Alaska Summer: A Look Back

 Alaska Summer: A Look Back

  I had always thought if I went on a cruise it would be to Alaska. It just seems that so many things can be seen by ship in Alaska; glaciers, whales, birds, and waterfalls tumbling out of the forest. Little did I know until a month before that I would be moving to Alaska to live and work aboard a small adventure cruise ship called the Wilderness Explorer. Halfway through my first interview with Un-Cruise they shifted my job focus from expedition guide to expedition leader. It turned out to be a challenging, but amazing job. As expedition leader I was in charge of coming up with the itinerary each week, as well as what adventures we would do there, when the adventures would go out and who would go on them. I had a wonderful staff of guides who I also managed. Not only did I have to come up and manage the schedule but I also had to figure out how to keep everyone up-to-date about upcoming activities. Something I quickly realized is that I could be working from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed. And then all it took was a little weather to move in and crush all that I had worked so hard to schedule, so having a plan B, C, and even D became a prerequisite. 

 

  Luckily I don’t need a lot of sleep and I am about the most stress free person you will ever meet, so the job fit perfectly and I was able to see and do lots of incredible things all summer. I saw the first moose of the season, kayaked with orcas and humpback whales, had close encounters with brown and black bears, and saw some incredible views of the Aurora Borealis. I walked on glaciers and felt the waves from giant pieces of ice calving off tidewater glaciers. There were snorkels with nudibranchs and seals, and views of giant rafts of otters, and funny looking puffins. I felt like I was able to play a big part in sharing these experiences with all of the guest who sailed with us. And possibly the best part was sharing all of this with an amazing crew, in turn creating a great boat family.

  I’ve realized now that experiencing SE Alaska by boat is not just the best way, but is really the only possible way. There are over a thousand islands, most of it wilderness, with only three towns connected to the mainland by roads. We usually don’t see any other boats except the occasional passing commercial fishing boat or Alaskan ferry. We hike were there are no trails and explore new places every week because they look cool on a map and we can anchor there. It can be hard to find really big old growth forest because of all the historical logging, but I can see it is coming back and getting bigger. Everything is strictly managed these days from logging to fishing to hiking. But it still has the aura of being the modern day frontier. Even though the shanty towns and bordellos have all been shut down the essence of wild Alaska is flourishing.