Alaskan Small Ship Adventure
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Overview
Highlights
- Alaska adventure cruises include seeing calving glaciers, walking through old growth rain forests, strolling along secluded beaches .Alaska sea kayaking and incredible land, air and sea wildlife.
- Experience the Inaccessible to most, the wonders of this vast wilderness first-hand
- Watch the Humpback and Orca whales abound.
- See playful Dall porpoises commonly visit our adventure cruise ships.
- Spot sea lions, brown bears and bald eagles.
- See wolves, beavers, foxes, martens and moose.
What's this trip about?
Details
Travel Themes
Destinations
Attractions
Activities
Itinerary
Meals: Lunch and Dinner
At Bartlett Cove and board the Sea Wolf. We will assemble in the main salon for introductions, an orientation discussing safety, boat layout, amenities and your Alaskan adventure. We will cruise up bay to Geike Inlet for our first paddle...
Breakfast at 8:00 am and we are off for a hike to Reid Glacier for an up close view of this glacially carved landscape. An easy hike up the mountain, down the beach and fording a few glacial streams will bring us to the face of Reid Glacier. Here we will learn about g...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
After an 8 AM breakfast it is off to Gloomy Knob looking for Mountain Goats and other wildlife. If conditions permit we will have a morning botany hike up Gloomy Knob for incredible views of the bay. Then off to an afternoon paddle at one of our anchorages that bring us close to the East Arm entrance
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Breakfast at 8:00 am as the engines are started and we will make our way up Muir Inlet, the East Arm of Glacier Bay. Our activities here depend on wilderness water opening/closing dates. We will go on an amazing hike by McBrid...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Breakfast at 8 am. Sometimes we have a morning paddle at N. Sandy if the tides are right and if not we head down bay to another pristine paddle area. N. Sandy Cove is a very rich ecosystem that supports black bears, moose coyo...
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Breakfast at 8:00 am then we are off to Point Adolphus to look for more spectacular humpback whales. Our day is spent watching whales. Around 12:30 we will head back to Gustavus for a 2 pm docking. TLC Taxi will then transport you to ...
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Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with ROW Adventures.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
ROW Adventures Reviews & Ratings
Other ROW Adventures Reviews
Great trips--great company
I have travelled with ROW numerous times, including four trips on the Rogue River. Every trip has been wonderful and every person associated with ROW has been nice, ...
most memorable holiday
Wow, wow, wow, wow. As a family group of six adults we have just returned from four day Whale Camp at Magdalena Bay. We were so well looked after by Monica, ‘Sherman...
My dad and I had a wonderful time, and would not hesitate to recommend ROW!
My dad and I booked this trip as a special experience to share together, and we knew we wanted to go with ROW because we had taken a family rafting trip with ROW 20 ...
Tour Operator
Connecting people to culture, wildlife, and nature
If there is water, there is ROW Adventures! While we started out as a Northwest whitewater rafting company in 1979, we have since expanded our reach to include tours on five continents and over 25 countries. Our ultimate focus is providing life-enriching journeys around the world that not only benefit you, but also our guides, and the people and places we visit. Rated by National Geographic Adventure as one of the “Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth,” and voted “World’s Best Tour Operator” by Travel & Leisure magazine readers, we continue to pioneer new trips and ways of adventuring in both popular and remote places of the world.
ROW offers a wide variety of trips that cater to many different activities - rafting, kayaking, hiking, biking, fishing, multisport, etc. – interests – family-focused vacations, lodge-based tours, wildlife viewing, custom itineraries – and locations – camping in the Galapagos Islands, hiking in Machu Picchu, ecolodges in the Amazon, safaris in Africa, yachting in Europe, wildlife viewing in Antarctica, sea kayaking in Baja, kayaking with orcas in British Columbia, and more.
At our core, we are all about “sharing nature, enriching lives.” We strives to connect you to the places we visit in a meaningful and personally relevant way, inspiring you to be a part of the culture and lifestyle, and creating a safe-space for you to grow and gain new insight through your travel experiences.
The driving force behind our company is a team of people passionate about travel and customer service. Setting the pace and tone are the original ROW owners and founders Peter Grubb and his life partner Betsy Bowen. With our superlative team who have an average of eight years of guiding experience, many with extensive wilderness medical training, and natural and cultural history interpretation training in order to share a deeper understanding and appreciation for the incredible places you visit, we continue to set the high watermark in adventure and guest service.
ROW has a high guide-to-guest ratio, allowing our guides to be more involved with you – joining in on meals, ensuring your comfort, answering questions, telling stories, entertaining, and sharing in on the fun and adventure. And not only are our guides there to lead the adventure, they also do all of the heavy lifting, food preparation, gear transfers, camp setup, and more, so that you can focus on your vacation.
Our guides prepare each meal for you using fresh, healthy ingredients, and there is beer and wine to boot. Luxury camping, with spacious tents, dining tables, chairs and sun showers, provides a high level of comfort even when you’re exploring remote wilderness areas. ROW provides all camping gear including tents, sleeping bags, and thick foam mattresses, and watercraft for our trips; you just need to bring clothes, yourself, and enjoy being on your adventure! And of course, we are passionately dedicated to “Leave No Trace” camping ethics and supporting a variety of conservation efforts around the world.
