Liseron Trip #3: May 24 - May 31, 2025
You may also call (360) 697 4242 or email our front office directly to make your reservation.
Cruise Price:
For this cruise, each room may be filled with one of the following occupancies and respective pricing:
Single Occupancy $
15,000$10,000Double Occupancy $
10,500$7,000 (per person)
If you are interested in a private, whole-boat charter, please contact us for more details.
The Adventure of a Lifetime Begins with a Special Story:
Join an intimate cruise adventure that has been refined over the course of 40 years. In 1979, Michael McIntosh, descendant of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, founded The Boat Company as a nonprofit cruise line and first set sail on the M/V Liseron with a group of neighbors to explore Alaska’s special “Inside Passage.”
At a younger age, Michael had been working on fishing boats in the area for his family’s grocery store chain, and when he set eyes on the stunning and relatively untouched Tongass National Forest (at 17 million acres of waterways and land, it is our country’s largest), he knew this area had to be protected.
After decades of protecting the area while offering world-class, eco-luxury expeditions, Michael’s son Hunter McIntosh (President) and his wife Amber (Vice President) continue the organization’s eco-luxury legacy and invite you to cruise aboard the 10-cabin M/V Liseron, or the 12-cabin M/V Mist Cove, embarking on an intimate adventure amongst this pristine landscape and wildlife in Southeast Alaska.
The Activities and Experience:
Each morning, our Guest Coordinator is available to craft your adventure for the day ahead. While some may choose to hike on a nearby forested island, others may choose to wade through crystal waters fly-fishing, venture out on one of our skiffs for salt-fishing, stay onboard and sunbathe, lookout for wildlife, read or more.
Usually, in the mornings, our early risers like to sojourn independently or with a friend via kayak through quiet coves, exploring the area the ship rested in the night prior.
Our onboard naturalist offers walks through the woods where guests can learn about this unique ecosystem as a whole, pick berries and mushrooms, observe flowers and moss, and more.
Return “home” to the ship each day with Alaskan-sun-kissed skin and a rejuvenated sense of respite. You may then enjoy hors d'oeuvres at an optional cocktail hour in our club-like salon, before settling down to the panoramic-window-lined dining area on the aft-deck to imbibe the golden glow of sunset with gourmet meals prepared by our amazing chefs.
Wildlife:
While we cannot guarantee wildlife sightings, we often see brown bears and black bears fishing the near waterways or taking strolls on the edges of the bays.
We also are graced with the pods of orcas, humpbacks and other whales. Guests are sometimes splashed by Dall’s porpoise “hitching a ride” on the boost of our ship’s current, and more.
The Tongass National Forest happens to be home to the densest population of Bald Eagle in the world, so keep an eye out for how many you can spot while aboard with us!
Glacier Day:
Excitement is palpable as we approach the glacial area of each trip. Guests are offered a ride on one of our multiple skiff boats to get closer and maneuver around the gorgeous formations of icebergs in the area. Calving can also be seen at times at the base of the main glacier.
Of course, our chefs send each skiff boat with a batch of warm cookies, hot chocolate, and, if desired, a splash of a spirit to keep you extra warm!
Cruise Itinerary:
SATURDAY – Arrive Sitka
Sitka is a remote fishing community located southwest of Juneau on Baranof Island, easily reached by scheduled commercial jet service. Arrive on one of several flights per day and check into the Sitka Westmark Hotel. Enjoy exploring the quaint town, and at dinnertime try a local seafood delicacy in the hotel dining room. Your hotel is included in your charter.
SUNDAY – Board ship, Cruise to Sukoi Inlet
Sleep in, enjoy an 11am checkout, have lunch and meet the crew in the hotel lobby to be transported to the dock for a safety orientation and departure. The ship heads to its first night’s anchorage in scenic Sukoi Inlet on Kruzof Island. Bald eagles and Steller sea lions are a common sight when leaving Sitka Harbor.
