Discover iconic wild Alaska on an expedition honed over 35+ years

Venture into a land of mist-shrouded fjords, tidewater glaciers, and islands teeming with wildlife. For over 35 years we’ve been sharing the remarkable beauty of Southeast Alaska with adventurous guests, and over those years we’ve found the shallow, fast-moving channels where whales return to feed year after year and the ancestral trails carved in the forest by lumbering bears. Join us to explore these wild places and search for marine life, kayak along the coast, and spend a full day in Glacier Bay National Park with insights from a park ranger and a Tlingit cultural interpreter.

  • Hike through lush forests and muskegs, kayak into secluded inlets, and cruise by Zodiac among electric blue icebergs and curious wildlife

  • By special permit, spend a full day exploring Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

  • If schedules permit, our conservation partners from the Alaska Whale Foundation will come aboard to meet with us and speak about the local whale population

  • Discover Alaska’s seldom-seen, vibrant marine life revealed by our undersea specialist

  • Hike and kayak in the wild remote areas of Tongass National Forest by special permit

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Duration

8 Days

Price

From $7,200 per person

Dates

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Next departure

7/31/2021

Special offers

BRINGING THE KIDS

COMBINING OFFERS

BACK-TO-BACK SAVINGS

TRAVELING AS A GROUP

Free Airfare ON SELECT DATES

CELEBRATE LIFE'S MILESTONES

Ships

Alaska

Day By Day

Get out and explore by walking forest paths created by wildlife and seeing eagles, bears, whales, sea lions, and more. Make the expedition as active as you choose, and each day join a different naturalist in exploring for more viewpoints and learning. Hike, kayak, cruise by Zodiac and stand-up paddleboard.

Current

Embark

Juneau, Alaska

Disembark

Sitka, Alaska

Itinerary PDF

Reverse

Embark

Sitka, Alaska

Disembark

Juneau, Alaska

Itinerary PDF

Please be aware we have made slight modifications to our 2021 Summer Season itineraries in accordance with our protocols.  Call 1-800-EXPEDITION for additional details.

Alternative Route

Get out and explore by walking forest paths created by wildlife and seeing eagles, bears, whales, sea lions, and more. Make the expedition as active as you choose, and each day join a different naturalist in exploring for more viewpoints and learning. Hike, kayak, cruise by Zodiac and stand-up paddleboard.

Embark

Disembark

Ready for the adventure of a lifetime?

Talk to an Expedition Specialist

1.800.EXPEDITION (1.800.397.3348)

Call now

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Talk to an Expedition Specialist

1.800.EXPEDITION (1.800.397.3348)

Call now

Make a reservation

RESERVE

Sign up for our newsletter & special offers

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Special Offers

Special Offers

BRINGING THE KIDS
Special Offers

We believe sharing an expedition with your kids or grandkids is a life-enhancing experience. So take $500 off for each child under the age of 18.

COMBINING OFFERS
Special Offers

Certain offers may be combinable, up to two savings opportunities, except where noted otherwise. For example, travel with a group of 8 or more on back-to-back expeditions, and take advantage of both savings.

BACK-TO-BACK SAVINGS
Special Offers

Save 10% on any consecutive journeys taken on board one of our expedition ships. This savings is applicable on voyage fares only, and are not valid on extensions or airfare.

TRAVELING AS A GROUP
Special Offers

Save 5% when traveling as a group of 8 or more people. Take advantage of these great savings, while enjoying traveling with your friends and family. This savings is applicable to voyage fares only, and is not valid on extensions or airfare. Deposit, final payments, and cancellation policies for group travel vary from our regular policies.

Free Airfare ON SELECT DATES
Special Offers

Book by November 30, 2021, to receive free roundtrip airfare from Seattle to Alaska on select departures on Exploring Alaska’s Coastal Wilderness and Wild Alaska Escapes, or free one-way airfare on select departures on Treasures of the Inside Passage: Alaska & British Columbia and A Remarkable Journey to Alaska, British Columbia & Haida Gwaii. Complimentary air is based on economy group flights and must be ticketed by Lindblad Expeditions. In the case that Lindblad's group flight is not available at time of booking, we reserve the right to issue a credit. Baggage fees may be additional. New bookings only and not combinable with other offers or pre- or post-extensions. Call for details.

