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ALASKA
Land & Sea
26 August-8 Sept 2012
Itinerary Outline
Day One: Sunday 26 August 2012 D
ARRIVE IN ANCHORAGE
Guests will be met at the airport on arrival and escorted to our chosen accommodation at the Hotel Captain Cook in the heart of Anchorage.
The day will be at leisure to arrive and settle into the hotel.
Dinner with Sarah and the other Inspired Travellers.
Overnight: Deluxe Junior Suite at Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage
Day Two: Monday 27 August 2012 ANCHORAGE B D
Breakfast at the hotel.
The day will be spent getting to know Anchorage in depth with a local resident guide.
Anchorage’s 284,994 residents embrace both the urban amenities and the wilderness beyond it. These Alaskans are friendly and active, the reason for all the parks and the 122 miles of bike paths. Warmed by a maritime climate, this is a city where you spend the day fishing from downtown’s Ship Creek.
Anchorage wasn’t officially founded until 1915, even though British explorer Captain James Cook sailed past the site in 1779 and gold prospectors had discovered the bounty of Ship Creek in the late 1800s. It wasn’t until the Alaska Railroad set up a construction camp that Anchorage became a booming tent city of 2000 people. Anchorage proved ideally located to become the epicentre for Alaska's rail, air and highway systems with the military build-up of World War II and the discovery of Cook Inlet oil in the 1950s adding to its steady growth. After the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake, the city was rebuilding itself when another opportunity arose: the discovery of a $10 billion oil reserve in Prudhoe Bay. Though the Trans-Alaska Pipeline doesn't come within 300 miles of Anchorage, the city became the headquarters of various petroleum and service companies.
Anchorage’s Lake Hood is the world’s busiest floatplane base.
A welcome dinner tonight in one of Anchorage’s best restaurants.
Overnight: Deluxe Junior Suite at Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage
Day Three: Tuesday 28 August 2012 Anchorage Winterlake Lodge B L D
Breakfast at the hotel.
Transfer to a chartered floatplane to experience a 50-minute scenic journey to Winterlake Lodge. "Weather Permitting," Our flight may include views of Mt. McKinley (20,320 feet), Mt. Foraker (17,400 feet) and Mt. Hunter (14,573 feet).
Oour scenic flight concludes at the rustic but elegant Winterlake Lodge. The Lodge offers seclusion and spectacular scenery amidst vast wilderness. World-class hiking, kayaking, and canoeing are just a few of the outdoor activities offered at Winterlake Lodge. Optional helicopter-supported adventures can be purchased at the Lodge. Enjoy gourmet food and wine with the visiting expert chef, or relax in the Lodge's handcrafted Alaska wood-fired hot tub.
Overnight: Winterlake Lodge
Day Four: Wednesday 29 August 2012 Winterlake Lodge B L D
Breakfast at the lovely quiet Winterlake Lodge.
The Lodge offers seclusion and spectacular scenery amidst vast widerness. Lovely food and wine.
Overnight: Winterlake Lodge
Day Five: Thursday 30 August 2012 Winterlake Lodge Redoubt Bay Lodge Anchorage B L
After spending two nights at the Winterlake Lodge, we will enjoy a farewell breakfast, then board a floatplane for a scenic 50-minute flight to Winterlake Lodge's sister property, Redoubt Bay Lodge. Located at the entrance to Lake Clark Pass, Redoubt Bay Lodge offers the only accommodations within a 171,000-acre critical habitat area. The Redoubt Bay Lodge area is home to one of the state's highest concentrations of brown bears. We will delight in viewing bears fishing for salmon. We will also enjoy sport fishing for salmon, kayaking around the lakes, hiking and enjoying the natural beauty of the Redoubt Bay Critical Habitat area.
After a full day of exploration at Redoubt Bay Lodge, we fly back to Anchorage by 50-minute floatplane. Upon arrival, we will be transferred back to the Hotel Captain Cook. You will have time to enjoy dining, shopping, and exploring Anchorage on your own this evening. We will be happy to provide recommendations.