After a short cruise and an exquisite first-night’s dinner on board, you visit with old and new friends in the ship’s comfortable salon or stroll the deck soaking in the beauty and serenity of Southeast Alaska. If you have not already done so, do not forget to take a few minutes this evening to get a fishing license from the crew.
MONDAY – Salisbury Sound & Stergis Narrows
Not far from the night’s anchorage is a popular saltwater sportfishing area, Salisbury Sound, where an all-morning salmon trolling trip aboard one of the ship’s sturdy skiffs may be of interest to the angling enthusiast. Halibut are common hereabouts, as well.
Guests can take fish home at the end of a trip. Crew can custom-process your catch, vacuum pack and freeze it on board, and advise you on the best methods for shipment. Alternatively, the ship’s Chef is happy to prepare your catch for dinner and share recipes.
If fishing does not interest you, join in a skiff tour along the rocky shoreline to spot sea otters in company with an on-board Naturalist who will share insights into the natural history of this region. We are in the heart of a coastal Alaskan wilderness so we will keep a lookout for brown bears, often seen grazing on lush beach grasses throughout summer…easy to spot from a skiff.
By lunchtime, we return to the ship to haul anchor and head through Sergius Narrows into Peril Strait. We cruise until dinnertime, when we find ourselves anchored in Saook Bay, another scenic Southeast Alaska harbor.
TUESDAY – Paradise Flats & Kelp Bay
The stream at the head of Saook Bay flows through a broad grassy beach estuary called, appropriately, Paradise Flats. This place is heaven for fly fishers. We spend the morning here casting for Dolly Varden char and Cutthroat trout (or, later in the season, pink salmon) and then haul anchor after lunch and head along the coast of Baranof Island into the broad sheltered waters of Chatham Strait.
During this afternoon’s cruise we will likely spot Humpback whales, Dalls porpoises, Stellar sea lions and maybe, if we’re lucky, Orcas. Our shipboard Naturalist will be happy to give a presentation while under way on the marine mammals we typically encounter on a cruise.
On the way to Kelp Bay we sometimes stop and jig for halibut off Morris Reef or take a quick detour to hike up to Lake Eva where you can visit a grove of Sitka Spruce trees that are among the tallest and largest-girthed in the Tongass National Forest.
There are choices of activities every day, and the ship’s crew-to-guest ratio is such that guests can go off in small groups with a knowledgeable staff member to explore according to their interests. Small groups also have less of an impact on the fragile, temperate rainforests environment of the Tongass National Forest.
WEDNESDAY – Red Bluff & Pybus Bays, Admiralty Island
Early risers may go kayaking before breakfast with a guide, where you might see harbor seals and harlequin ducks. Both have little fear of kayakers on the water. Photographers love these outings.
Later, motoring south on the ship, we cruise along the “waterfall coast” of Baranof Island – one of the most scenic coastal wilderness areas in southeast Alaska. Glaciers form in high snowfields on the island, and in summer their melting waters gather to flow in noisy cascades, tumbling off cliffs and creating a spectacle of lofty cataracts everywhere you look.
When we get to Red Bluff Bay, we will divide the ship’s company into several groups to go ashore. Some may choose to fly fish in the river at the head of the bay. But the highlight of this place is the short but steep hike up onto the brick red bluffs, which give this place its name. Here, wildflowers are dense in summer, and the natural rock gardens are resplendent with splashy displays of blue and yellow violets, columbine and fragrant meadow orchids.
After our hike, we return to the ship again and haul anchor, bound for Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island where we will spend the night.
The local Tlingit tribe’s name for Admiralty Island is Kootznoowoo, which means “fortress of the bears.”
THURSDAY – Admiralty & Brothers Islands
Today is our final opportunity for hiking and fishing, and we have saved some of the best of both for last. We pack lunches and head out in the skiffs right after breakfast. Brothers Islands, lying just off the mouth of Pybus Bay, are notable for their unique mossy terrain. A gentle walk through the lush rainforest on one of these small islands leads us to a wild stretch of rocky beach.
