Day 1 - Leave Vancouver about noon, cruise up Georgia Strait, pass Pender Harbor and spend the night at anchor at Lasquitti Island in Scottie Bay, or cruise longer and anchor at or near Desolation Sound.
Day 2 - Continue up Georgia Strait, cruise through Desolation Sound, and navigate through the rapids in order to reach Johnstone Strait where we will look for pods of Orcas. (More than nineteen families of Orcas have been identified in this waterway.) We will also look for porpoises, dolphins and eagles. When we tire of cruising, we will find a cove such as Port Harvey in which to anchor.
Or, we may decide to cross Queen Charlotte Strait, pass Blackfish Sound (again looking for Orcas) and anchor in beautiful Miles Inlet.
Day 3 - Up early to cross Queen Charlotte Sound. (This crossing will take us into the Pacific Ocean for a few hours. But don’t worry, you have an outstanding crew on a heavy-duty ocean-going vessel that has been Coast Guard inspected and certified for exposed waters. Most boats are not Coast Guard inspected to carry passengers and very, very few are certified for exposed waters.) Continue up Fitzhugh Sound, pass Namu, through Lama Pass and stop at Bella Bella/Shearwater for the night. We will probably take a short walk to Fisherman’s Bar and Grill.
Day 4 - Continue north, pass Klemtu, pass Couger Bay into Tolmie Channel, go by Butedale and view the magnificent waterfall. Anchor in Bishop Cove and crab, or anchor in Coghlan Anchorage.
Day 5 - To Prince Rupert via the long, narrow, beautiful Grenville Channel. Traveling up this 45-mile-long channel we see snow covered peaks and thousand foot waterfalls. Last year we followed several deer swimming across the channel. Prince Rupert is the center of two native peoples, the Tsimshian and Haida Indians. Explore the town, shop, check out the locals, have dinner out if you are tired of ship’s gourmet dinners.
Day 6 - Cross Dixon entrance and enter Alaska. Since it is approximately 85 miles from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan, we may opt to spend the night in Foggy Bay. The basin is surrounded by a rain forest, and we will probably see wildlife, including bear, along its shores. (We could be in Alaska earlier depending on how many hours per day we opt to cruise.)
Day 7 - Ketchikan. Find moorage, clear customs, and explore the town. As late as the 1950s, Ketchikan was a rough town full of loggers and miners. It boasted the largest red light district west of the Mississippi. There are gift shops, art galleries, and museums.
(The following only applies if we are cruising to Juneau.)
Day 6 or so - Pass Ketchikan to Meyers Chuck. This is a small active village in a tiny cove. There is an art gallery built in the trees along a dirt trail. Our last year’s guests could not believe the prices and they thought the artifacts were a "steal". They loved this cove and felt it was worth the trip just to experience it.
Day 7 - Visit the town of Wrangell. Wrangell is less sophisticated than most of the other well-known Alaska towns and could be worth a visit. Navigate the narrow, intricate, Wrangell Narrows. The Narrows has the highest concentration of navigational aids (67 lights and buoys for 21 miles) in the world. At the north end of Wrangell Narrows is the town of Petersburg, population 3600. Known as the halibut capital of Alaska, it is home to a large fishing fleet.
Day 8 - Cruise into Frederick Sound. We should see large numbers of humpback whales and Orcas throughout this region. We will also see (and dodge) icebergs. Explore Thomas Bay, which is exactly like a Norwegian fjord. This bay takes us to Baird Glacier where we will spend time enjoying its grandeur. Anchor for the night somewhere in the bay. We are approximately 100 miles south of Juneau.
Day 9 or 10 - Enter Stephens Pass where we can see grizzly bears fishing along the shore. Arrive in Juneau, Alaska’s capital. Juneau is Southeast Alaska’s largest and most cosmopolitan city (population of 29,000). Lots of gift shops, tours to Mendenhall Glacier (or we could rent a car and drive there ourselves), see the city, visit the Red Dog Saloon.
