I Took an Alaskan Cruise to See Bears, Killer Whales, and Secret Beaches — Here’s How You Can, Too

Simply after daybreak in Farragut Bay, a placid inlet that opens onto Alaska’s Inside Passage, I watched as mist slowly crept via the forest that gripped the shoreline. Low-lying clouds blanketed the horizon, however I might see the promise of a sunny morning as I climbed right into a sturdy Zodiac belonging to the 128-foot expedition ship Kruzof Explorer.

I used to be setting off for a seaside stroll onshore with 10 different passengers, plus expedition chief Simon Hook. Simply because the engine revved up, Hook pulled again the throttle. “Killer whales — over there,” he mentioned, pointing at a pair of ink-black fins slipping into the water about 100 toes off our starboard.

My coronary heart pulsed as Hook wheeled the craft round and slowly motored parallel to the whales’ path. They resurfaced 4 extra occasions — we snapped as many photos as we might — earlier than disappearing into the bay. Solely about 300 of the creatures inhabit the waters between Ketchikan and Yakutat, Hook defined, so seeing two in a single morning was extremely lucky.

We might have lots extra alternatives to identify wildlife on our weeklong Alaskan Bear Nation & Wilderness journey — considered one of many itineraries accommodating this season’s excessive demand for journeys to the forty ninth state. Owned by a Tlingit household, Alaskan Dream Cruises operates a fleet of six rustic boats out of Sitka, a port within the state’s southeast. One huge draw of crusing with the corporate is the enthusiastic workers, who both stay within the state 12 months spherical or have a number of summers of expertise there and are, due to this fact, capable of impart next-level information of the terrain and wildlife.

The Bear Nation itinerary, which launched final 12 months, sails alongside the Alexander Archipelago from Sitka to Juneau and immerses vacationers within the state’s uninhabited forests and hidden seashores. The Kruzof Explorer’s six passenger cabins — small, however appropriate, and most with queen beds — sit simply above the waterline. On the highest deck is a light-filled eating room and bar the place we passengers spent a lot of our downtime. On the rear are kayaks, paddleboards, the Zodiac, and a fishing skiff. The five-ton crane, which was used for hauling crab pots earlier than the fishing boat was transformed to a passenger vessel, now transfers the Zodiac and the skiff into and out of the water.

We had kicked off our first day on board with an tour to Hidden Falls Hatchery, on Baranof Island. As a gentle rain started to fall, we shook off the dreary climate and centered on the joy of seeing a salmon run. A wise wilderness information, Hook knew to not tip his hand an excessive amount of by promising sightings that will not materialize. So once we arrived at a small dam, the place the salmon had been valiantly trying to leap into one of many hatchery’s man-made chutes, we had been pleasantly stunned to see our first bears — coastal browns, Hook advised us.

I counted 11 bears. Moms and cubs had been lazily feasting on the bounty of salmon. Juvenile males would plod into the cove to seize fish, then nervously scoot away, as in the event that they did not need to be caught stealing. They might maintain the fish of their paws, pull off the pores and skin first, then munch on the flesh earlier than splitting open the stomach to inhale the roe.

It was late within the season, so the bears had been plump. It appeared like a form of lethargy had set into their routine. However the spectacle was nonetheless irresistible, even because the rain pelted more durable.

The subsequent morning, we woke to a powder-blue sky stretching over Kuiu Island. We had been the one folks on the water, so we kayaked amid the form of stillness my every day life in San Diego sorely lacks. Following our onboard lunch, which showcased halibut and different native seafood, we headed for a stroll on a rocky seaside, the place among the many clean black stones I noticed a knuckle-size nugget with fanlike ridges. “It is a brachiopod fossil,” Hook mentioned. “About 300 million years previous.”

Within the afternoon, as we headed into Frederick Sound, we noticed a pair of humpbacks feeding. Regardless of having made a number of journeys via Alaska’s southeast, this was my first time witnessing what’s often called bubble-net habits. As Hook defined, the whales swim underneath the krill or herring in an upward spiral, whereas exhaling a “web” of bubbles that corrals the fish into a good ball. We watched with rapt consideration because the whales lunged towards the floor, mouths agape, to scoop up the dizzied prey. Hovering over the floor had been a whole bunch of birds: sooty shearwaters and Cassin’s auklets that had been anticipating the place the fish would pop up.

As we headed south within the nightfall, extra humpbacks emerged and a giddy efficiency started because the whales breached, one by one. Every had its personal trajectory — some headed nearly straight up after which crashed down on their sides; others landed on their backs.

After that spectacle, we continued south towards the island city of Wrangell, the place we had been set to anchor for the evening. Watching the sundown from the decks — with cocktails ready by Jessica Machay, the ship’s congenial steward and bartender — was wonderful.

Within the morning, we hopped onto a modern jet boat to entry the Anan Wildlife Observatory on the mainland, 30 miles away. We arrived on the famend bear-watching website shortly after the beginning of the official season, July 5 to August 25, throughout which simply 72 viewing permits are issued every day. Escorted by two rangers carrying rifles, we adopted a path via a forest of Sitka spruce and western hemlock to a deck that neglected a set of gushing falls.

A number of of us descended right into a cramped photograph disguise. A couple of minutes later, I heard the clicking of Hook’s digital camera. The snout of a diminutive black bear had appeared from behind a rock, proper on the water’s edge. Then different, larger bears materialized, strolling on prime of the downed timber that lined the riverbank.

The poor salmon repeatedly tried to crest the falls, however most failed and pooled up on the bear’s toes. The animals appeared oblivious to us. Contained in the disguise, I had an anxious second when one of many carnivores strutted lower than 10 toes away from us. Ultimately bears appeared on all sides of the deck above the disguise, which was nominally protected by a railing (and our armed guides). As we had been strolling again to the jet boat, a grizzly mama watched as her three cubs performed on the other aspect of the estuary.

Our journey into Tracy Arm was no much less thrilling. I had beforehand traveled via this sheer-walled fjord and considered its sapphire-blue terminus from excessive up on the deck of a giant cruise ship. However encountering the tidewater glacier aboard this smaller craft introduced residence the immensity of the ice sheet.

Because the Kruzof’s crane maneuvered to carry the Zodiac into the channel, which was chunky with shards of ice, I requested Hook what to put on. He replied, “Every part you introduced.” Earlier than clambering into the Zodiac, I doubled up on T-shirts and socks, wishing I would paid nearer consideration to the packing record (gloves!).

Close by, a mountain goat and her offspring scaled one craggy wall of the scree-littered terrain. Within the distance, I might see dozens of black spots on bergs that had calved from the glacier. As we shuttled nearer, it turned clear that the blobs had been harbor seals, seemingly unfazed by the cacophony created as sheets of ice tumbled into the water.

Between crashes, after Hook shut off the Zodiac’s motor, I used to be ready to listen to the blissful silence of 13 folks, sitting in awe. I listened for it, however as a substitute, I cued right into a scorching sound coming from the water round us — the crackle of trapped air bubbles being launched because the floating icebergs melted. I had come to Alaska for the wildlife. Who knew the mists and the ice can be alive as nicely?

Alaskan Dream Cruises gives seven-day Alaskan Bear Nation & Wilderness itineraries that begin at $8,525.

A model of this story initially appeared within the July 2022 problem of Journey + Leisure underneath the headline Pure and Easy.