Great numbers of Stellar sea lions will sometimes haul out onto some of these beaches, and if we are careful we can approach these noisy “rookeries” by skiff without disturbing the sunbathing animals.
Halibut fishing in Pybus Bay is often productive, as is fly-fishing or spin casting for Pink salmon or Dolly Varden char in nearby Donkey Creek.
Bald eagles perch solemnly in the tree tops waiting for an opportunity to snatch an unwary fish from the water. Bears are common here, and your fishing guides on shore will carry a tackle box under one arm and pepper spray, just in case, under the other.
FRIDAY – Glacier Day
We are bound today for either Tracy Arm or Endicott Arm, two spectacular fjords carved deep into the Coast Range by rivers of ice.
Both these inlets feature tidewater glaciers, so navigation can be made challenging at times by the presence of floating bergs. If the entrance to one fjord is blocked, we will enter the other.
Our objective is to cruise to the head of a fjord and approach to within about a mile of the face of a glacier where we may watch great chunks of ice, some the size of our ship, crash into the ocean in a frenzy of foam and spray.
Harbor seals find abundant food in the nutrient-rich waters of these inlets and, for a period of time in summer, we can observe female seals hauling-out onto ice bergs in order to give birth to their young.
Late in the day we leave the fjords behind and anchor in Taku Harbor, not far from Juneau, where guests enjoy a particularly sumptuous cruise wrap-up dinner, followed by an “underground tour” of the ship’s engine room and a celebratory “roast & toast” with crew.
SATURDAY – Juneau, disembark ship
We arise early and take breakfast under way, with ancient and untouched spruce and hemlock forests marching past our ship’s wake as we make way back to civilization.
By 10:00 AM we are tied to the dock in downtown Juneau, where you disembark and are transported to your hotel or to the airport in time for flights home.
You may also call (360) 697 4242 or email our front office directly to make your reservation.
Cruise Price:
For this cruise, each room may be filled with one of the following occupancies and respective pricing:
Single Occupancy $
15,000$10,000Double Occupancy $
10,500$7,000 (per person)
If you are interested in a private, whole-boat charter, please contact us for more details.
The Adventure of a Lifetime Begins with a Special Story:
Join an intimate cruise adventure that has been refined over the course of 40 years. In 1979, Michael McIntosh, descendant of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, founded The Boat Company as a nonprofit cruise line and first set sail on the M/V Liseron with a group of neighbors to explore Alaska’s special “Inside Passage.”
At a younger age, Michael had been working on fishing boats in the area for his family’s grocery store chain, and when he set eyes on the stunning and relatively untouched Tongass National Forest (at 17 million acres of waterways and land, it is our country’s largest), he knew this area had to be protected.
After decades of protecting the area while offering world-class, eco-luxury expeditions, Michael’s son Hunter McIntosh (President) and his wife Amber (Vice President) continue the organization’s eco-luxury legacy and invite you to cruise aboard the 10-cabin M/V Liseron, or the 12-cabin M/V Mist Cove, embarking on an intimate adventure amongst this pristine landscape and wildlife in Southeast Alaska.
The Activities and Experience:
Each morning, our Guest Coordinator is available to craft your adventure for the day ahead. While some may choose to hike on a nearby forested island, others may choose to wade through crystal waters fly-fishing, venture out on one of our skiffs for salt-fishing, stay onboard and sunbathe, lookout for wildlife, read or more.
Usually, in the mornings, our early risers like to sojourn independently or with a friend via kayak through quiet coves, exploring the area the ship rested in the night prior.
Our onboard naturalist offers walks through the woods where guests can learn about this unique ecosystem as a whole, pick berries and mushrooms, observe flowers and moss, and more.
Return “home” to the ship each day with Alaskan-sun-kissed skin and a rejuvenated sense of respite. You may then enjoy hors d'oeuvres at an optional cocktail hour in our club-like salon, before settling down to the panoramic-window-lined dining area on the aft-deck to imbibe the golden glow of sunset with gourmet meals prepared by our amazing chefs.
