Wild Alaska & the Bering Sea

Retracing the Harriman Expedition

Alaska remains a treasure-trove of scenic marvels that can only be described in the superlative.
Our unique voyage aboard the 110-passenger expedition vessel, Clipper Odyssey, takes full advantage of the long hours of mid-summer as we trace pristine shores, cross the Arctic Circle, and step ashore, and back into history, on both Russian and American lands. By Zodiac we experience the thrill of countless numbers of seabirds wheeling above dramatic rock formations; ashore, we walk among a dazzling array of wildflowers that carpet the tundra at this time of year. And, like
those first witnesses of the stereoscopic images of this pristine realm, we are enveloped in the wild majesty that is still “the Great Land.”

In 1899, railroad magnate, Edward Harriman, assembled a group of scientists and artists to explore Alaska; their extensive investigations greatly increased our knowledge of the geology, botany, and zoology of the region. Our distinctive adventure partially retraces the route of that landmark expedition, including landings among the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands, as well as stops in nature reserves and historic villages.

Our itinerary is rich with the marine and wildlife habitats of the North Pacific—rivers, fjords, spectacular bays and remote coves, dense forests, dramatic marine geological formations, and towering coastal mountains. On numerous Zodiac excursions we negotiate sea cliffs and sculpted basalt formations for up-close sightings of murres, fulmars, and puffins. Louis Fuertes of the Harriman Expedition proclaimed Hall Island an ornithologist’s paradise and we witness the profusion of nesting seabirds on the surrounding sea stacks. St. George Island is home to 98 percent of the world’s red-legged kittiwakes and its largest breeding population of parakeet auklets.

We enjoy excellent opportunities to view and photograph land and marine wildlife as well. In the Pribilofs, the breeding population of fur seals, once nearly hunted to extinction, now numbers more than 700,000. Sightings of walrus hauled out on rocky shores and Arctic fox and hare roaming the tundra are also a possibility. Our day at Geographic Harbor in splendid Katmai National Park offers an excellent chance to view brown bears as they descend to the shoreline to dig for clams.

In the ocean, pods of whales—minke, orca, fin, sei, and humpback — congregate. Human settlement of the region dates back thousands of years, and we encounter both archaeological remnants and living descendants of native cultures and later settlers, including the world’s
largest community of Aleut people on St. Paul Island. And, in the villages of several islands, we view the characteristic, and highly photogenic, onion-domed Russian Orthodox churches.

A team of naturalists and historians accompanies us, enhancing our journey—its cultures, wildlife, and landscapes—with insight, humor, and historical perspective. Please join us for an exploration of Alaska past and present.

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Home / Anchorage, Alaska
Independent arrival in Anchorage and checkin at our hotel. In the evening join us for a welcome dinner and briefing.

Day 2 - Anchorage / Nome / Embark Clipper Odyssey
After breakfast transfer to the airport for your flight to Nome. With the discovery of gold in 1898, this boomtown’s population swelled to nearly 20,000 miners, furiously panning along 15 miles of beaches that fringe Norton Sound. Today’s town of 5,000 offers a peaceful contrast in the lively legacy reflected in the colorful local saloons and museum displays. We embark the Clipper Odyssey late this afternoon and set sail in the evening.

Day 3 - King Island / Arctic Circle
In true expedition style we board Zodiacs and explore the craggy ledges of King Island where we view thousands of least and crested
auklets as they make their way from nests to the sea. We also take the opportunity to cross the Arctic Circle at 66°33’N right on the International Date Line—a feat few adventurers can claim.

Day 4 - Day Lost Crossing International Date Line

Day 5 - Provideniya, Russia / Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska
This morning spend time on deck watching for marine life that thrives in these nutrient rich waters as well as seabirds such as short-tailed shearwaters, northern fulmars, Laysan albatross, and fork-tailed storm petrels. When the weather is clear, the views across the Bering Strait reach to Russia and Alaska. Alternatively enjoy lectures from our staff as they introduce us to the many historic and natural facets of this fascinating region.

We go ashore in Provideniya, located at the southern limit of the Arctic ice pack, and the commercial port of this sparsely populated region. During our time here we may tour the regional museum and sail by Plover Bay, the Russian landing site of the Harriman Expedition. When we return to U.S. waters this evening, we gain a day by crossing the International Date Line.

A Siberian Yupik community hosts our visit to St. Lawrence. The hardy locals living on this windswept pebbly spit subsist on the bounty of the sea. As we walk through the village, we see walrus hides stretched on drying racks, later to be fashioned into skin boats, or umiaks. During a performance of traditional dances, note that the accompanying drums are made of stretched walrus stomach skin. Birders enjoy a brisk hike to seek the red-necked phalarope, long-tailed duck, yellow and white wagtail, and, possibly, the rare emperor goose.

Day 6 - Hall and St. Matthew Islands
Harriman Expedition participant Louis Fuertes collected bird specimens at Hall Island, which he found to be an ornithologist’s paradise. Walrus have occasionally been spotted here, and we keep a lookout during Zodiac excursions, passing by arches, waterfalls, and sea stacks packed with birds. Fascinating geological formations trademark the deserted island of St. Matthew, a result of cooling igneous volcanic rock. Countless numbers of thick-billed murres, blacklegged kittiwakes, fulmars, and puffins call the cliffs and columns their seasonal home. Enjoy a walk through meadows of blooming pink and yellow louseworts and blue Jacob’s ladder. We may spot the rare McKay’s bunting, which breeds here; Arctic foxes scurrying along the hillsides; and endemic St. Matthew singing voles scampering among the rocks.

