Captain Jeffrey
By Ted Eldridge

The glint in his eye was familiar, streaming in sparks of gold-green as he cast a glance of recognition and welcome toward us.

The same lean, fit figure I remembered moved nimbly around the deck of the boat; tall, with broader shoulders now. The 11-year old hand I had grabbed to hoist him from a rock to the bank at camp years ago now grasped mine and effortlessly pulled me up from the dock to board his boat. His greeting was in a lower register.

Jeffrey Smiles at the Wheel of the David B

Jeffrey’s smile split wide open across a clean-shaven, chiseled face. A tuft of brown hair spilled over the neck band of his T-shirt, bearing the yellow, red and black logo of his Northwest Navigation Company. He was now the skipper of the David B.

I had known Jeffrey as his sixth grade teacher. Just as then, conversation was easy between us. The young boy was still to be found these thirty years later. Competence, curiosity, sensitivity and the playfulness that characterized his intensity as a sixth grader were immediately apparent in the forty-two year-old man. His sense of wonder had not been diminished by the years.

It was a remarkable thing to reunite long after letting go of a student. Twenty seven came into my class room that year with hungry minds and electrically-charged bodies hoping I would support their dreams. They could hardly wait to be catapulted into a bright future. For nine months I became part of their families. They became part of mine. We shared space and ideas for at least half their waking hours. I lost a little of myself in my efforts to nurture their motivation to learn. Energy I gave recharged my life over and over.

On the second day aboard the David B, Jeffrey took us below deck to the engine room to show us the centerpiece, the throbbing three-piston heart of the 1929 motorized vessel that he and his wife, Christine, had restored.

I had known Jeffrey would face the dilemma of those with unlimited potential and a vast array of interests, that of choosing what to do in life. Two of those interests had stood out that sixth grade year – a need to know how things work, a tinkering instinct fed by the accelerated accessibility to technology at that time, and a passion for the dramatic, rugged elements of the natural environment, ignited by frequent family backpack trips to the Pacific Northwest. I was intrigued with the prospect of knowing what he had done.

And, here he was – sharing with the five of us who had gathered on his boat the how and why of rebuilding and operating the David B in the deep, icy waters off Alaska’s southwest coast. It didn’t surprise me – it fit perfectly.

Hanging around the Galley Table

Most of us, it seems, settle for less than our childhood passions might take us. We are afraid to pursue them fully or find roadblocks thrown before us that are beyond our control. We do our best to live good lives and find some level of fulfillment – what we might describe as happiness or, at least, contentment.

And, then, there are those few among us who soar. Just as I knew he would the year he was 11, Jeffrey is soaring.

Alaska had never been on my list of vacation destinations. It was distant. It was cold. It was monotonously barren. Photographs and video footage of jagged mountain peaks, glaciers and grizzly bears had been enough. Enough, that is, until twenty-first century technology and the social network called Facebook put me in contact with Jeffrey. Over three decades after we had shared a sixth-grade year, Jeffrey suggested I consider a week’s cruise on his boat, the David B, with his wife and four or five other passengers. The trip would begin and end in Juneau and take us through the Inside Passage of Alaska’s south coast.

The invitation caught my attention. The opportunity to travel on this little boat for a week in a place where I had never been with a small group of people I didn’t know was my kind of adventure. And, most compelling, was the prospect of taking such a trip with Jeffrey – getting to know first-hand who he had become.

Jeffrey offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse. I booked passage through Northwest Navigation, the two-person company Christine and he had formed, and made flight arrangements from Savannah to Juneau.

Dawes Glacier

It was one of the significant experiences of my life. Seven days on the water in the confined space of a small boat chugging through remote wilderness areas with just six others is a set of conditions that create a bond like no other. Sharing meals, kayaks, hiking trails and conversation during the week on the David B confirmed what I had thought I had known of Jeffrey those many years ago. His memories of his sixth grade year similarly affirmed what, as an educator, I had banked on to make a helpful, lasting impact on a child. I taught assuming there would be no way of knowing that. Kids move on. The trip on the David B with Jeffrey was the feedback I had never expected to receive.