CELEBRATE LIFE'S MILESTONES
Special Offers

In the spirit of celebration aboard, you and your companions will be entitled to Milestone benefits: 5% off groups of 8 or more; $150 shipboard credit which can be used for gift shop items, or most shipboard items including the LEXspa, the ship’s bar and dining room; complimentary video chronicle; complimentary custom photograph of you and your guests taken by the LEX-NG Photo Instructor to capture the moment; complimentary specially served decorated cake; special welcome gift in your cabin. For new Exploring Alaska's Coastal Wilderness departure bookings only. Milestone celebration needs to be communicated at time of booking, amenity package is one per group and intended for the guest celebrating the Milestone event. Group discount is applicable to cruise portion only, and does not apply towards additional services such as hotels, extensions, etc. Group cancellation terms also apply. Not combinable with certain offers. Valid for groups of 8 or more.

Dates, Rates & Cabins

Travel on this itinerary from $7,200 per person

Browse our team directory to discover the full cast of expedition staff

View Directory

Extensions

Extensions

Make the most of your proximity and time

Denali National Park Post Voyage Extension
Denali National Park Post Voyage Extension

Post-trip

6 Days

From

$6,950 per person

Discover the wildness that lives at the heart of Alaska; add an inland exploration of Denali National Park to your coastal expedition.

Explore from a comfortable, elegant wilderness lodge.
With the idyllic Kantishna Roadhouse Lodge as your base camp, you’ll enjoy special access. Kantishna's relationship with the Park ensures exclusive opportunities for you to explore Denali National Park’s most pristine backcountry areas for prime hiking and wildlife viewing. Set deep in the heart of the Park, this unique wilderness retreat offers unparalleled views of Denali, a wide range of outdoor activities and nightly presentations that emphasize Denali’s natural and cultural history, plus locally sourced cuisine. The small group size of 11 guests per naturalist enhances the intimacy of outings and opportunities for in-depth learning. Explore via private touring vehicles, or if you prefer a more personal exploration, you can hike a trail near the lodge or around Wonder Lake, bike the trails or even spend an afternoon fishing. At the expedition’s end, you’ll return to Anchorage first class in lavishly appointed cars on the Alaska Railroad that feature original Alaska art and a private outdoor viewing deck.

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Daily Expedition Reports

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Daily Expedition Reports

Jul 21

Read

National Geographic Venture

Inian Islands and George Island

  When most people think of productive ocean ecosystems, the colorful reefs of the tropics come to mind. But it’s the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the higher latitudes that are the productivity centers of our oceans. Sunlight and nutrients lead to an abundance found in few other places in the world. To discover this for ourselves, we took to our Zodiacs to explore the Inian Islands, a small group of rocky islands at the threshold of the open Pacific Ocean and the sinuous fjords and inlets of the Inside Passage.   The rising tide funnels incredible amounts of water from the open ocean through the channels around the islands. These currents begin to churn, bringing food from the bottom to feed predators at the surface. And we had the opportunity to see them all.   Steller sea lions thrashed prey while bald eagles lined the trees, waiting to swoop down. Sea otters fed on sea stars in the kelp beds, while sea birds like the pigeon guillemot dove over and over for eel and capelin. Later, as we hiked, paddled, and kayaked around the rocky shores of George Island, we looked at the diversity of the intertidal zones and kelp forests from above.   The rugged abundance of the Alaskan ocean in the summertime. All together in one place.

Daily Expedition Reports

Jul 21

Read

National Geographic Quest

Glacier Bay National Park

A mere 250 years ago, the entirety of Glacier Bay was under ice. Today, most of that ice has melted away, and in its place is every plant and animal that you would expect to find in this ecosystem. Whether it is a brown bear on the beach, a mountain goat on Gloomy Knob, a puffin at South Marble Island, or an eagle at Margerie Glacier. All the bird and mammal species that you would expect at this latitude are not only present but abundant.   Today we saw all these critters as well as sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals, and humpback whales. We saw horned puffins, tufted puffins, cormorants, and kittiwakes. We saw an evolving ecosystem still wrenching itself out of the Little Ice Age.   After dinner, we came ashore to learn that this special place is not just rich in natural history, but the cultural history too. Stories of the Tlingit culture are told by the totem poles, carvings in the trees and intricately crafted panels of the Tlingit Tribal House—Huna Shuka Hit.   Walking through the temperate rain forest, these stories told in the totems echo and reverberate through moss, lichen, leaves and light.

