Alaska

Dear Alaska,

What a beautiful state you are! I had the pleasure of joining another National Geographic/Lindblad trip with my mom’s side of the family. Thank you, Dan and Ronnie (Grandpa and Grandma), for inviting me on this incredible journey. We were fortunate with the weather throughout the eight-day trip—with only one rainy day and a fantastic amount of wildlife sightings. This tour took us through the Inside Passage and to many places that the bigger cruise lines can’t access.

I created little video with clips from my trip.

Juneau

We started with a flight from Seattle to Juneau, enjoying views of snowy mountains and glaciers on one side of the plane and beautiful water on the other. In Juneau, we checked into our trip and had some free time, which we used to walk down and visit the whale sculpture on the water. Once on the ship, we met our expedition leader, Shawn, and the naturalists who would guide us over the next eight days. We had a delicious dinner and then spent time just sitting outside on the stern of the boat as we headed towards our next destination.

Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness

My day began early at 6:15 a.m. as I wanted to watch the views as we sailed through Tracy Arm-Fords. We anchored and took the zodiacs out to see the glacier. The naturalist said that the icebergs were all new within the last two weeks. They showed us where they had been able to park the ship two weeks ago, which was now very inaccessible due to the ice. It took about 10 minutes going full speed on a zodiac from where they could anchor two weeks ago to where we anchored today. They also said they came up earlier in the morning to scout it out and were able to make it much closer to the glacier. Once we got out onto the zodiac, the water and icebergs had moved so much that we weren’t able to get as close. We spotted mountain goats and saw and heard the sound of ice calving into the water.

After a brief educational session on bear safety and hiking options we would have throughout the rest of the trip, we started sailing towards Petersburg. On the way, we stopped to look at a waterfall called Hole in the Wall. About an hour and a half later, we spotted a pod of killer whales going the opposite direction. Our ship turned into a whale-watching boat, and we turned around to follow them. We ended up turning around right where the Hole in the Wall Waterfall was and again headed back towards Petersburg, our next stop. After dinner, we saw two humpback whales, a mother and her calf.

Petersburg

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to watch us pull into the harbor. We started the morning riding bikes along the shoreline and through the town. I wasn’t able to get my phone out, but my favorite part was when we were riding along the shore and you could see a 180-degree view of the mountains and the ocean. Safety first, but then I managed to get my phone out while biking on the second half of our loop. I met a cute dog at one of our pit stops, and he trained me well to throw a stick for him. In the afternoon, we went on a cultural walk with a Tlingit clan leader, learning about their stories and heritage.

We had a yummy crab feast for dinner and watched a seaplane land with four more passengers who had unfortunate luck and missed their flight from New York to Juneau. They were going to meet us in Petersburg but got stuck in Juneau because of flooding, so they were able to get a charter seaplane and meet us in the middle of the Stephens Passage.

Day 4 – Tenakee Inlet & Freshwater Bay

I started off the morning bright and early again at 4:30 a.m., and it was another gorgeous morning. We saw two pods of orcas as we were arriving at Seal Bay. We had an early start to activities this morning, so we had a light pre-breakfast. We signed up to do kayaking in the morning. We saw a ton of jellyfish and jumping fish in the water. We then did a very casual “hike” more like a stroll along the beach and looked at the intertidal creatures as it was low tide.

In the afternoon, we set anchor in Freshwater Bay where we took zodiacs out to Freshwater Creek Waterfall. We slowly moved into this waterfall where bears like to fish. We waited for probably 45 minutes, not seeing a single bear. We started to make our way out when we got a radio call that the remaining boat there saw a bear. We quickly, and quietly made our way back to the waterfall. We watched five brown bears—two were female adults and three were cubs—walking around the river and falls. Sadly, we only stayed for another 10 to 15 minutes before we had to head back to let the second group go. The second group got the entire 45 minutes with the bears and said that a male brown bear came in at some point, and the five bears left.