Alaska was spectacular. I ran out of superlatives within the first two days. But, the real thrill of this journey was getting to know Jeffrey again – on a different level, in his element, as he soared.

Late each night that week, after the others had retired to read or sleep below deck, I wrote at the galley table by soft, amber cabin light. The distant call of a raven or hiss of a humpback whale blowing were the only sounds, other than the occasional creak of the David B as it gently rocked in the quiet cove Captain Jeffrey had selected as the right spot to moor for the night. I had time to think about this extraordinary circumstance – of me, the teacher, meeting up with and sharing a week with Jeffrey, the student.

Ted Writing on the Deck of the David B

To a posting I made on Facebook upon my return, I received a response from Zach, another exceptional student in that same sixth grade class 30-odd years ago. He wrote, “… and the student becomes the teacher.” He was right. And, I was grateful for it.

Ah, that all teachers could come to have such a time with even just one student.

Since Brian and Angela made their reservation in the winter I’d been talking with Brian about some of the things he and Angela would like to do while on the David B. At one point he mentioned that he would be celebrating his birthday while he was on the David B and how much he would like to see a brown bear in the wild. Jeffrey and I knew it was very likely that we would be seeing a brown bear, but then there is always that nagging worry that we’d be unlucky and the bears will be elsewhere. We’ve been skunked before on bears and we hoped that this trip would have at least one good bear sighting.

We left Ketchikan and headed north. We had 7 days to find Brian a brown bear and hopefully do it on his birthday. We scoured the beach with binoculars and along the way we saw bald eagles, seals, seal lions, an orca whale, humpback whales and lots of deer. We also found hundreds, if not thousands of rock bears – the kind of rocks shaped like bears make your heart race thinking you’ve just found a bear- but no bears. As the trip continued Jeffrey and I began to worry that there just weren’t any bears to be seen. In Petersburg, we asked our friend Andy if he’d seen very many bears this year. He reported that the salmon were running late and that there hadn’t any bears at his place.  Finding Brian an unhabituated wild brown bear became an obssession for me a Jeffrey. We anchored in Donkey Bay and Gambier Bay, both on Admiralty Island where there’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 1600 brown bears. We were pretty sure we would have a good chance of seeing a bear come down to the beach.

One morning at Donkey Bay, Jeffrey, Jim, Brian, and Ann walked along the shore in search of bear signs. Brian found a spot where a bear had slept the night before and all around the bear’s bed were bear droppings, including a very fresh one. That was enough for the explorers and they promptly returned to the boat. It was Brian’s birthday and no bears.

Brown Bear Foraging at Twin Meadows - Click for a Bigger Image

With only one day left to find Brian his bear, Jeffrey and I had that sinking feeling that the bears were just not around. On our way back from watching Dawes Glacier, we knew we had just one more really good spot to try to find a bear. Jeffrey gave Brian our best pair of binoculars to scan the shoreline of Twin Meadows. It was our last shot and we hoped we would be lucky.

Finally an “Ah-ha!” came from Brian as he pointed to the beach. Slowly, Jeffrey maneuvered the David B in for a closer look. We all rushed up on deck with binoculars in hand to share the moment we searched for for so many days. No one talked as we stood on deck while Jeffrey inched the David B in close enough to watch the bear. It was a special treat and a huge relief. The bear paid no attention to us as it worked its way along the low tide line of the beach, digging and turning over rocks in search of food. I looked back at Jeffrey just long enough to see him smiling from the bridge deck. We were close enough to watch the bear without binoculars.

For me watching this bear was very special. It was a soft reminder that wildlife does not always cooperate and what we see on TV is a very different experience from what we see, hear, and feel in real life. We all worked hard looking for this bear and because of that work the moment of discovery was really the sweetest.  I will always remember this bear and the smile of Brian’s face when he first spotted it. For him, I hope it was the birthday present he had hoped for; even if it was a day late. Watching bears with Brian, Angela, Jim, and Ann was such a joy because they all seemed to fully appreciate the serendipity of watching bears in the wild.