Daily Expedition Reports

Jul 21

Read

National Geographic Venture

Chatham Strait and Sitkoh Bay

It is not every morning that breakfast concludes with close wildlife encounters, let alone an encounter with a group of feeding humpback whales. While we were traveling through Peril Strait and enjoying our eggs and bacon, these giants of the sea were enjoying tons—literally tons—of schooling fish. These North Pacific humpback whales come to Southeast Alaska to partake in a summer feeding frenzy. The cold and nutrient-rich waters along with extra summer sunshine create a thriving coastal ecosystem that supports the large size and migrations of these massive creatures.   While most of our humpback encounters are with solitary whales that dive down to feed underwater, we witnessed a unique surface-feeding behavior called bubble-net feeding. Essentially, we observed a group of six to seven whales collectively create a bait ball of schooling herring and then all at once lunge to the water’s surface, catching the fish inside their open mouths. We see the same individual whales gathering year after year to bubble-net feed. Today, using fluke identification, we identified five of seven whales, including a known female named Angstrom.   After saying goodbye to the bubble-netters, we were on our way to Sitkoh Bay. We spent the afternoon getting to know the lush temperate coastal rainforest by walking along the shaded trails surrounding the bay. Salmon have begun to enter the area, and as we returned to the ship by Zodiac, we spotted a mother brown bear foraging with her two cubs nearby. It was an incredible first day exploring the marine and terrestrial ecosystems that make Southeast Alaska so grand. Yet in the end, it was the banana slugs that were the talk of cocktail hour. A reminder that the natural world, no matter how small, could still spark our excitement and wonder.

Daily Expedition Reports

Jul 21

Read

National Geographic Quest

Youkeen Cove and Pavlof Harbor

While heading towards Youkeen Inlet, we spotted numerous columnar blows on the horizon. These whale blows were very close together. We had found what we were looking for. A group of humpback whales were exhibiting a cooperative feeding behavior. As the National Geographic Quest got closer, we counted twelve whales that participated in the group. We stayed with them for some time, and at the end, when we though the experience was about to end, one whale breached right after another on a spectacular double breach!   At Youkeen Cove, we explored the temperate rain forest, walking through ancestral bear trails and experiencing the diverse intertidal life at extreme low tide. Many of us decided to kayak and even to try out the paddle boards. Paddling our own craft in Southeast Alaska was worth the effort!   Later, the National Geographic Quest , repositioned to Freshwater Bay, on Chichagof Island. Our goal was to look for bears on the river, where salmon have just started to congregate to spawn. Although bears decided not to show up, we spent enough time out in the wilderness, listening, observing, and just taking in the moment. Hundreds of pink salmon splashed on the surface of the clear water, and we learned the multiple connections between the salmon’s life cycle and the nature of the temperate rain forest.   While we were waiting, a young bald eagle, landed in the shallow water, where many salmon had been trapped by the outgoing tide. We could tell that this bird had recently learned how to become independent. It was attempting to catch fish, without seeming to realize how big and strong the salmon could be. With apparent excitement and fear at the same time, this young eagle kept catching salmon that were too big to handle. The eagle finally realized that its efforts were not ending in any reward and flew away, to rest on a distant spruce branch.   As these words were being written, a group of transient orcas appeared close to the ship. At the same time, two different cooperative groups of humpback whales became quite active. All this happened right next to Point Augusta.  

Daily Expedition Reports

Jul 21

Read

National Geographic Venture

Rodman Bay and Peril Strait, Southeast Alaska

Parting is such sweet sorrow today is our last day together, and somehow Alaska knew because the clouds gathered were crying all day. That did not stop us from doing one last grand wild Alaska adventure. We as a ship banded together to make sure all guests, staff, and crew still had fun, rain or shine. Our Global Explores got to drive Zodiacs. Our hikers followed old logging roads, noting how the forest had grown back.   The dive team went into the water for underwater images to share. Shay and I worked together to get all the gear collected and organized. The two divers and surface support team hopped into a Zodiac and drove to a rocky spit in Rodman Bay. Looking at the shoreline, there was some skepticism about a good dive in weather like this. As the divers descended into the murky depths, they found the little underwater rocky spit teeming with life. During the dive they videoed shrimp, fish, sea stars, anemones, sea cucumbers, and jellies. We made history in the Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic dive log as we were the first two people to dive in Rodman Bay.   Once everyone was back on ship and dried off, we all gathered in the galley to enjoy a delicious lunch that warmed us back up. We were greeted by a humpback whale family eating their lunch of tasty fish using the bubble-net technique to catch their prey. We lifted anchor, and we began our journey through Peril Strait towards Sitka.

Talk to an Expedition Specialist

1.800.EXPEDITION (1.800.397.3348)

Call now

Make a reservation

RESERVE

Sign up for our newsletter & special offers

Sign up

Talk to an Expedition Specialist

1.800.EXPEDITION (1.800.397.3348)

Call now

Make a reservation

RESERVE

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