Wildlife:
While we cannot guarantee wildlife sightings, we often see brown bears and black bears fishing the near waterways or taking strolls on the edges of the bays.
We also are graced with the pods of orcas, humpbacks and other whales. Guests are sometimes splashed by Dall’s porpoise “hitching a ride” on the boost of our ship’s current, and more.
The Tongass National Forest happens to be home to the densest population of Bald Eagle in the world, so keep an eye out for how many you can spot while aboard with us!
Glacier Day:
Excitement is palpable as we approach the glacial area of each trip. Guests are offered a ride on one of our multiple skiff boats to get closer and maneuver around the gorgeous formations of icebergs in the area. Calving can also be seen at times at the base of the main glacier.
Of course, our chefs send each skiff boat with a batch of warm cookies, hot chocolate, and, if desired, a splash of a spirit to keep you extra warm!
Cruise Itinerary:
SATURDAY – Arrive Sitka
Sitka is a remote fishing community located southwest of Juneau on Baranof Island, easily reached by scheduled commercial jet service. Arrive on one of several flights per day and check into the Sitka Westmark Hotel. Enjoy exploring the quaint town, and at dinnertime try a local seafood delicacy in the hotel dining room. Your hotel is included in your charter.
SUNDAY – Board ship, Cruise to Sukoi Inlet
Sleep in, enjoy an 11am checkout, have lunch and meet the crew in the hotel lobby to be transported to the dock for a safety orientation and departure. The ship heads to its first night’s anchorage in scenic Sukoi Inlet on Kruzof Island. Bald eagles and Steller sea lions are a common sight when leaving Sitka Harbor.
After a short cruise and an exquisite first-night’s dinner on board, you visit with old and new friends in the ship’s comfortable salon or stroll the deck soaking in the beauty and serenity of Southeast Alaska. If you have not already done so, do not forget to take a few minutes this evening to get a fishing license from the crew.
MONDAY – Salisbury Sound & Stergis Narrows
Not far from the night’s anchorage is a popular saltwater sportfishing area, Salisbury Sound, where an all-morning salmon trolling trip aboard one of the ship’s sturdy skiffs may be of interest to the angling enthusiast. Halibut are common hereabouts, as well.
Guests can take fish home at the end of a trip. Crew can custom-process your catch, vacuum pack and freeze it on board, and advise you on the best methods for shipment. Alternatively, the ship’s Chef is happy to prepare your catch for dinner and share recipes.
If fishing does not interest you, join in a skiff tour along the rocky shoreline to spot sea otters in company with an on-board Naturalist who will share insights into the natural history of this region. We are in the heart of a coastal Alaskan wilderness so we will keep a lookout for brown bears, often seen grazing on lush beach grasses throughout summer…easy to spot from a skiff.
By lunchtime, we return to the ship to haul anchor and head through Sergius Narrows into Peril Strait. We cruise until dinnertime, when we find ourselves anchored in Saook Bay, another scenic Southeast Alaska harbor.
TUESDAY – Paradise Flats & Kelp Bay
The stream at the head of Saook Bay flows through a broad grassy beach estuary called, appropriately, Paradise Flats. This place is heaven for fly fishers. We spend the morning here casting for Dolly Varden char and Cutthroat trout (or, later in the season, pink salmon) and then haul anchor after lunch and head along the coast of Baranof Island into the broad sheltered waters of Chatham Strait.
During this afternoon’s cruise we will likely spot Humpback whales, Dalls porpoises, Stellar sea lions and maybe, if we’re lucky, Orcas. Our shipboard Naturalist will be happy to give a presentation while under way on the marine mammals we typically encounter on a cruise.
On the way to Kelp Bay we sometimes stop and jig for halibut off Morris Reef or take a quick detour to hike up to Lake Eva where you can visit a grove of Sitka Spruce trees that are among the tallest and largest-girthed in the Tongass National Forest.
