Greetings! I had the wonderful privilege of being the on-board Photography Expert for the week of May 22 on the National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska’s Inside Passage. The week was packed with wildlife sightings, hiking, zodiac tours and kayaking – I can’t believe how fast the 8 day journey went! We explored a lot of territory in a short amount of time, and being on board a small ship we were able to go places that larger vessels cannot. I arrived with a large portion of the guests on a flight from Seattle to Juneau, from which we were whisked to a wonderful lunch. Afterwords, we had an hour or so to peruse the Alaska State Museum, then we were off to Mendenhall Glacier, just 12 miles outside of the city center. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw 3 stand-up paddle-boarders in full wetsuits making their way through the icebergs towards the glacier. The visitor’s center is quite nice, but I relished the time outdoors. Later that afternoon we boarded the Sea Bird and were treated, as usual, to a delightful dinner. Later that evening we set sail for the remainder of our adventure, which culminated with a brief tour of Sitka, its Russian Orthodox Church and the Alaska Raptor Center, which rehabilitates injured birds of prey. More on this expedition in future posts but in the mean time, here are a few snapshots from the first 24 hours of our adventure. You can see a web gallery of images from Alaska here. Enjoy!
A Stand-Up Paddle-boarder (SUP) paddling through the icebergs at Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau
National Geographic Sea Bird anchored in Endicott Arm near Dawes Glacier
Zodiac excursions to see Dawes Glacier up close and personal
tasting the icebergs!
