Following the build of National Geographic Quest at Nichols Brothers shipyard, her sister ship the 100-guest National Geographic Venture floated into the bay on Whidbey Island, becoming the 4th ship in the Lindblad fleet built at this storied PNW shipyard.
Day 1 Seattle
Seattle is situated on Puget Sound, surrounded by the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges. The city skyline is impressive with shimmering glass high-rises and 100-year-old buildings standing side by side. This beautiful port city came into its own after gold was discovered in the Klondike and 100,000 people passed through the Northwest in 1897 and 1898 on their quest for wealth in Alaska Visit the Klondike Gold Rush Museum or the Space Needle by day and enjoy a vibrant jazz nightlife in turn-of-the-century Pioneer Square where the city first took root.
Day 2 San Juan Islands
A collection of beautiful, scenic islands off the Washington coast. Explore quaint Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, or venture to Orcas island and explore!
Day 3 Victoria, B.C.
British culture and island informality collide in Victoria. This sophisticated seaside city is full of historic sites, parks and gardens. Take a walking tour - many of which begin at Parliament Buildings at Victoria's Inner Harbor. Combined with majestic Empress Hotel, these monumental buildings give the city a regal European feel. See equally impressive modern structures, such as Royal British Columbia History Museum, or replicas of large, native Northwest Indian houses at Thunderbird Park. Unique attractions include Undersea Gardens, Miniature World, Maritime Museum, Chinatown and Royal London Wax Museum. A memorable places to visit is world-famous Butchart Gardens, with 5,000 fauna varieties. The dazzling gardens on Saanich Inlet are beautiful at night, when hundreds of lights sparkle along winding paths. Additional gardens in Victoria include Crystal Garden and the gardens surrounding Government House and near Craigdarroch Castle, a towering Victorian mansion complete with a tower and turrets. Tour this city in a horse-drawn carriage.
Day 4 Gulf Islands
Between the British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island, 30 mi/50 km southwest of Vancouver, lies the Gulf Islands, a cluster of pastoral islands, much like the San Juan Islands in neighboring Washington. The largest of these islands, Saltspring Island, is only 20 mi/30 km long and about 10 mi/16 km wide. It has a thriving arts community that boasts best-selling authors and galleries with national reputations. Mayne Island was once a stopover for prospectors heading to the Klondike Gold Rush. It has several charming turn-of-the-century buildings.
All of the Gulf Islands are very laid-back and great to discover by bicycle, car or on foot. Hop between islands on the frequent boats run by B.C. Ferries, or consider a sea kayak excursion—a popular way to see this area.
Day 5 Alert Bay
Alert Bay lies off Vancouver Island in the straits and channels between the island and the mainland. It is home to one of the best-preserved and still vibrant native villages in western Canada. Totem poles face the waters, and cedar-pole longhouses are painted with traditional images and symbols. The U'Mista Cultural Centre contains a collection of carved wooden masks, baskets, and potlatch ceremonial objects.
Day 5 Johnstone Strait
Johnstone Strait is a deep glacier-carved passage off the east coat of Vancouver Island, British Colombia. The strait is home to the largest resident pod of killer whales in the world, and there is no better place for visitors to view these amazing creatures. Visitors may also enjoy visiting the Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park. The park is a maze of small islands, and a superb destination for sea kayaking.
Day 6 Inside Passage
Imagine being confronted with a myriad of mysterious channels. Following each fjord to the interior, encounter massive mountain ranges, towering cliffs, tumbling waterfalls, virginal forests of two-hundred foot tall spruce, while whales, bears, seals, salmon, eagles and other wildlife. Always they were stopped by an inevitable face of ice - glaciers pushing inexorably downward to meet the sea. What must have been a mapmaker's nightmare is today cherished as the continent's last great untouched wilderness, harbouring the world's largest temperate rain forest. An Eden of the North to captivate the every modern-day explorer. The string of islands of the Inside Passage create a protective barrier to the open sea running from the Washington State/Canadian border and the bottom of Vancouver Island all the way up to the top of Chichagof Island, where the Gulf of Alaska begins its curve westward, offering a supremely serene cruising environment in some of the most dramatic surroundings on earth.
Day 7 Inside Passage
Imagine being confronted with a myriad of mysterious channels. Following each fjord to the interior, encounter massive mountain ranges, towering cliffs, tumbling waterfalls, virginal forests of two-hundred foot tall spruce, while whales, bears, seals, salmon, eagles and other wildlife. Always they were stopped by an inevitable face of ice - glaciers pushing inexorably downward to meet the sea. What must have been a mapmaker's nightmare is today cherished as the continent's last great untouched wilderness, harbouring the world's largest temperate rain forest. An Eden of the North to captivate the every modern-day explorer. The string of islands of the Inside Passage create a protective barrier to the open sea running from the Washington State/Canadian border and the bottom of Vancouver Island all the way up to the top of Chichagof Island, where the Gulf of Alaska begins its curve westward, offering a supremely serene cruising environment in some of the most dramatic surroundings on earth.