There are choices of activities every day, and the ship’s crew-to-guest ratio is such that guests can go off in small groups with a knowledgeable staff member to explore according to their interests. Small groups also have less of an impact on the fragile, temperate rainforests environment of the Tongass National Forest.
WEDNESDAY – Red Bluff & Pybus Bays, Admiralty Island
Early risers may go kayaking before breakfast with a guide, where you might see harbor seals and harlequin ducks. Both have little fear of kayakers on the water. Photographers love these outings.
Later, motoring south on the ship, we cruise along the “waterfall coast” of Baranof Island – one of the most scenic coastal wilderness areas in southeast Alaska. Glaciers form in high snowfields on the island, and in summer their melting waters gather to flow in noisy cascades, tumbling off cliffs and creating a spectacle of lofty cataracts everywhere you look.
When we get to Red Bluff Bay, we will divide the ship’s company into several groups to go ashore. Some may choose to fly fish in the river at the head of the bay. But the highlight of this place is the short but steep hike up onto the brick red bluffs, which give this place its name. Here, wildflowers are dense in summer, and the natural rock gardens are resplendent with splashy displays of blue and yellow violets, columbine and fragrant meadow orchids.
After our hike, we return to the ship again and haul anchor, bound for Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island where we will spend the night.
The local Tlingit tribe’s name for Admiralty Island is Kootznoowoo, which means “fortress of the bears.”
THURSDAY – Admiralty & Brothers Islands
Today is our final opportunity for hiking and fishing, and we have saved some of the best of both for last. We pack lunches and head out in the skiffs right after breakfast. Brothers Islands, lying just off the mouth of Pybus Bay, are notable for their unique mossy terrain. A gentle walk through the lush rainforest on one of these small islands leads us to a wild stretch of rocky beach.
Great numbers of Stellar sea lions will sometimes haul out onto some of these beaches, and if we are careful we can approach these noisy “rookeries” by skiff without disturbing the sunbathing animals.
Halibut fishing in Pybus Bay is often productive, as is fly-fishing or spin casting for Pink salmon or Dolly Varden char in nearby Donkey Creek.
Bald eagles perch solemnly in the tree tops waiting for an opportunity to snatch an unwary fish from the water. Bears are common here, and your fishing guides on shore will carry a tackle box under one arm and pepper spray, just in case, under the other.
FRIDAY – Glacier Day
We are bound today for either Tracy Arm or Endicott Arm, two spectacular fjords carved deep into the Coast Range by rivers of ice.
Both these inlets feature tidewater glaciers, so navigation can be made challenging at times by the presence of floating bergs. If the entrance to one fjord is blocked, we will enter the other.
Our objective is to cruise to the head of a fjord and approach to within about a mile of the face of a glacier where we may watch great chunks of ice, some the size of our ship, crash into the ocean in a frenzy of foam and spray.
Harbor seals find abundant food in the nutrient-rich waters of these inlets and, for a period of time in summer, we can observe female seals hauling-out onto ice bergs in order to give birth to their young.
Late in the day we leave the fjords behind and anchor in Taku Harbor, not far from Juneau, where guests enjoy a particularly sumptuous cruise wrap-up dinner, followed by an “underground tour” of the ship’s engine room and a celebratory “roast & toast” with crew.
SATURDAY – Juneau, disembark ship
We arise early and take breakfast under way, with ancient and untouched spruce and hemlock forests marching past our ship’s wake as we make way back to civilization.
By 10:00 AM we are tied to the dock in downtown Juneau, where you disembark and are transported to your hotel or to the airport in time for flights home.
You may also call (360) 697 4242 or email our front office directly to make your reservation.
Cruise Price:
For this cruise, each room may be filled with one of the following occupancies and respective pricing:
Single Occupancy $
15,000$10,000Double Occupancy $
10,500$7,000 (per person)
If you are interested in a private, whole-boat charter, please contact us for more details.