We have it all covered, and we are here to provide you with the best travel experience out there. But don’t take our word for it; check out our reviews, join us for an adventure, and go home with incredible experiences and lifelong memories!
About Travelstride
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Logistics
What's excluded
- International airfare
- Passport and visa fees
- Personal expenses
M/V Catalyst was the University of Washington’s rst oceanographic research vessel. In 1932 Thomas G. Thompson, then Professor of Chemistry, began a personal crusade to establish a school of oceanography at the University. With the help of a $60,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, he started both the school and the construction of Catalyst. The vessel was designed by Roland and Strickland, prominent Seattle naval architects. The design was largely based on the experiences of the University’s scientists who had su ered through many research expeditions aboard poorly equipped converted shing boats. Every aspect of her construction, from the location of the engine to the size of the vessel, was centered around the needs of the laboratory scientists. As a result of her careful design, Catalyst rolled down the ways on her launching day as the most state-of-the-art research vessel of her time. Catalyst was built by Lake Union Dry Dock Company in Seattle. She was completed in June of 1932 and took her maiden cruise through the Inside Passage and across the Gulf of Alaska. She spent the next eleven years collecting data, primarily in Puget Sound. The information collected from the decks of Catalyst in the 1930’s formed the foundation for today’s understanding of the region’s water quality. The bombs that fell on Pearl Harbor during WWII soon had a ect on the M/V Catalyst. In 1942, Dr. Thompson o ered Catalyst to the Navy to help in the war e ort. The Navy conscripted the vessel, mounted a machine gun on top of her pilot house and racks of depth charges on her stern. She spent the war years patrolling the Aleutian Islands for Japanese submarines. After the war, the Navy sold Catalyst as surplus. She was purchased by an Alaskan mining company and was handsomely re t. The main house was moved forward and the wheelhouse was placed atop it. Hatches, fore and aft, were created to access new holds for carrying tungsten ore. Catalyst hauled ore south to Seattle, but also carried supplies and, perhaps more importantly, guests north through the Inside Passage. After all that work, the company had the boat for only two years, but every owner since has bene ted from the beautiful work they did. Over the next forty years, Catalyst was owned by a few lucky mariners who used her for everything from a mail packet to a oating dentist’s o ce. The waters of Alaska, Baja California, and Hawaii have all passed beneath her keel. Now she has been restored to her original purpose, learning about the oceanic world. Only this time it is adventurous travelers like you, not research scientists, who bene t from her mission.
Length Overall: 74’7″ Beam: 18’4″ Draft: 9’4″ Displacement: 110 tons Cruising Speed: 8 knots Main Engine: 6 cylinder 8×10 Washington Estep diesel, 120 h.p. at 450 r.p.m. (This is the original engine rebuilt and maintained) Fuel: 3,000 gallons Fresh Water: 800 gallons with R.O. water maker Range: 4,000 nautical miles Accommodations: for up to 12 passengers and 4 to 5 crew Construction: Oak frames, Alaska yellow cedar planked. Douglas r keel with a 2-inch heel of Australian iron bark Built by: Lake Union Dry Docks, Seattle, Washington, 1932 Designed by: Roland & Strickland Navigation:2x Radar, G.P.S. and depth nders Communications: VHF, satellite and cellular telephones Specialty Equipment: Underwater hydrophone, viewing aquarium, microscope, presentation projector, white board, two laptop computers, one for navigation, one for digital pictures, boat camera, stereo CD/Ipod player, twelve pairs of binoculars for guests. Auxiliary Power: 12 kw generator and batteries Ships Power: 110 volts AC and 12/24 volts DC Auxiliary Watercraft: 12-foot aluminum and 17.5 -foot in atable utility boats, 6 double sea kayaks, and 3 single sea kayaks. Chest freezer and refrigerator on front deck. Refrigerator in galley. Marine Sanitation System upgrade in 2009. Six cabins for guests. Lower deck cabins share one washroom with shower. There is a second head on the upper deck next to the main salon. Cabins 1 and 6 have their own head and shower. Crew has own head and shower below deck in quarters.
Cancellation Policy:
If you find it necessary to cancel your trip, please notify us as soon as possible. If written cancellation is received by ROW (call to verify) before the final balance is due, you will be given a refund less the amount of deposit. Deposits are non-refundable. If cancellations are made on or after the final due date, no money will be refunded. You are welcome to find a replacement for yourself. Please understand that once you’ve signed up, we lose the right to sell your reserved spaces to other individuals or groups. Therefore, we regret that we cannot make exceptions for personal emergencies. For this reason we a strongly recommend you consider purchasing a travel protection plan.
Trip Protection Plan
We offer a comprehensive cancellation and trip protection plan through our office and recommend this coverage which protects your payments if you have to cancel for medical or other covered reasons.
4 Breakfasts,5 Lunches and 4 Dinners
Itinerary options are depended on the time of year you'd like to go. They include the following:
- Juneau to Petersburg or vice versa
- Ketchikan to Sitka
- Bella Bella to Ketchikan
- Juneau to Friday Harbor
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