| Cost From: | $4295 |
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| Length: | 6 days |
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| Activity: | Hiking / Trekking, Small Boat & Yacht Cruising, Wildlife & Natural History, Sea Kayaking |
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The boat and crew were fantastic. This trip exceeded all our expectations!Richard Anderson
By adding trips to your “Wish List” (above), you can easily make a side-by-side detailed comparison of as many trips as you like.
We’re celebrating our 32nd year of adventure with a wonderful array of new trips. Exciting safaris, idyllic hiking trips, fascinating cultural explorations—it’s all here. We invite you to join us!
Experience the wilderness wonders of Glacier Bay by small, private expedition vessel! This is an awesome landscape of fjords, glaciers, and towering mountains, and aboard the 12-passenger M/V Sea Wolf, we’ll feel as if we have it all to ourselves as we anchor in hidden coves, walk on massive tidewater glaciers, and kayak through pristine waters. The wildlife is as spectacular as the scenery, with Steller sea lions congregating on rocky islands, harbor porpoises feeding along the shores, and bald eagles peering down at us from giant spruce snags at water’s edge. Our Trip Leaders bring the natural history of this epic landscape to life, and each evening we relax in the cozy warmth of our historic ship, wildlife watching from the deck during the long Alaskan twilight.
$4295 (11-12 members)
$4695 (10 members)
$5095 (8-9 members)
*Rates have been reduced since the printing of the 2010 catalog
Prices are for 2010 dates
Jun 20-25, 2010
Jul 25-30, 2010
Reading list, click here.
Embarking from Bartlett Cove, we enjoy beautiful vistas while cruising up the bay to Reid Glacier and its incredible wall of ice. After kayaking ashore, we hike onto the ice to hunt for unusual ice worms, learn about the ebb and flow of glaciers, and explore among the grounded icebergs. At day’s end we return to the welcoming warmth of the M/V Sea Wolf for a cup of hot chocolate or glass of wine and to savor a delicious meal (fresh seafood, of course!).
We enter Tarr Inlet, where the Grand Pacific and Margerie glaciers cascade into the water, and enjoy a wonderful paddle along a sheer cliff with a kittiwake and puffin rookery. We also kayak in front of Margerie Glacier, with its 250-foot-high icewall, for the breathtaking experience of watching an active, calving glacier from a safe distance. A cruise past Bear Knob and Lamplough Glacier brings us to our anchorage.
Making our way up Muir Inlet, the eastern arm of Glacier Bay, we set out for an amazing hike by the McBride Glacier, with a paddle up to either Riggs Glacier, or from Muir Glacier to Riggs Glacier. The shoreline here has a great variety of birds and it’s also possible to see bears, wolves, and moose.
North Sandy Cove has a rich ecosystem that supports black bears, moose, and coyotes. We enjoy a morning paddle here and later kayak around Puffin Island, where we get a truly wondrous look at a vertical intertidal zone. Back on board, we cruise to South Marble Island to view a Steller sea lion haul-out and seabird nesting rookery. On our way up to beautiful Dundas Bay, we head to the beach to pick strawberries, learn about and taste native plants, and revel in the glorious flower-strewn meadows. Cow parsley, chocolate lily, yarrow, lupine, wild iris, lily of the valley, and Indian paintbrush are among the plants that brighten the splendid landscape here. Our anchorage tonight is in Dundas Bay.
Rarely visited Dundas Bay is a misty paradise of snow-dusted mountains, glacier-carved inlets (great for sea kayaking), and beautiful native plants in full summer bloom. Wildlife here includes sea and river otters, marmots, and moose. Birdlife abounds, from eagles to cormorants to cranes. We explore by skiff, then walk through Sitka spruce to a mature muskeg bog with orchids, insect-eating sundews, stunted spruce, hemlock, marsh marigolds, and violets. After a final morning of looking for humpback whales, we disembark at Gustavus on the afternoon of Day 6.
This is the Itinerary-at-a-Glance. For the complete trip description, Download Full Trip Brochure
Alaska, USA
The historic expedition ship M/V Sea Wolf, owned and operated by Kimber Owen, is a beautifully maintained ocean-going vessel, absolutely perfect for exploring the most remote reaches of Glacier Bay in comfort. The M/V Sea Wolf caters to just 12 guests with six double staterooms, all with private baths. At 97 feet in length, she is intimate in size yet large enough for you to slip away for private time. Guest areas include a main viewing salon, covered aft viewing deck, and covered side deck. And of course, with the open bridge policy, guests are always welcome to come up on the bridge to watch navigation. We enjoy the use of six double kayaks, plus a 21-foot inflatable skiff.
Taking full advantage of Alaska’s bounty, our meals are prepared simply but are definitely delicious, created around fresh-caught fish including salmon, Dungeness crab, and halibut. Breakfasts are simple, with a variety of fresh baked pastries, homemade cereals, fresh fruits and a hot delicacy. Lunches include halibut tacos, unique sandwiches, and chunky chowders.
Note: Listed above are our signature accommodations for this trip. Although it is highly unlikely, we may make substitutions when necessary.