The Adventure of a Lifetime Begins with a Special Story:
Join an intimate cruise adventure that has been refined over the course of 40 years. In 1979, Michael McIntosh, descendant of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, founded The Boat Company as a nonprofit cruise line and first set sail on the M/V Liseron with a group of neighbors to explore Alaska’s special “Inside Passage.”
At a younger age, Michael had been working on fishing boats in the area for his family’s grocery store chain, and when he set eyes on the stunning and relatively untouched Tongass National Forest (at 17 million acres of waterways and land, it is our country’s largest), he knew this area had to be protected.
After decades of protecting the area while offering world-class, eco-luxury expeditions, Michael’s son Hunter McIntosh (President) and his wife Amber (Vice President) continue the organization’s eco-luxury legacy and invite you to cruise aboard the 10-cabin M/V Liseron, or the 12-cabin M/V Mist Cove, embarking on an intimate adventure amongst this pristine landscape and wildlife in Southeast Alaska.
The Activities and Experience:
Each morning, our Guest Coordinator is available to craft your adventure for the day ahead. While some may choose to hike on a nearby forested island, others may choose to wade through crystal waters fly-fishing, venture out on one of our skiffs for salt-fishing, stay onboard and sunbathe, lookout for wildlife, read or more.
Usually, in the mornings, our early risers like to sojourn independently or with a friend via kayak through quiet coves, exploring the area the ship rested in the night prior.
Our onboard naturalist offers walks through the woods where guests can learn about this unique ecosystem as a whole, pick berries and mushrooms, observe flowers and moss, and more.
Return “home” to the ship each day with Alaskan-sun-kissed skin and a rejuvenated sense of respite. You may then enjoy hors d'oeuvres at an optional cocktail hour in our club-like salon, before settling down to the panoramic-window-lined dining area on the aft-deck to imbibe the golden glow of sunset with gourmet meals prepared by our amazing chefs.
Wildlife:
While we cannot guarantee wildlife sightings, we often see brown bears and black bears fishing the near waterways or taking strolls on the edges of the bays.
We also are graced with the pods of orcas, humpbacks and other whales. Guests are sometimes splashed by Dall’s porpoise “hitching a ride” on the boost of our ship’s current, and more.
The Tongass National Forest happens to be home to the densest population of Bald Eagle in the world, so keep an eye out for how many you can spot while aboard with us!
Glacier Day:
Excitement is palpable as we approach the glacial area of each trip. Guests are offered a ride on one of our multiple skiff boats to get closer and maneuver around the gorgeous formations of icebergs in the area. Calving can also be seen at times at the base of the main glacier.
Of course, our chefs send each skiff boat with a batch of warm cookies, hot chocolate, and, if desired, a splash of a spirit to keep you extra warm!
Cruise Itinerary:
SATURDAY – Arrive Sitka
Sitka is a remote fishing community located southwest of Juneau on Baranof Island, easily reached by scheduled commercial jet service. Arrive on one of several flights per day and check into the Sitka Westmark Hotel. Enjoy exploring the quaint town, and at dinnertime try a local seafood delicacy in the hotel dining room. Your hotel is included in your charter.
SUNDAY – Board ship, Cruise to Sukoi Inlet
Sleep in, enjoy an 11am checkout, have lunch and meet the crew in the hotel lobby to be transported to the dock for a safety orientation and departure. The ship heads to its first night’s anchorage in scenic Sukoi Inlet on Kruzof Island. Bald eagles and Steller sea lions are a common sight when leaving Sitka Harbor.
After a short cruise and an exquisite first-night’s dinner on board, you visit with old and new friends in the ship’s comfortable salon or stroll the deck soaking in the beauty and serenity of Southeast Alaska. If you have not already done so, do not forget to take a few minutes this evening to get a fishing license from the crew.
MONDAY – Salisbury Sound & Stergis Narrows
Not far from the night’s anchorage is a popular saltwater sportfishing area, Salisbury Sound, where an all-morning salmon trolling trip aboard one of the ship’s sturdy skiffs may be of interest to the angling enthusiast. Halibut are common hereabouts, as well.
