While on-board our Alaska small ship cruise , the following sample itinerary below is just one of the many ways you can spend your seven day cruise.
My travel arrangements call for a rendezvous aboard the Sikumi at 12:00 noon. A little bit early and am greeted by a smiling crew and captain. The steward is quick to give me a hand with my bags and show me to my room.
After a quick unpacking I emerge to meet the other crew members. I grab a glass of fresh orange juice and make myself at home in the stylish salon. Over the next half hour the other five passengers make their way aboard and we all get acquainted with one another over freshly baked pastries and a truly amazing array of freshly cut fruits and vegetables.
After a quick safety briefing with the captain and crew, we get underway, heading east to Leconte Glacier, one of the most anticipated stops of our entire adventure.
Frederick Sound separates Petersburg from the glacier and the bay in which it lies. It is world renowned for its extremely high concentration of Humpback Whales, making it a popular destination for whale watchers.
I spend some time with the captain in the wheelhouse, combing the horizons for any sign of the mammoth creatures. He explains the habits of fish that draw the whales to the sound in such high concentration as I listen intently. Much to my amusement, less than thirty minutes after leaving the dock I have my first whale sighting. Off in the distance I catch a glimpse of a tale flapping as a humpback dives deep into the ocean.
The captain smiles at my excitement, as he knows how much more is to come.
We make our way into a fairly narrow waterway surrounded by towering peaks. Terminal hang on many mountains as we make our up this increasingly narrow bay, toward Leconte Glacier. We see harbor seals lounging on floating pieces of ice and lying on the coast’s rocks. The floating ice gets more dense as we progress. As we round the final bend the massive tidewater glacier comes into view, and we slowly make our way to within about a quarter mile of its face.
I watchfrom the front deck as huge pieces of ice, sometimes hundreds of meters across, break away from the glacier and fall into the sea. The thunderous clap of the ice and the rolling waves which it produces are astonishing. I begin to understand why we keep our distance from such towering behemoths.
My fellow passengers and I return below deck to enjoy our first of many amazing meals, a pecan-encrusted halibut feast served with baked squash, homemade dinner rolls, and an amazing black cherry sauce. The on-board chef, is as hardworking as he is talented, a characteristic I will come to find in all of the crew.
After hanging around the glacier for about an hour, we slowly turn around and begin heading back toward Fredrick Sound . I lounge around the salon with other passengers, enjoying a fantastic view of the glacier as we slowly retreat from it. As we return to Fredrick Sound we head north, toward Hobart Bay where we will spend our first night aboard the our boat. After pulling into this sheltered bay, we drop anchor and are treated to a wonderful dinner and a chocolate cake dessert.
After dinner I find myself on the top deck, taking in my first sunset in Southeast Alaska . The captain invites me to drop a string of shrimp pots and guides me as I set them out. Later, after a few drinks and some lively discussion with my new-found friends I retire to my room for the night. The cozy bed and fine linens are quite inviting after such a lively day.