Alaska aboard Discovery 2019

Alaska aboard Discovery 2019

Gary and I (Carol) returned to Southeast Alaska, May 22-June1, 2019, for our third amazing trip led by Ron Niebrugge of Niebrugge Images aboard Alaska Charters classic yacht MV Discovery, captained by Ben Swanson. We sailed from Juneau to Sitka for eight glorious days in the waters of Southeast Alaska.

Our 87-foot classic fantail yacht, MV Discovery, was built in 1931 and has been beautifully maintained and enhanced by her devoted owner and captain Ben Swanson. She is gorgeous, with teak decks and fine mahogany paneling, comfortable cabins, and lots of room to spread out and enjoy 360-degree views. We adore our little cabin which has been dubbed by Ben as “The Irwin Suite.”

We were nine photographers who were treated royally by Ron Niebrugge, Captain Ben Swanson, Second Captain Susi Zimmerman, and Chef Devon. Devon’s food (and Susi’s Pavlova) was wonderfully delicious. We put down crab and shrimp pots and got great hauls of each, which provided us delicious eats. We also caught some halibut too small to keep, and another—likely 175 pounds—which was too large to land on the boat, so we had to cut it lose.

A real highlight was going into Ford’s Terror in the Endicott Arm, which is something we have dreamed of doing for many years. One must enter and exit the narrow opening to a spectacularly beautiful fjord on slack high tides. This time the tides were just right, so that we entered one evening, anchored for the night, and departed the next morning. It was magical! After leaving Ford’s Terror we approached Dawes Glacier, also in Endicott Arm, and discovered it had calved many large icebergs that blocked our approach but were wonderful to photograph.

There were not as many humpback whales or orcas in the area as we would have liked, but we did see some. This causes us to wonder if they have been affected by a diminished food supply or may have changed their migration calendar. We saw Steller’s sea lions and harbor seals and were entertained by Dall’s porpoise riding our bow.

We took trips to shore where we saw brown bears, a highlight being two yearling (first-year) cubs at Pack Creek Bear Observatory. They were learning from their mom how to clam. First-year cubs are so tiny and adorable! We also saw bears in other locationscwhere they were feeding on grasses in the meadows and along the tree lines.

One night we had a cookout on shore at an unoccupied forest service cabin that was well-supplied with fire wood to stoke our fire in a ready-made fire pit. To say this evening was fun is an understatement! We had so many incredible laughs!

Once again we extend our heartfelt thanks to Ron and Janine, Ben, Suzi and Devon for an absolutely fabulous trip. To our fellow travelers who were already our friends—Linda and Steve Henry, Helga and Joerg Clephas, Tina Moser and Scott Pudwell—and our new friend Mel Strauss, it was such a delight to spend time with each of you. Huge thanks to Ron for taking and sharing our group photo!

Below these photos are some videos that show what a fun, and funny, bunch we were. You had to have been there to “get” most of them.

Photos were taken on Fuji XT-3 and X-T20 cameras, as well as two iPhones. To see photos individually, click on the first photo and use arrows to move forward and backward. To see any photo at full size and higher quality, click on “View full size” on the bottom right of the screen and open that photo in your browser.