Guests can take fish home at the end of a trip. Crew can custom-process your catch, vacuum pack and freeze it on board, and advise you on the best methods for shipment. Alternatively, the ship’s Chef is happy to prepare your catch for dinner and share recipes.
If fishing does not interest you, join in a skiff tour along the rocky shoreline to spot sea otters in company with an on-board Naturalist who will share insights into the natural history of this region. We are in the heart of a coastal Alaskan wilderness so we will keep a lookout for brown bears, often seen grazing on lush beach grasses throughout summer…easy to spot from a skiff.
By lunchtime, we return to the ship to haul anchor and head through Sergius Narrows into Peril Strait. We cruise until dinnertime, when we find ourselves anchored in Saook Bay, another scenic Southeast Alaska harbor.
TUESDAY – Paradise Flats & Kelp Bay
The stream at the head of Saook Bay flows through a broad grassy beach estuary called, appropriately, Paradise Flats. This place is heaven for fly fishers. We spend the morning here casting for Dolly Varden char and Cutthroat trout (or, later in the season, pink salmon) and then haul anchor after lunch and head along the coast of Baranof Island into the broad sheltered waters of Chatham Strait.
During this afternoon’s cruise we will likely spot Humpback whales, Dalls porpoises, Stellar sea lions and maybe, if we’re lucky, Orcas. Our shipboard Naturalist will be happy to give a presentation while under way on the marine mammals we typically encounter on a cruise.
On the way to Kelp Bay we sometimes stop and jig for halibut off Morris Reef or take a quick detour to hike up to Lake Eva where you can visit a grove of Sitka Spruce trees that are among the tallest and largest-girthed in the Tongass National Forest.
There are choices of activities every day, and the ship’s crew-to-guest ratio is such that guests can go off in small groups with a knowledgeable staff member to explore according to their interests. Small groups also have less of an impact on the fragile, temperate rainforests environment of the Tongass National Forest.
WEDNESDAY – Red Bluff & Pybus Bays, Admiralty Island
Early risers may go kayaking before breakfast with a guide, where you might see harbor seals and harlequin ducks. Both have little fear of kayakers on the water. Photographers love these outings.
Later, motoring south on the ship, we cruise along the “waterfall coast” of Baranof Island – one of the most scenic coastal wilderness areas in southeast Alaska. Glaciers form in high snowfields on the island, and in summer their melting waters gather to flow in noisy cascades, tumbling off cliffs and creating a spectacle of lofty cataracts everywhere you look.
When we get to Red Bluff Bay, we will divide the ship’s company into several groups to go ashore. Some may choose to fly fish in the river at the head of the bay. But the highlight of this place is the short but steep hike up onto the brick red bluffs, which give this place its name. Here, wildflowers are dense in summer, and the natural rock gardens are resplendent with splashy displays of blue and yellow violets, columbine and fragrant meadow orchids.
After our hike, we return to the ship again and haul anchor, bound for Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island where we will spend the night.
The local Tlingit tribe’s name for Admiralty Island is Kootznoowoo, which means “fortress of the bears.”
THURSDAY – Admiralty & Brothers Islands
Today is our final opportunity for hiking and fishing, and we have saved some of the best of both for last. We pack lunches and head out in the skiffs right after breakfast. Brothers Islands, lying just off the mouth of Pybus Bay, are notable for their unique mossy terrain. A gentle walk through the lush rainforest on one of these small islands leads us to a wild stretch of rocky beach.
Great numbers of Stellar sea lions will sometimes haul out onto some of these beaches, and if we are careful we can approach these noisy “rookeries” by skiff without disturbing the sunbathing animals.
Halibut fishing in Pybus Bay is often productive, as is fly-fishing or spin casting for Pink salmon or Dolly Varden char in nearby Donkey Creek.
Bald eagles perch solemnly in the tree tops waiting for an opportunity to snatch an unwary fish from the water. Bears are common here, and your fishing guides on shore will carry a tackle box under one arm and pepper spray, just in case, under the other.
