American Safari Cruises

Juneau to Sitka Aboard the Safari Quest

There's no better way to experience all of Southeast Alaska than aboard American Safari Cruises 120-foot Safari Quest. It offers the best of comfort, elegance, and maneuverability along with the intimacy of just 22 guests. Designed with a sleek profile for uncommon adventure in hard-to-access nooks between Juneau and Sitka, the Safari Quest offers the ideal vacation for those who want to enjoy the good life while exploring unbeaten paths.

You're the focus of every aspect of the Safari Quest, from the observation deck, where a hot tub awaits you, and Zodiacs and double sea kayaks are ready to launch, to the bridge deck, where you're welcome to join the captain and discuss navigation, to the included full bar and fine cuisine of the salon and dining room. Every stateroom features a private bath and shower.

Itinerary:

Day 2 - 3 Glacier Bay National Park
One of America’s crown jewel national parks will be ours to explore and marvel at for the next two days. The park itself is 3.2 million acres (a little larger than the state of Connecticut), so there is plenty to see. Tidewater glaciers sweep like rivers of ice down massive mountain valleys, terminating before us in the waters of Glacier Bay. If conditions permit, we’ll lower the inflatable and weave among the icebergs that have fallen from the face of the glaciers. We’ll enjoy evenings at anchor in hidden coves, and mornings paddling our kayaks in the quiet of this majestic wilderness. And what will we find? Here in the bay there are puffins and sea lions, mountain goats and bears, moose, eagles, and scenery more spectacular than any place on earth.

Day 3 Icy Strait
We’ll search for the telltale blow of the humpback whale as we cruise in Icy Strait today, and later, all the charm of Alaska will greet us as we pull into tiny Elfin Cove, a miniscule village tucked into Chichagof Island. We’ll step ashore to stretch our legs and meet the people who choose to live their lives far removed from modern-day conveniences. Imagine waiting for the mail plane to come in once a week here in Elfin Cove so that you may read the paper! This evening we’ll anchor in a remote bay and drop the kayaks for a paddle before calling it a day.

Day 4 - 7 Wilderness, Whales, and Hotsprings
We’ll cruise into the heart of Alaska’s Inside Passage during the next four days. On any given morning, we’ll awaken to find our crew ready to send us off in our kayaks, complete with hot coffee in a thermos (cream and sugar?). We’ll wander through misty coves where colorful sealife clings to the intertidal rocks, and the silence remains unbroken except for the clear call of a Pacific loon, or a marbled murrelet (we’ll show you one!). Or maybe we’ll knock on your stateroom door to inform you that a bear and her two cubs are ambling along the shoreline just beyond the bow. We’ll spend our days cruising the waters where humpback whales, Steller’s sea lions, orcas and porpoise feed and frolic. We’ll slip into scenic bays, enjoy guided nature hikes and soak in natural hotsprings. Our anchorages will vary from remote coves to dramatic, waterfall-laced fjords where the cliffs rise over 2,500 feet straight up out of the water. It simply does not get better than this.

Day 8 Sitka
After breakfast we'll arrive in Sitka and you'll be transferred to the airport for connections home.

Cost of this Itinerary:

A&K just sails during the summer season
Fares range from $881 pn pp to $1167 pn pp