The Inian Islands + Idaho Inlets Canyon Creek

The morning started with views of humpbacks and orcas from the boat. Although the first zodiac group saw three humpbacks breaching and got close-ups of killer whales, we still encountered several humpbacks and saw sea otters and sea lions. We saw the sea lions fishing for salmon, which was so cool to see. We went around the time the tides were coming back up and combining with the Pacific Ocean, so the current became a conveyor belt and brought all this food up for the sea lions to eat. I had never seen anything like it before. The sea lions would catch a fish, then bite it, throw it up into the air, and dive for it again to finish it off.

For our afternoon excursion, I decided to do the “adventurous” bushwhacking backcountry hike. There was definitely a good amount of bushwhacking involved and some grabbing onto tree roots so we wouldn’t slide down the hill, as well as some butt sliding down steep slopes. We didn’t see any animals—maybe for the best? We came back to the ship, and right before the evening presentation started, we spotted a dead whale on the beach with some bears eating the carcass. I believe there were both brown bears and black bears, and some cubs. We counted five bears around it. It was crazy to see what we think are ginormous bears in person next to this massive beached whale. The bears looked like little specks and took a minute to spot even with binoculars.

Glacier Bay National Park

Glacier Bay National Park is only accessible by seaplane or boat. We picked up a park ranger at the crack of dawn and then set sail through the national park. We saw some horned and tufted puffins (the ranger said the horned puffins were somewhat uncommon to see). We also saw a bald eagle, more sea otters, and sea lions. We learned that brown bears live in coastal areas and feed on fish, whereas grizzlies live more inland and don’t have access to marine-based food sources. Brown bears are usually much bigger than grizzlies. We saw a brown bear walk down to the beach and turn over rocks so it could eat the barnacles off of them. Once we got to the glacier, it was freezing and kind of raining. We were hoping to see calving (when ice breaks off the glacier), but it wasn’t guaranteed, of course. Luck was still on our side, and we were able to see it maybe half a dozen times. We also attended a wedding. This couple got married on the boat in front of the glacier. Our expedition leader married them, while the hotel manager and one of the naturalists walked them down the “aisle.” They both had name tags that said Bride and Bride, and there were many laughs during the officiant’s speech and cheering at the end. We went back down the bay and docked at Bartlett Cove to let off the Park Ranger and stretch our legs. We went on a “long” walk which was pretty. Some of the guests saw a mama moose and her calf, but I didn’t see them.

Peril Straight, Lake Eva, and Sergius Narrows

We started the day on the Zodiac in Hanus Bay. We saw some cute seals sunbathing and more fish practicing jumping in the ocean. We then went on a walk through the forest and saw another bald eagle and a couple of great blue herons. We then got back onto the boat and set sail towards Sitka. We saw some more humpbacks and sat out on the deck to just relax.

Sitka

We disembarked at 8 a.m. and were bused to the Alaska Raptor Center, where they rescue and rehabilitate over 200 birds a year. They also have 25 permanent residents who aren’t able to fly or fend for themselves. They serve as educational ambassadors for their kind, ranging from bald eagles and snowy owls to red-tailed hawks and a really cute one-eyed northern saw-whet owl named Tito (he was my favorite). After visiting the center, we went to the Sitka National Historical Park Visitor Center. There was a mile loop that we walked and saw some totem poles and a bald eagle sitting in a tree. We then got bused to the hospitality room where we would wait for our bus to the airport. We had about 45 minutes to walk about town. We were able to find these Ray Troll t-shirts that we wanted to get while we were in Petersburg but ran out of time. They are punny shirts that are unique to Alaska. We got to the airport, a small building with two gates.

Overall, I had a fantastic and wonderful trip. We couldn’t have been luckier with the weather, wildlife, and the people we traveled with. The mostly unplugged experience (with minimal cell service and slow Wi-Fi) allowed me to fully enjoy the Alaskan scenery. I highly recommend visiting Alaska if you get the chance and hope you experience the same luck we did.

Until next time!