Jeffrey and Christine Rebuilding the David B in 1999

This fall I was encouraged by two of our passengers, Pam and Marla, to write a book about rebuilding the David B. My first thought was, “No way!” but after Marla told me that there was no one better than myself to write down our story I began to think that this was something that I could do. I’ve run marathons and ultra-marathons, so sitting down in front of my computer for two hours a day shouldn’t be too different from sticking to a training schedule. Well the dedication payed off and I finished the first draft of the book about a month ago.

The book, its working title is More Faster Backwards: Rebuilding David B, takes place over the three weeks Jeffrey, Sean, Aaron, and I took the boat from Bellingham to Juneau for our first cruise with real passengers. Along the way we reflect back on the unusual people and adventures we had rebuilding the boat as well as some new adventures we had during our maiden voyage.

Writing the book has been an amazing experience filled with a lot of emotion; something I had not expected. As I spend time in the editing process, revising, rewriting and re-reading the stories of how we brought our near-derelict boat from rotting hulk to beautiful passenger boat, I find myself alternatively filled with tears, joy and the question, “Just what were we thinking?”

When I’m finished I think it is a story you will enjoy reading and I will enjoy sharing.I’m hoping to have the book available in late December or early 2011. We’ll keep you posted!

PS -I’ve been working with a wonderful editor, Susan Colleen Browne, author of A Little Farm in the Foothills who’s helped me get started in the art of editing.

Hand Made Croissants

Since our first cruise Weekend Getaway in the San Juan Islands falls over Mothers Day, we’ve invited my Mom to be on board and she’s requested Whiskey Crab Soup. This tomato based bisque is rich and delicious with just a touch of lemon. It’s one of my favorite soups and I’m looking forward to making it special for her. I’m also planning on making croissants and pan au chocolat  on this trip. I normally reserve these labor intensive butter-filled treats for our longer cruises, but I can’t resist starting out the season on a buttery note.

We have two spots left on this trip. If you’d like to meet my Mom and come for a relaxing weekend of wildflowers, easy walks, a little kayaking and a lot of good cooking give me a call at 877-670-7863. For more information…

The Fresh Roast SR500

“Wow!” was the first thing Jeffrey and I said to each other after our first pot of coffee. “We’ve got to have this on the boat,” was the next thing.

What was so surprising about fresh roasted coffee beans was the clean, bright and faint chocolate flavors that jumped out at us. What also surprised us was that the coffee didn’t leave the familiar harsh burn on our stomach linings like so much of today’s popular coffee shop brews.

What’s amazing about roasting coffee at home is that it only takes about 6 minutes and a little fore thought for a medium roast. I roast my coffee in the morning when I’ve used up the last beans from the previous roast. Once the coffee is roasted it’s freshest for the next 72 hours.

While it is true that roasting coffee makes a good amount of smoke, I simply set the roaster next to an open window that lets the smoke out. Cynthia and Craig roast their coffee on their balcony. The more I roast coffee the more I’ve come to love the toasty smell that lingers in the house for a couple of hours after roasting.

For the last three months Jeffrey and I have been roasting beans from around the world and since we decided that we absolutely have to share fresh roasted coffee with our passengers this summer, I just made an order for three different coffees that I”ll testing to see which will be the best to serve on the David B this summer.

The first beans that I bought are the Kenya Nyeri Gathaithi Peaberry. It should be fun to experiment with the amount of time I spend roasting this coffee. A lighter roast should bring out the flavor of red currant, while with a darker roast we should be able to detect more of wine flavors and lemon citrus. For more information on this coffee visit…

Green Coffee Beans

The next coffee that looked good to me was from Sulawesi. I picked this bean, the Toarco Flatbean for its aromatic floral and piney flavors which seem like to good match for the ambiance of of wood boat in the Pacific Northwest. For more information on coffee from Sulawesi…

The last bean that I’m experimenting with right now is from Costa Rica. I picked the Guillio Prancesca – Finca El Espino for a slightly darker roasted coffee that has fruit, chocolate, mint and almond flavors. It makes my mouth water just thinking about warm and gooey dark double-chocolate cookies paired up with a nice fresh roasted cup of coffee to bring out the chocolate flavors of the cookies and visa-versa.

