abundant and we are able to approach the glacier face, we will drift about 1/4 mile from the face, hoping to see the glacier calve icebergs into the ocean. We will eat lunch on deck if weather permits, while drifting at the glacier. After lunch we are usually able to put people ashore with our inflatable. A short walk brings us to an excellent viewing site overlooking the glacier face.

We retreat several miles from the glacier face to tonight's anchorage, where the sound of falling water provides our background music. Dinner is served after we anchor, and the evening can be spent reading, recalling the day's adventures, or sitting outside soaking up the beauty of this spot.

DAY 4
This morning, after breakfast in the lounge, we have a short run to our next sheltered anchorage just outside the tidal rapids known as Ford's Terror. We wait for "slack" water, when water levels inside and outside the narrows are nearly equal and the current virtually stops, to paddle our kayaks through the narrows into the grandeur of the inner fjord. We may linger inside for an hour or two and exit the narrows before the current picks up, or we may choose to paddle further up the fjord and spend six hours picnicking and enjoying the sites, then exiting near the next slack water. As always, we will maintain VHF radio contact with the 58' Purse Seiner and the safety support of our Zodiac inflatable.

After returning to the 58' Purse Seiner, we may venture ashore to look in tidepools and, if the tide is right, watch the rapids develop up close. Wildlife possibilities and magnificent scenery combine to make this day a truly awe inspiring experience.

Another gourmet dinner awaits us, and a short after-dinner kayak paddle around our calm anchorage is a possibility. On clear evenings, the setting sun casts a glow on the mountains and snowfields across Endicott Arm.

DAY 5
Breakfast will be served underway this morning as we motor past the icebergs where we stop briefly to replenish our ice chests with clear glacial ice and continue out of Endicott Arm. Always watchful for whales and porpoise, we travel south in Stephen's Passage to one of several possible sheltered bays on the southeastern shore of Admiralty Island . Providing habitat for one of the highest density brown bear populations found anywhere (approximately one bear per square mile), Admiralty Island National Monument-Kootznoowoo Wilderness is a spectacular unspoiled example of the Southeast Alaska rainforest. We will have time to explore by kayak and on foot. Those interested in fishing may wish to set crab pots and possibly try for a halibut. With luck we will see one or more brown bears foraging along the shore or in the grasses.

Another superb dinner in our lounge, with Admiralty Island serving as a backdrop, will end our fifth day as we swing slowly at anchor.

DAY 6
After breakfast we travel at a leisurely pace to the Brothers Islands . Situated at the junction of Stephen's Passage and Frederick Sound , marine life is abundant around the Brothers. A large colony of Northern (Steller's) Sea Lions resides here, and we will have ample opportunity to observe and photograph these marine mammals from our kayaks or inflatable. The islands of the Brothers group are notched with coves which lend themselves to exploration by kayak or Chamberlin Gunning dory, built by Chad . The intertidal zone is pristine, and we will plan to visit during the lowest tide of our stay. The old growth forest here is different from the forests we have visited thus far, and so a walk in the woods is also on our agenda. Finally, those still wanting to fish may have success here with halibut and shrimp. With so many choices, we expect you will want to spend more time at these island jewels, and so we allocate a second day here.

Dinner one night will be a barbecue on the nearby sand beach. We will transport people and picnic supplies the short distance to shore with our inflatable and you are free to walk along the beach, stroll into the woods, or simply sit around the driftwood campfire while we put the finishing touches on dinner. The view across Frederick Sound to Admiralty Island in the waning light will nurture your soul.

As darkness arrives, or whenever you are ready, we will shuttle you back to the waiting comfort of the 58' Purse Seiner anchored just offshore.

Breakfast will be a leisurely affair today. Since we start our day at tonight's anchorage, this day is entirely available to do the things we didn't get to yesterday or to redo things that were too special not to do again. We spend our last night together still anchored in the shelter and serene beauty of the Brothers.

DAY 7
Breakfast will be served underway today as we make our six hour (plus whale time!) journey across Frederick Sound to Petersburg . When we arrive in town in early afternoon, we will help you disembark with your luggage and assist you on your way to your night's lodging or to the airport. We part company sharing a new bond created from incredible sights and events experienced together over the past week, and we each take with us memories to last a lifetime.

We, on the 58' Purse Seiner, will already be looking forward to sharing our boat with you again on another wilderness voyage.