Overnight: Deluxe Junior Suite at Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage
Day Six: Friday 31 August 2012 Anchorage Juneau Embarkation Cruise Vessel B L D
Breakfast at the hotel.
We will be transferred from our hotel to the Anchorage Airport for our flight to Juneau to begin our Safari Cruise.
Our crew will meet us with champagne and smiles, and we will cruise to a secluded wilderness anchorage this evening.
Overnight: Onboard near Anchorage
Day Seven & Eight: Saturday 1 &Sunday 2 September 2012 Glacier Bay National Park B L D
Over the two days in the park we will travel nearly 60 miles cruising up-bay to Grand Pacific and Margerie Glaciers, which frequently calve huge icebergs into the bay. If conditions permit, we will weave among the icebergs in the inflatables. We will anchor in hidden coves of an evening and spend mornings paddling our kayaks in the quiet of this majestic wilderness. There are so many wonderful things we might find here in the bay. There are puffins and sea lions, mountain goats and bears, moose, eagles, and scenery as spectacular as any place on Earth.
Glacier Bay is at its best when explored by small groups on a nimble yacht over the course of two days to hike and kayak inside the bay and wilderness areas.
Overnight: Onboard Glacier Bay National Park
Day Nine: Monday 3 September 2012 Icy Strait B L D
During today’s ultimate day of exploration, there’s no agenda to follow except to experience every moment scouring the nutrient-rich waters in search of humpbacks, porpoise, sea lions and other wildlife. The afternoon and evening will be spent at Point Adolphus. Alaska’s most famous humpback whale feeding area.
Overnight: Onboard near Point Adolphus
Day Ten: Tuesday 4 September 2012 Pavlof Harbor & The Waterfall Coast B L D
The crew will expertly guide us through those “not in the guide book” areas that only the locals know.
Today we will hike Lake Pavlof trail and also kayak Lake Pavlof itself. Then on to Kasnyku Bay on Baranof Island along Chatham Strait. Once anchored, we’ll explore this majestic, unspoiled corner of Southeast Alaska before setting off for Takatz Bay for our evening anchorage
Overnight: Onboard Takatz Bay
Day Eleven: Wednesday 5 September 2012 Frederick Sound & Sea Lions B L D
Today we will cruise around wilderness Admiralty Island to more prime humpback-viewing waters in Frederick Sound. Here is an outstanding opportunity to spot the huge brown – or grizzly – bears for which Admiralty Island is famous. We will take time for skiff operations and sea kayaking in Saginaw Bay and cruise-up-close to a sea lion colony at the Brothers Islands. Tonight we will anchor in a remote and picturesque bay.
Overnight: Onboard near Brothers Islands
Day Twelve: Thursday 6 September 2012 Ford’s Terror & Endicott Arm B L D
Cliff-walled fjords sliced into the mountainous mainland are on tap today as we tuck into an area widely acclaimed as the most beautiful in all of Alaska. Bears amble on the shoreline and sparkling waterfalls tumble down the cliffs.
We will anchor overnight at Taku Harbour to enjoy the Captain’s Farewell Dinner in an utterly lovely setting.
Overnight: Onboard Taku Harbour
Day Thirteen: Friday 7 September 2012 Disembark in Juneau B L D
After breakfast we will arrive in Juneau and a transfer to our hotel.
Lunch and in the afternoon we will experience the Mt. Roberts tram ride which is a self-tour, running every twenty minutes from downtown Juneau - within walking distance of the hotel. It provides a tremendous panoramic view.
Farewell Tour dinner in Juneau
Overnight: Waterview Room Goldbelt Hotel, Juneau
Day Fourteen: Saturday 8 September 2012 Juneau Departure B
Breakfast at Hotel before setting off for the airport and flights onwards.
End of Tour.
This Itinerary is the Copyright of The Inspired Traveller. We reserve the right to alter the itinerary at any time, in the best interests of our clients, in the event that exciting new excursions, hotels, restaurants or artisans are discovered, and in circumstances beyond our control.
© The Inspired Traveller