So having just dipped my toes into the world of roasting coffee I’ve been trying my best to come up to speed on the terminology used for roasting coffee. I’ve been learning about first and second crack as well as wet-processing versus dry-processing. The best place I’ve found is Sweet Marias. The website is  little hard to navigate, but the information on the site is wonderful for beginner coffee roasters like myself. I also found a book by Kenneth Davids called Home Coffee Roasting. It’s well written and has great illustrations. You can buy copies of this book from our online bookstore or browse through our copy when you come cruising with us on the David B.

One advantage of buying green coffee beans and roasting them yourself, is that places like Sweet Marias list coffee farms where they buy directly from the farmer. To me this as an added bonus because I’m always happy to pay more to help out a farmer directly.

As I experiment more with coffee roasting, I’ll be sharing with you what I’ve discovered along the way. So get ready to drink a lot of great coffee on the David B this summer and experience the subtle flavors of fresh roasted coffee brewed while the beans are at their peak flavor. It will be hard to go back to coffee brewed any other way.

Kayaking in the San Juan Islands

What’s great about the San Juan Islands are the endless rocky shorelines which are fun for tide pooling and the lush  green forests of Cypress, Sucia, Stuart, Jones, and Orcas Islands that provide shade for easy and moderate hikes to gorgeous panorama views. Also great about the San Juan Islands are the beautiful sweeping pastoral fields of San Juan Island and Lopez Island which are perfect for an evening or morning stroll along on rolling country roads.

The San Juan Islands offer calm and protected waters for kayaking. From the M/V David B you can take a leisurely paddle along sea-sculpted sandstones or rocky barnacle and encrusted shorelines where oystercatchers, with their bright orange beaks, pry open mussels, and in the shallow water below your kayak you can make out the shapes of crabs, fish and sea stars as you pass over.

Orca Whale

While you’re visiting the San Juan Islands you’ll also find that the wildlife is both abundant and amazing. The San Juans are home to 89 resident orca whales and a fluctuating number of transient orca whales. There are many seals, sea lions and porpoises to watch as well. While you are in the San Juan Islands you’ll want to bring your binoculars for bird watching because there are many birds to see from the majestic bald eagle to the tiny, shy marbled murrelett and the uniquely painted Harlequin duck.

Besides the wildlife and scenery there are also quaint towns in the San Juan Islands, such as Friday Harbor, home to the Whale Museum, and Roche Harbor where you can take your time to explore the Westcott Bay Sculpture Garden as well as the beautifully maintained gardens at the Hotel de Haro.

Cupcakes for desert or just a treat

If you’re just dying to get out of town and into the Islands for a weekend of relaxation, you can join us for one of our Weekend Getaway cruises. These trips are planned especially for you to get the most out of your weekend. They start from our slip at Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, WA. on Fridays at 3pm and return to our slip in the evening on Sundays around 5-6pm. Visit our schedule page on our website for dates and pricing and don’t forget we’ll do the cooking!

David B at Anchor with Kaykers

What is a kayak mothership? It’s one the the best ways to explore the San Juan Islands without all the hassle of mounting a major expedition of planning, packing, and provisioning on your own just to get in few days of premier paddling. On a mothership, all you need to do is to show up with some comfortable clothes, a camera, and a sense of adventure. Everything else is taken care of by us, the crew of the Motor Vessel David B.

