A refurbished tugboat is the perfect way to explore Alaskas natural charisma and witness its unforgettable wildlife.
Swellappealed because its not a floating luxury hotel but rather an intrepid former workboat.
Even the name of its midsummer itinerary had a ring of adventure: the Alaska Supervoyage.
From left: Swell at anchor in Windfall Harbor; naturalist Misty MacDuffee.Credit:Kevin West
Fortunately,Maple Leafs pre-trip packing checklist had called for a full set of waterproofs.
Theres no bad weather, Alaskan wisdom has it, just bad clothing.
Over breakfast I chatted with fellow nature geek Manda McCoy.
From left: Sea lions near Admiralty Island; a grizzly bear at Pack Creek.Kevin West
By the end of the day, McCoy wondered if our recordkeeping could keep pace with the sightings.
Theres a grizzly on shore.
Grizzly bear, starboard bow, English-born captain Matt Whelan announced over the ships intercom after lunch.
From left: Dawes Glacier, at the end of the Endicott Arm fjord; the key ingredient for “Ice Age cocktails.”.Kevin West
I leaped up from my bunk, trying to remember which side was starboard.
Then a guest yelled humpback!
and pointed toward a whale cruising parallel to shore.
Humpbacks bubblenet feeding in Frederick Sound.Kevin West
Suddenly an eagle swooped into the frame.
Then a sea lion popped up.
People were laughing with wonder.
From left: Soaking in the waters of Warm Springs Bay; a Swell charcuterie spread.Kevin West
Less appealing was the intermittent rotten-egg whiff from the super-heated waters of the sulfur springs.
It should be called Scalding Springs Bay, Whelan said.
An afternoon talk by naturalist Misty MacDuffee described salmon as the backbone of the ecosystem.
How did lush rainforest colonize the sterile land so quickly?
One theory is that salmon returned to Alaskas newly thawed rivers from refugia further south.
Plants moved in: an ecological succession of lichens, mosses, grasses, shrubs, and deciduous trees.
Thursday
The day dawned clear and bright at 4 a.m.
I know because I forgot to wrap up the curtains.
The waters of Security Bay, our overnight anchorage, were oily-calm and full of sea otters.
They paddled past singly and in pairs, trailing V-shaped wakes.
Weather rolled in during breakfast, and we suited up for the Zodiacs.
A few minutes out, first mate Bryan Bowles spotted a 400-yard single-file line of…something.
Even MacDuffee was giddy at the sight.
How do you know youre in Alaska?
A hundred sea otters!
Friday
After breakfast, I joined a small group on a kayaking trip around Brothers Islands.
Shy harbor seals peeked up from kelp beds and disappeared in a blink.
Two big sea lions surfaced as we crossed an open channel, sizing me up boldly.
After lunch,Swellmotored up Frederick Sound.
The intercom crackled to life.
By the time I reached the bow, people were giddy.
A cow and calf surfaced within 100 feet of us.
Many more whales were feeding in the middle distance.
Someone saw seven blows at once.
MacDuffee watched three separate groups of a dozen each.
We were among the lucky few who get the chance to visit under the close watch of the rangers.
Because of visitor quotas at Pack Creek, we split into two groups.
One party sped away in a Zodiac, while the rest of us scanned for wildlife.
Salmon schooled along the shore and leaped madly at nothing.
Whelan led Hofman and me on a shore hike through the estuary.
The next morning it was my groups turn at Pack Creek.
We landed on a cobble spit and walked to a gravel pad above a stream.
The bears ignored us.
Alaska is arich feeding ground for humpbacks, in part because mineral-laden glacial runoff nourishes plankton blooms.
On our last two days, we went glacier hunting.
We followed a fjord called Endicott Arm to its furthest reach, the soaring face of Dawes Glacier.
Seals hauled out on small ice floes.
It was clearer than rock crystal and dimpled all over, like a cut-glass knickknack.
Morgan chiseled it into blocky cubes for G&Ts, which one guest dubbed Ice Age cocktails.
The last wildlife encounter of the trip was, as if by design, the best.
A group of five humpback whales were bubble-net feeding an extraordinary natural spectacle.
They worked together to corral baitfish into a compacted ball near the surface, coordinating their efforts vocally.
MacDuffee dropped a microphone into the water so we could listen.
The surface seemed to explode with whales, their garage-size mouths agape.
It was a heart-stopping sight.
Stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, and even snorkeling in the waters of the Alexander Archipelago are among the options.
For the Utmost in Privacy
The seven-cabinHanse Explorerhas operated private charters in the tropics and Antarctica.