Day 7 - St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands
Due south in the Bering Sea lies the tiny archipelago comprising the five Pribilof Islands. They were discovered in 1786 by the Russian explorer Gerassim Pribilof who successfully located what he was hoping to find: fur seals by the thousands, which the Russians later harvested nearly to extinction. Today, the northern fur seal is protected and cannot be hunted commercially. The Pribilof breeding population now numbers more than 700,000. Bird colonies abound, with some 225 species recorded in the islands.

St. Paul is home to 800 Aleuts, the largest such community in the world. Enjoy a stroll through town, then walk among a profusion of tundra wildflowers, watching for Arctic foxes often spotted here. Zodiac excursions and walks to the edge of the cliffs reveal birds by the thousands—horned and tufted puffins; red-legged kittiwakes; red-faced cormorants; and crested, least, and parakeet auklets.

Day 8 - St. George Island
We explore the small town of St. George whose residents include about 150 people of Aleut and Russian descent. A picturesque Russian Orthodox church commands a vista of the Bering Sea, and a cliff-top blind provides a remarkable view of a fur seal rookery. More parakeet auklets breed on St. George than anywhere else, and the nearly quarter million nesting red-legged kittiwakes make up 98 percent of the world’s population.

Day 9 - Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island / Baby Islands
Dutch Harbor was originally used by the North American Commercial Company to process fur seal pelts. Today, it is the busiest fishing and processing port in Alaska. Deck hands on purse seiners mend their nets, factory trawlers offload tons of king crab and pollock. We stroll among WWII relics of the U.S. Army, visit the Museum of the Aleutians and the WWII Historic Center, and view the oldest onion-domed Russian church in Alaska.

In the afternoon we sail among the Fox Islands group of the Aleutians, watching for minke whales, the smallest baleen whale in the northern Pacific. The five tiny, volcanic Baby Islands, our day’s final destination, teem with puffins and whiskered auklets.

Day 10 - Otter Cove, Unimak Island / High Island
After breakfast we board Zodiacs and head for the largest Aleutian island, Unimak, which is ringed by sandy beaches, carpeted in flowering tundra, and crowned by the Shishaldin Volcano. This is the only island in the Aleutians with a population of brown bears. Enjoy one of several walks offered today, from beach explorations to a tundra hill walk with stupendous views. As we cruise the coast of High Island this afternoon, watch for the thousands of horned and tufted puffins along its cliffs.

Day 11 - Unga Island, Shumagin Islands
We anchor at Unga Island today; its multiple bays offer excellent Zodiac opportunities to spot sea otters and birds, including peregrine falcons. Ashore, we enjoy botanizing amid fields of wildflowers and spongy tundra. Scattered pieces of multicolored petrified wood are remnants of an ancient metasequoia forest, evidence that the region once enjoyed a warmer climate. In the evening search for whales in these waters famed for seasonal migrations as we head toward the Semidi Islands.

Day 12 - Semidi Islands
We sail the length of the Alaska Peninsula today, a stunning, nearly-uninhabited wilderness, stopping to investigate islands and coves. The Semidi Islands are home to two and a-half million birds. We make a Zodiac landing to walk on a small, sandy beach covered in driftwood sea-carved into intriguing silvery shapes. Also by Zodiac, we trace the shores of Aghiyuk Island, home to huge colonies of seabirds: northern fulmars, common murres, and black-legged kittiwakes.

Day 13 - Geographic Harbor, Katmai National Park and Preserve
Nearly hidden at the far reaches of Amalik Bay, Geographic Harbor is surrounded by magnificent volcanic scenery (access through the narrow entrance of the harbor is tidal dependent). We cruise the area by Zodiac, watching for brown bears that dig for clams along the beaches at low tide.

Day 14 - Kodiak, Kodiak Island
We dock at the town of Kodiak, a bustling port settled by Russian fur traders in 1784. By 1792, Alexander Baranof established the town as the first capital of Russia’s North American colonies. We visit the 1794 Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox church, with its prominent blue onion domes, and Erskine House, a National Historic Landmark built in 1809 and now housing the Kodiak Baranof Museum. Exhibits in the Alutiiq Museum detail the history and culture of these native people who lived here millennia before the Europeans arrived.

We cruise toward Seward this afternoon. As we pass islands with steep cliffsides, watch for nesting puffins and cormorants and scan the waters for acrobatic humpback whales and pods of hunting orca, as well as fin and sei whales.

Day 15 - Seward / Disembark Clipper Odyssey / Anchorage / Home
We disembark the Clipper Odyssey in Seward and board motorcoaches bound for Anchorage and the airport where we connect with independent homeward flights.

What's Included:

• Accommodations in our hotels and on board Clipper Odyssey as outlined in the itinerary
• All onboard meals
• All group meals on land
• Group transfers
• Services of the expedition staff, including lectures, briefings, slide/film shows
• All group activities and excursions
• Landing and port fees
• All gratuities.

What's Not Included:

• All air transportation
• Excess baggage charges
• Airport arrival and departure taxes
• Transfers for independent arrivals and departures
• Passport and/or visa fees
• Travel insurance
• Items of a personal nature such as laundry, bar charges, alcoholic beverages, e-mail/fax/telephone charges

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