With the David B as your mothership and your base camp, you’ll get to concentrate on the best part of a kayak trip – kayaking. We’ll do all  planning, provisioning and cooking while our professional guide expertly and safely takes you through the maze of beautiful madrone covered islands, and past ancient water sculpted sandstone. While you paddle you’ll learn about the amazing geological history of this dramatic archipelago; the colorful stories of early settlers, from the 11-year long Pig War, to the hideouts and crafty tactics of infamous rum-runners. You’ll also observe wildlife as you float over brightly colored purple sea-stars, snow white anemones and intensely orange sea cucumbers. Bring along a pair of binoculars to watch bald eagles sitting majestically in a tall Douglas Fir tree or to catch the fleeting glimpse of a rare marbled murrelet. You’ll also find yourself amused by the puppy-dog faced harbor seals who seem as curious about you as you are about them and friendly deer who have been know to follow along on our hikes.

Deer on Jones Island

The best part of the David B experince as your kayak mothership might just be after your step out of your kayak. After a long day well spent enjoying the the scenery and wildlife of the San Juan Islands, you don’t have to find a place to haul out your kayak and then spend the rest of your evening making camp hoping that you read the tide tables correctly so you don’t find the sea slowly creeping inside your tent at 2:00am. Instead, you simply paddle up to the David B, hop out of your boat and step on deck. We’ll take care of the kayak while you stretch your legs and get a bite to eat.

In fact, while you were out paddling with our guide taking in the scenery, the crew of the David B, has been busy preparing for your arrival back at the boat. Christine has arranged an appetizer for you made up of  local cheeses, fruits, nuts and a hot dip prepared from fresh Dungeness crab caught earlier in the day and cooked on board. You can kick back and enjoy the early evening sunlight on deck while nibbling cheeses and fresh local fruits with a cool glass of white wine as a to compliment a great day on the water.

Tim give a quick demonsreation on how to hold a kayak paddle

Another advantage of the David B as your mothership, is the opportunity for a hot shower, or even better yet a long hot soak in the David B’s cast iron bathtub at the end of the day. We’ll even have the fireplace next to the tub going so you can really relax your tired muscles in style. You’ll be happy that you’re not still coated in sweat, sand, and sunscreen when you emerge from the warm water of the bathtub. You’ll be even happier think how much better a bath is on the David B, than taking a short coin-operated shower with your flip-flops on in a cold concrete public restroom at some state park; this is especially true at a park if you run out of coins with shampoo still in your hair.

Besides great food, easy kayaking in a stable boat, beautiful scenery, hot or baths, and a caring crew, the best part of the David B as your kayak mothership is your warm comfortable private cabin. When you crawl in between the soft sheets and pull the comforter up to your chin after an amazing day’s worth of exercise and a belly full of gourmet food cooked especially for you, you’ll sleep like the logs you left behind on the beach. You won’t even miss that one annoying rock under your left shoulder or the ’swishing’ sound of your traveling companions nylon sleeping bags that you could have been enjoying if you’d gone kayak camping. You’ll have nothing more to care about as you drift off into a deep sleep than what’s in store for you tomorrow when you wake up to the smell of fresh blueberry muffins being baked in the ship’s wood cook-stove. You’ll be glad you came. No tents, no rocks, no stressing about tides or currents. Just great kayaking, great food, great company, great showers, clean sheets and a comfortable bed. It’s seriously a great vacation.

Trying out a single kayak

Our kayak mothership cruises are for beginners and experts alike. We have three fiberglass double kayak and two singles on board the David B. These kayaks are made by Northwest Kayak and are sturdy and dependable. Our guide not only helps beginners get a feel for their boats, but can also give tips and quick lessons to anyone what wants to know more.

Read more about our Kayak Mothership cruises in the San Juan Islands, or visit our schedule page.

After the propeller was removed, Jeffrey began inspecting the new high-tech stern bearing we had replaced two years ago. He noticed that it had moved in the housing and we then proceeded to remove the bearing to see what was going on. It had been chewed up a lot and after discussion with the shipyard, who had installed the bearing we decided that we would go back the old style of a Babbitt bearing that had worked for the previous 78-years. Since it turned out that machine shop which made the new bearing had gone out of business three weeks before we hauled the boat out, we poured our own new Babbitt bearing and then took it to a machine shop for finishing.