Day 8 Misty Fjords
At 3,600 square miles, this least spoiled of all wilderness areas is the largest of all preserves. It is one of the most awe inspiring experiences of an Alaska vacation. Beginning near the British Columbia border, the Behm Canal winds around the Eastern side of Revillagigedo Island, becoming increasingly narrower as it heads northward, finally taking a left turn back into the Inside Passage near Ketchikan. Along its 900-foot deep chasm, 3,200-foot tall cliffs soar upwards and the dramatic spire of New Eddystone Rock is repeated in the spiky tops of spruce and fir trees which cast stalactite reflections in waters broken only by the wake of ships and the splashes of breaching humpback whales.
Day 9 Petersburg
Petersburg owes just about everything to the fishing industry. From its Tlingit origins as a fish camp, Petersburg has grown into one of the busiest Alaska seafood centers. It got its modern start when Peter Buschmann, a Norwegian immigrant, arrived in the 1890s and founded the Icy Strait Packing Co. cannery, a sawmill and a dock by 1900. He shipped halibut and salmon and ice from the handy LeConte Glacier -- the continent's southernmost tidewater glacier. Shrimping is also important to the Mitkof Island town of 3,200. The state's first shrimp processor was founded in 1916 as Alaska Glacier Seafoods and now is known as Petersburg Fisheries, a part of Icicle Seafoods. More than a thousand people are employed by the processing industry. To keep the salmon engine running, the state runs the Crystal Lake Hatchery. Scandinavian heritage is celebrated each May during Little Norway Festival. Petersburg is a town so picturesque it was used as the prototypical fishing town in the movie "Ice Palace".
Day 10 Baranof Island
Day 10 Chichagof Island
Chichagof Island's coastline is one of the most remote and interesting islands in Alaska. The island is know for its world class streams and rivers, and salmon fishing, which attracts anglers and fishing enthusiasts from all around. Adventure seekers may want to explore abandoned gold mines, hot springs, and remote trail systems along the island as well.
Day 11 Glacier Bay
Spread across an impressive 3.2 million acres in southeast Alaska, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve offers an inspirational glimpse of what Mother Nature does best. The head of Glacier Bay is Tarr Inlet, where scientists have found exposed rock believed to be more than 200 million years old. The Tarr Inlet is home to Grand Pacific Glacier, an active body of ice slowly making way toward Margerie Glacier, which it last touched in 1912. Johns Hopkins Inlet is home to no less than nine glaciers. Framed by rocky slopes stretching skyward more than 6,000 feet, these wondrous bodies are eclipsed only by mighty Mount Fairweather, which at more than 15,300 feet is the highest point in southeast Alaska. In northeast Glacier Bay, the snow-covered Takhinsha Mountains feed active Muir Glacier. The brilliant blue glow of a calving glacier and the thunderous roar of ice crashing into the water below are sights and sounds to remember for the rest of your life. With such diverse landscape, the park provides a variety of habitats for animals.
Day 12 Inian Islands
Day 12 Icy Strait
Visit the waters of the Icy Strait area in the summer and there’s a good chance of seeing endangered humpback whales and other mammals gorging themselves on their annual northern feast of plankton. Each year in late spring to early summer, an extraordinary bloom of plant plankton occurs for about two weeks. Animal plankton, starfish, sea urchins, worms and clams feast on the plankton, and many of these species time their reproduction to occur at the height of the plankton concentration. Vast shoals of small fish, including herring and capelin, are drawn to the animal plankton, and salmon, birds, and marine mammals such as sea lions and seals join in the feast, feeding on the profusion of small fish. The terrestrial plant communities of the Icy Strait area are also an important component of the area’s biological diversity, and the site is one of the best places in the world to study how plants return to a landscape after glacial retreat.
Day 13 Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness
Day 14 Juneau
Juneau is one of America's most beautiful state capitals, with the looming summits of Mt. Juneau and Mt. Roberts providing a gorgeous backdrop. Once part of Alaska's Gold Rush, the city boasts natural and manmade attractions. Downtown is filled with many vibrant buildings, including must-see St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, which houses artwork and artifacts dating back to the 18th century. From the bright mural in Marine Park to the carvings in House of Wickersham, downtown is filled with Alaska's own unique brand of culture and architecture. Often hailed as Juneau's most impressive sight, nearby Mendenhall Glacier is approximately 12 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. See the glacier on a float trip or a "flightseeing" adventure, or hike up one of its trails for a closer inspection. For a bird's-eye view, the Mt. Roberts Tramway offers a short, six-minute trek to the top of Mt. Roberts, 1800 feet above the city. If wildlife is your passion, scenic Admiralty Island has the world's highest concentration of brown bears.