Sitka To Juneau Itinerary    Read About Whale Migration

Yachts In Alaska

Itinerary Sitka to Juneau (Courtesy of the Motor Yacht Centurion)

Within this itinerary, the possibilities are endless and totally dependent on the adventurous minds of the guests and captain.

Day 1
Departure is from the beautiful Sitka by the Sea, the capital of Russian America and the site of the hand over of "Seward's Folly" to the United States. Before boarding Centurion, plan a visit to the Alaska Raptor Rehabilitation Center and commune close up with bald eagles, stroll through the haunting temperate rainforest trails of Totem Park, the site of the battle of Sitka between the Russians and the Tlinket natives. See native totem carvers, silversmiths and artists at work in the Sitka National Historic Monument. A stop at the Pioneer Bar for a taste of local color is a must.

Upon departure your yacht will travel up the outer coast of Baranof and Chichigof Islands viewing the sea lions, sea otters and puffins of the St. Lazaria National Wildlife Refuge along the way. We will anchor in a secluded bay on the rock strewn outer cost of Chichigof Island.

Day 2
Today we explore scenic Ogden Passage by sea kayak and shore boat, stopping for a relaxing soak at White Sulfur Hot Springs before transiting steep sided Lisianski Strait to our evening moorage in the fishing village of Pelican. After dinner take a boat ride to "Bear Meadows" before exploring the local color of this sleepy outpost.

Day 3
Entering Cross Sound, we see the Brady Glacier and Cape Spencer (named by Vancouver for the family of Princess Diana Spencer and also the northern terminus of the Inside Passage). This is prime salmon and halibut country and if the tides are right we try our luck fishing "The Hump". Today we visit Elfin Cove where we explore this boardwalk village of artists and fisherman, bartering for fresh oysters and the catch of the day. Later we explore the current filled South Inian Pass and cruise the churning waters of "The Laundry" between the Inian Islands before finding our evening anchorage in a quiet misty cove. After dinner tonight we kayak among great rafts of sea otters making their home on this hidden secret of Southeast Alaska.

Day 4
Key Strait is our destination and the famous Point Adolphus. We launch the shore boat and kayaks to watch up close as humpback whales feed on the plankton in the upwelling nutrient rich waters with a backdrop of the jagged peaks of the Fairweather Range. We visit Gustavus for a walk on the find sandy beaches Left by the retreating glaciers following the fresh tracks of moose that abound in the area or maybe tee off for a round of golf on the Mt. Fairweather links. Salmon, halibut and Dungeness crab are abundant for the angler and an optional flightseeing trip with a local bush pilot over the spectacular Glacier Bay Park is available. Our evening anchorage is determined by the whims of the Captain and guests.

Day 5
Today is spent exploring the secrets of Chatham Strait. We may kayak the marble grottoes of Basket Bay, or fish the trophy steelhead streams of Sitkon Bay visiting the ruins of historic Chatham Cannery or the shore based whaling station of Killisnoo along the way. Wildlife abounds as we look for brown bears while cruising the shores of Admiralty Island, named Kootznahoo (fortress of the Bears) by the natives. A relaxing soak in the stone hot springs next to the waterfall in Daranof is in store before we seek our evening anchorage in a mist filled secret bay at the foot of a hanging glacier.

Day 6
Fredrick Sound. Today we cruise the sea lion rookery at the Brothers Islands to observe the behavior of these large animals as they interact in their ordered society. Humpback whales congregate in this area and we move close to watch these leviathans "bubble net" for their food or repeatedly hurl their thirty-ton bodies from the water with a resounding slap that is heard for miles. We watch for the resident pod of Orca whales to see these carnivorous sea hunters on their stealthy quest for food. Anchorage tonight is in a quiet cove where we may pan for gold in the stream where the first Alaska strike occurred that began the rush north in the late nineteenth century.

Day 7
Today we make our way through the ice strew Tracy Arm National Wilderness Area. We weave through the icebergs looking for black bears and mountain goats to view the actively calving Sawyer Glacier at the terminus of this steep sided Fjord. This day is spend exploring the ice and waterfalls by kayak and shore boat taking care not to disturb the thousands of harbor seals lying on the ice flows in this secluded "pupping ground" safe from the Orcas of Fredrick Sound. We move this evening to our departure destination of historic Juneau, the capital of Alaska to sample the art galleries and nightlife of this exciting frontier town. An optional helicopter flight to land on the Juneau ice field is available.

This description is courtesy of the US Park Service:

The Whales of Glacier Bay

Whales, symbolizing the struggle to preserve nature, include the largest creatures our world has known. Blue whales weighed up to 200 tons before whaling days. Sixty to 100 million years ago the ancestors of today's whales were land dwelling, warm-blooded, air breathing mammals who successfully returned to the seas to live. Alaskan waters boast 10 species of baleen whales and 5 toothed whales. Glacier Bay waters boast 2 of the baleen whales, the minke and humpback, and 1 toothed whale, the orca. The whales' appeal mixes familiarity and strangeness. Whales live in family groups, aid each other in distress, and talk to each other. Some serious observers credit whales with rational thought.