New Stern Bearing for the David B

The picture above is the set-up we used for pouring Babbitt into the housing for the stern bearing. Once the metal was melted Jeffrey poured in the molten Babbitt in between the bronze housing and the pipe sticking out of the housing.

Below is a picture of Jeffrey holding some material called bear s#!t. This stuff was packed around the places where the molten Babbitt might leak out.

Jeffrey shows off his bear s#!t

Here’s some real bear poo to compare.

Real bear s#!t

Once the metal had melted it was time to pour. Watch the video below to see Jeffrey pour hot molten Babbitt into the stern bearing housing.

Inside of the new bearing before taking it to the machine shop

Once we finished the pour Jeffrey removed the mandrel and we then took the bearing to a Grant’s machine shop in Seattle to finish up the inside of the bearing.

Setting up the lathe for machining the new bearing

We arrived at Grant’s shop at 4:00 in the afternoon to set up the lathe to machine the bearing to the right size. It was a long evening of taking measurements and making jigs. Grant needed to first make the bearing housing concentric, then he was going to need to make the cutter bar which would be attached to his lathe. The bar with the cutter ran through the inside of the housing and it spun rapidly as it was attached to the lathe.  The housing itself would be secured to car that slowly moved back and forth while spinning cutter trimmed thousandths of an inch of metal off the inside bearing per pass. After each pass Jeffrey and Grant would measure exactly how much metal was removed.

Making the bearing housing concentric

In the photo above you can see the cuter Grant set up to trim the outside of the bearing housing to make it concentric.

Finished making the bearing housing concentric

Above shows the housing once it had been centered.

Bearing is in place with cutter bar inside

The bearing housing was placed and secured on the lathe.

The cutter

Here’s a picture of the cutter that was used for removing excess Babbitt from the stern bearing. Between passes Jeffrey and Grant measured how much material was being taken off. They continued to make passes until the inside of the bearing reached the right size.

In the video above you watch the cutter making a pass through the inside of the housing. It was an amazing process to watch. We worked on the bearing until 2:00 am. At midnight I took a nap so that I could drive a tired Jeffrey and our new bearing back to Bellingham. We got home at 4:00am and the next day we took the bearing down to the boat to be fit. Not only did it look great, but it went back on to the boat just right.

Shinny new bearing ready to be installed

This was only one of the projects we did this year in the shipyard. Besides the bearing project, Jeffrey also worked on the rudder post by pouring a modern-day tallow in to the rudder post box and he installed a new oil filtration system in the bilge. Now that the boat’s back in the water we are schedule for an engine alignment and valve cleaning, along with more painting and more varnishing.

Back at our slip after a month in the shipyard

For more pictures of pouring the Babbitt bearing and other work we did on the David B this year in the shipyard, visit us on Facebook and become a Fan of the David B.

Coming to Dawes Glacier

Going on an Alaskan cruise is expensive and it will cost you a fair amount money even if it’s the cheapest one you could possibly ever find. Besides airfare and hotel accommodations you will often be paying for port fees and taxes not listed on the ‘Too good to be true’ bargain-basement rate. Those hidden fees more often than not make your incredibly cheap cruise maybe not quiet as cheap as you thought.

I would like to suggest that maybe it’s time you stopped looking for the cheapest possible cruise that shoehorns you into a one-size fits all vacation package. Please spend a few moments and start thinking about what you really want in a cruise. You have worked long hard hours to earn a well spent cruise vacation and you should get what you want, and not just what big industrialized tourism tells you that you want.

As the owner/operator of Northwest Navigation Co., and the Motor Vessel David B, a six passenger cruise boat that carries people on cruises from the San Juan Islands in Washington state to Southeast Alaska, and the beautiful Canadian Inside Passage, I’ve spent years obsessing over the different types of cruise experiences that you have to choose from.

