ADVENTURE CRUISES

Alaska Safari Explorer

In Southeast Alaska, you'll travel through the largest national forest in the United States where grizzly bears, black bears, mountain goats, bald eagle and wolves make their home. On the way to view Alaska's massive glaciers, you'll enter some of the world's deepest fjords. In the still of the evening, you can watch bears ambling along wild shorelines. And everywhere in the swirling currents below, the worlds largest mammals, the great whales, forage in the bountiful waters along the sheltered shoreline. Meet Alaska and its wildlife at eye level.

Cruise Details

Not Included: Airfare to Alaska, excess baggage charges, super premium wine, beer and liquor, discretionary gratuities to vessel's crew - typically 10-15% of fare and insurance of any kind.

Day 1: Arrive Juneau, Embarkation
Welcome to Juneau. After meeting fellow guests and your Expedition Leader at the Goldbelt Hotel on Juneau’s waterfront, you'll be driven out to lovely Mendenhall Glacier, which flows down from the Juneau Icecap in the high mountains north of town. Mendenhall is fronted by an iceberg-dotted lake. Later, board the Safari Explorer which will anchor overnight at Funter Bay.

Accommodations: Safari Explorer
Included Meals: Dinner

Day 2: Glacier Bay National Park
All by itself Glacier Bay National Park is larger than the state of Connecticut! Early this morning the group will join up with a National Park Service ranger, then cruise deep into Glacier Bay. Stop to linger by the Marble Islands, home to myriad seabirds including the ever-popular puffins. Wildlife is everywhere – humpback whales breaching in the waters, bears ambling along the shorelines, moose browsing in the shrubbery, mountain goats high on the cliffs. Nearly 60 miles up-bay you'll cruise close up to Grand Pacific and Margerie Glaciers, which frequently calve huge icebergs into the bay. Watch for seals sunning on the ice. This evening it's time to exit the park and drop anchor in a secluded cove.

Accommodations: Safari Explorer
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 3: Whale Watching
The waters of Icy Strait just outside Glacier Bay National Park are prime whale viewing waters. Humpback whales flip their tails to dive, spank their fins on the water, and occasionally even breach clear out of the water. As a team effort, the whales engage in ‘bubble feeding’ – deep underwater they blow a circle of bubbles around schools of fish, which concentrate the prey for easier consumption. Your expert Captain knows where the best wildlife watching is to be had.

You may enjoy a skiff ride near a pod of whales. These explorations by small skiff are one of the true delights of a yacht cruise adventure, as you cruise just feet away from rocky islets aswirl with seabirds, tuck into impossibly tiny coves, and get close enough to waterfalls pouring from the cliffs above that you’ll wish you had brought an umbrella. Overnight in Sitkoh Bay.

Accommodations: Safari Explorer
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 4: Frederick Sound and Sea Lions
Today you’ll cruise around wilderness Admiralty Island to more prime humpback-viewing waters in Frederick Sound. Take time for skiff operations and sea kayaking in Saginaw Bay, and cruise up-close to a sea lion colony at the Brothers Islands. Overnight Thomas Bay.

Accommodations: Safari Explorer
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 5: Rainforest Hiking and Petersburg
Today you explore gorgeous trails in the Tongass National Forest near Petersburg. The yacht will also dock at the picturesque little Norwegian fishing village of Petersburg and there is plenty of time for exploration on foot. This was a prime early fishing center for Alaska because free ice for cold storage washed up on the town’s beaches in the form of icebergs, courtesy of nearby glaciers. Then cruise north to Stephens Passage to find a peaceful anchorage for the evening, with kayaking and skiff explorations available after dinner.

Accommodations: Safari Explorer
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 6: Admiralty Island - Bears
Today the yacht tucks into Gambier Bay - a large, island-speckled body of water on the south coast of Admiralty Island National Monument. The kayaks are dropped and you can launch the skiff for up-close exploration of this cool forested bay. Never logged, the thick evergreen forest crowds right down to the gravel beaches. Here is an outstanding opportunity to spot the huge brown – or grizzly – bears for which Admiralty Island is famous. At low tide they’re right down on the beaches, seeking a shellfish supper. Once again under way, you’ll watch for humpback whales before anchoring at Wood Spit for more exploration by kayak and skiff.

Accommodations: Safari Explorer
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 7: Ford’s Terror and Endicott Arm
Cliff-walled fjords sliced into the mountainous mainland are on tap today as the yacht tucks into an area widely acclaimed as the most beautiful in all of Alaska. Snow gleams on mountaintops high overhead, as bears amble on the shoreline and mountain goats cling to impossibly precarious perches. Seemingly every few hundred yards another sparkling waterfall tumbles down the cliffs. Enjoy a skiff ride at Ford’s Terror, named after an early mariner who was somewhat taken aback when a waterfall appeared at the turn of the tide where none had been visible at high tide. The ship anchors overnight at Taku Harbor to enjoy the Captain’s Farewell Dinner in an utterly lovely setting.

Accommodations: Safari Explorer
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 8: Disembark in Juneau
Transfer to the airport or hotel.

Accommodations: N/A
Included Meals: Breakfast