BETTE LU KRAUSE

Bette Lu's adventurous spirit has taken her around the world by sea — those adventures include tramping about the oceans on old break-bulk freighters, navigating the South Pacific Ocean and on to Antarctica on research vessels as well as several seasons in the Alaskan arctic dodging icebergs in the Beaufort Sea.

She enjoyed a career as a merchant marine and tug captain sailing the high seas and dodging icebergs for 20 years before coming to Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic as chief mate on the National Geographic Sea Bird and Sea Lion in 1991. She says her love for and learning about wild places is lifelong, and the opportunity to develop her skills as a naturalist has been an incredible gift.

While Bette Lu’s first role at Lindblad was as a deck officer, a few years later she became an expedition leader and naturalist, traveling and teaching in several of Lindblads’ wonderful destinations. More recently, she has trained as a wilderness guide and has led several wilderness rites of passage groups. These days Bette Lu resides in a small coastal town in Washington and divides her time by beach combing and birding as often as possible painting in her home art studio, and sharing her love and knowledge of wild places with guests aboard Lindblad ships. Bette Lu firmly believes that to see and experience the nature of Southeast Alaska is a necessity in a well-lived life.