FRIDAY – Glacier Day
We are bound today for either Tracy Arm or Endicott Arm, two spectacular fjords carved deep into the Coast Range by rivers of ice.
Both these inlets feature tidewater glaciers, so navigation can be made challenging at times by the presence of floating bergs. If the entrance to one fjord is blocked, we will enter the other.
Our objective is to cruise to the head of a fjord and approach to within about a mile of the face of a glacier where we may watch great chunks of ice, some the size of our ship, crash into the ocean in a frenzy of foam and spray.
Harbor seals find abundant food in the nutrient-rich waters of these inlets and, for a period of time in summer, we can observe female seals hauling-out onto ice bergs in order to give birth to their young.
Late in the day we leave the fjords behind and anchor in Taku Harbor, not far from Juneau, where guests enjoy a particularly sumptuous cruise wrap-up dinner, followed by an “underground tour” of the ship’s engine room and a celebratory “roast & toast” with crew.
SATURDAY – Juneau, disembark ship
We arise early and take breakfast under way, with ancient and untouched spruce and hemlock forests marching past our ship’s wake as we make way back to civilization.
By 10:00 AM we are tied to the dock in downtown Juneau, where you disembark and are transported to your hotel or to the airport in time for flights home.
Deposit Due At Booking
At the time of your booking, a deposit of $1,000 per room is required. You may book online or contact us to make your reservation.
Checks and all major credit cards are accepted as forms of payment. There is a 3% convenience fee that applies to any payments made by credit card—whether booking online or on the phone.
Checks are accepted without this fee. If you would like to pay by check, we will hold your place for 2 weeks as we await your deposit.
If booking online, the 3% convenience fee is automatically applied to your deposit, making it $1,030 per cabin. Please note, the 3% convenience fee will not be considered payment towards your trip—it is solely a credit card payment method convenience fee.
The Boat Company is a tax-exempt organization
Revenue after costs goes to conserve/preserve the forest, wildlife and fisheries of Southeast Alaska.
What is included in the cost of your trip
Transportation from the airport to a local hotel, and from that hotel to the boat on cruise departure day. On cruise departure day, we will pick you up from the hotel at 2 pm. At the end of your trip, the boat will arrive at the dock (usually between 9 & 10 am) and we will provide transportation to the airport or a local hotel. If your flight leaves late that same day, we will store your luggage while you explore the town and meet you later that day for a ride to the airport.
On board both vessels all of your meals and beverages are provided including an open bar in the salon stocked with plenty of coffee, tea, soft drinks, mixers, snacks, wine, beer, and a variety of premium liquors.
An Alaska state fishing license
We provide kayaks & fishing equipment (including hand-tied flies specific to the fish in Alaska) for your unlimited use. Guiding by our trained & licensed crew is also included.
If you choose to take your fish home with you, the crew will filet, clean, freeze and pack your catch in an insulated box. Please see notes on fishing for more detailed descriptions of the specific types of fishing gear & tackle we provide.
What is not included
Round-trip airfare to Alaska
Late arrival or early departure floatplane transportation
Possible fuel surcharge
Gratuities to the ship’s crew
Travel insurance
Child care - Our crew is great at involving your children in all the action, but they cannot provide babysitting
Cancellation Policy
The Boat Company is a non-profit educational organization incorporated in the State of Alaska. Unlike cruise ship operations carrying hundreds or even thousands of passengers, if you reserve with us and then later find you must cancel, it will significantly impact our ability to cover expenses.
Deposits and payments are refundable (less a $500 per person processing fee) only upon receipt of your written cancellation by December 1st of the year before your trip. After December 1st, it is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Due to our need for a strict cancellation policy, we strongly recommend that you purchase travel insurance.
* Please Note: Prices are subject to change. Every effort has been made to produce pricing information accurately. The Boat Company reserves the right to correct promotional or pricing errors at any time, or to raise the price in the event of cost increases due to higher park fee, state and/or federal taxes, fuel surcharges, etc.