Kayaking in No Name Cove

From my perspective, I truly believe that the owner/operator cruise is the best possible choice for Alaska. You get so much more local knowledge, flexible itineraries, meals prepared especially for you, and the ability to see and experience sights and wildlife that are not accessible to bigger operators. I do however understand (sort of) that the cruises we offer are not everyone’s dream vacation and with this in mind I hope you will spend some time factoring in your own unique personality with the style of Alaskan cruise you are dreaming of.

When I’m taking a reservation or talking with prospective passengers I am able to tell quickly if the person on the other end of the phone is a good fit for our style of cruising. When someone is interested in coming aboard the David B, we want to make sure we are the boat for them since they will be spending their hard earned vacation with Capt. Jeffrey and me. If the person on the other end of the phone  wants a quiet wilderness experience where they can get off the boat and wander a remote Alaskan beach with the hopes of catching a fleeting glimpse of a wolf or if  they want to drift silently among the humpback whales in Frederick Sound, then we are probably a good fit. If the person on the other end of the line is not really as interested in experiencing nature as they are in simply being able to say they’ve been to Alaska and seen a bear, a whale and a glacier, and if that person is looking bigger amenities such disco balls, casinos, and Broadway-style productions night after night, I recommend they try elsewhere.

To help you choose your best possible Alaskan cruise before settling on the cheapest cruise available, I’ve come up with a list of questions you’ll want consider for your Alaskan cruise. If you choose cruise that is right for you, you’ll be rewarded with a lifetime of happy memories. To help you narrow down your list I have divided the cruise industry into four sub-categories:

• Owner/Operator – Usually run by a Captain an 1-4 crew and generally range from 4-12 passengers.
• Small Ships – Usually run by a local corporation and carry up to 250 passengers.
• Medium Ships – Run by both local and national corporations and carry between 250 and 1000 passengers.
• Large and Extra Large Ships – Run by multi-national corporations are carry between 1000 and 6000 passengers.

Humpback whale near Gambier Bay

When you are are trying to make a decision about what size of boat you would like to cruise on here are some things that can help you pick your best Alaskan cruise:

Imagine yourself on each size of boat and which ever one causes you to smile the most is the size you should go with. If you are still having trouble deciding think about the following.

• If you love boats and enjoy the chance to get some hands on experience or just want to have a boat to yourself, then an owner/operator cruise is a good place to start your search.

• If you don’t like crowds, but you want to be on a ship with a few bigger amenities then a small ship would be good for you.

• You are ok with crowds and you want the village like feeling of ship-board life with restaurants, bars and swimming pools, then I’d look at the medium sized ships.

• If you love big, big, big, and want to just blend in with the crowd and you enjoy climbing walls, on-board marathons, dance clubs, swimming pools, gyms, different restaurants, and public address systems, then the large and extra large cruise ships are for you.

Think about what kind of tour you would like to go on.

• Are you interested in first hand wilderness? Try owner/operator and small ships.

• Do you want to feel like you are on the water? I suggest owner/operator and some small ships

• Do you want the boat you are on to anchor overnight in quiet coves and bays? – Owner/operator and some small ships

• Would  you like to go for walks on the shore or in the forest? – Owner/operator and some small ships

• Do you enjoy being around just a few people? – Owner/operator and some small ships

• Do you feel more comfortable with a crowd? – Small ship or large ship

• Are you interested in spending time touring big ports? – Large ship

• Do you like shopping for gifts, t-shirts and jewelery at a number of different ports? Medium and large ships.

• Do you want to book off-board excursions such as helicopter tours and Zip-lines from your ship? Large, medium some small and a few owner/operator.

• Do you want a cruise that is custom? – Owner/operator

• Are you looking for the cheapest cruise? – Large ships

• Are you going on a cruise for the big amenities, such as movie theaters or swimming pools? – Large ship

Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay, Alaska

I sincerely hope that as you plan for you perfect cruise you really do spend more time judging a cruise by more than just its ticket price and I hope this article helps guide you to the perfect cruise. Check out our website if you would like to see more about cruising Alaska on a owner/operator style cruise.

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