Minke whales are thought to be quite migratory and are more at home in cold northern waters than most baleen whales. (Baleen whales are named for how they feed). Cod and pollock are their main diet here. Farther south minkes favor krill. The upper size limit of minke whales in northern waters is 33 feet. Among large whales, minkes are fast swimmers, making speeds up to 20 miles per hour. As whaling has depleted more favored species, the rich meated minke has become the most heavily taken of baleen whales today. Their North Pacific population appears to have declined to between one-fourth and one-third its pre-whaling numbers.

Orca whales feed on various marine animals, including fish, sea lions, seals, porpoises, sharks, squid, and other whales. Also called killer whales, orcas can hunt in teams and have killed blue whales, the world's largest animals. Male orca whales average about 23 feet long; the females less. They have no natural enemies. Thought to be highly intelligent, orcas are readily trained in captivity. They can swim at a steady 29 miles per hour. Their distinctive, largely triangular dorsal fin may reach nearly 6 feet high on old males.

Humpback whales are the most acrobatic of whales, heaving their massive selves by leaps and turns out of the water. Humpbacks are both cosmopolitan -- found in all oceans -- and endangered. Only about seven percent of their pre-whaling numbers remain. Coastal feeders who love shorelines, bays, and fjords, they are naturals for Alaska, which boasts nearly 34,000 miles of tidal shoreline. Humpbacks feed here on krill, shrimp, and various fish, including capelin. Humpbacks feed heavily because, unlike most birds and mammals, they do not feed year round. Humpbacks must store enough fat in summer to last the rest of the year. Adults average 40 to 50 feet long, females being the larger. Adults weigh in at about three-quarters of a ton per running foot.

An adult humpback has from 600 to 800 baleen Plates in its mouth. These plates end in bristles. In the feeding process, huge masses of sea organisms are scooped into the mouth. Then the water, some 150 gallons at a shot, is expelled while the plates filter in the edibles. Were you to stare into a humpback's mouth -- which opens to 90 degrees -- you might not readily discount the Biblical mishaps of Jonah. Glacier Bay humpbacks have been observed working singly or in pairs to cast a "net" of bubbles about their prey and then harvesting the hapless creatures -- probably shrimp and other slower-moving organisms -- caught in their airy illusion.

To see these large whales in their native habitat surely counts as one of the great experiences of a lifetime. The situation of whales, and particularly of the endangered humpback whales, in Glacier Bay has recently been under intensive scrutiny by scientists. The purpose of the studies has been to learn enough about these awe-inspiring creatures to protect them. The numbers of whales present can vary dramatically from year to year. Whether these variations are wholly natural or not is uncertain. Historically, most of our information about whales derives from attempts to harvest them, not to save them from extinction.

Enter Glacier Bay and you cruise along shorelines completely covered by ice just 200 years ago. Explorer Capt. George Vancouver found Icy Strait choked with ice in 1794, and Glacier Bay was a barely indented glacier. That glacier was more than 4,000 feet thick, up to 20 miles or more wide, and extended more than 100 miles to the St. Elias Range of mountains. But by 1879 naturalist John Muir found that the ice had retreated 48 miles up the bay. By 1916 the Grand Pacific Glacier headed Tarr Inlet 65 miles from Glacier Bay's mouth. Such rapid retreat is known nowhere else. Scientists have documented it, hoping to learn how glacial activity relates to climate changes.

The park includes some 12 tidewater glaciers that calve into the bay. The show can be spectacular. As water undermines some ice fronts great blocks of ice up to 200 feet high break loose and crash into the water.

In Johns Hopkins Inlet, several peaks rise from sea level to 6,520 feet within just 4 miles of shore. The great glaciers of the past carved these fjords, or drowned valleys, out of the mountains like great troughs. Landslides help widen the troughs as the glaciers remove the bedrock support on upper slopes.

Tlingit Indians were the original inhabitants of Glacier Bay and still consider it their ancestral home. Hunters and gatherers of salmon, seals, berries and roots, they were driven from the bay by advancing glaciers during the Little Ice Age. Naturalist and adventurer John Muir is credited with discovering the bay in 1879, and tourism to this land of ice and snow began soon after. Pioneering homesteaders began farming in Gustavus around 1923, when fish canneries and salteries doned the region. Though a few hardy men and women have chosen to live in Glacier Bay and on the outer coast in times past, the area remains largely isolated and undeveloped.

Guided kayak and backpack trips can be arranged, as well as raft trips down the Alsek River, and hunting and fishing guides and lodging in the Preserve. Three miles of maintained trails wind through rain forest along beaches.