Alexander Archipelago

The traditional homeland of the Tlingit and Kaigani Haida peoples for millennia, the Alexander Archipelago is a three hundred mile long group of more than a thousand islands located off the southeast coast of Alaska. Densely cloaked with temperate rainforests the islands are formed by the submerged peaks of the coastal ranges and offer a truly stupendous arena for some of the World’s most amazing wildlife spectacles – rafts of Sea Otters, pods of Orcas, cliffs dripping with Puffins, Murres and Murrelets, and Humpbacks. We’ll hope to bear witness to these charismatic whales showing off the bubble-netting skills. An experience that will probably leave us more breathless than they.

Almost all of this mesmerising landscape is inaccessible to us except by boat, so we’ll visit the region’s finest wildlife spots onboard the marvellous Catdaddy, a beautifully designed expedition vessel. But unlike on many cruises we won’t stay aboard, each night we’ll land and stay in locally-owned lodges where we’ll also experience a little local culture, lots of comfort and some very fine food!

Our journey begins in Sitka, where the scent of salt and spruce hangs in the air and bald eagles line the shoreline. From the very first afternoon on the water, humpbacks may announce themselves with distant blows while sea otters drift through kelp forests. The early days of our voyage are rich in coastal energy and seabird life. St. Lazaria’s cliffs erupt with movement as Tufted Puffins flash past at eye level and murres crowd the ledges. As we move north through Peril Strait and into the vastness of Chatham Strait, the sense of scale grows. These are immense, wild waters where Humpbacks gather in numbers, and the possibility of coordinated bubble-net feeding becomes very real.

Around Hoonah and Icy Strait, the days take on a rhythm of prolonged marine encounters—whales rolling through glassy seas, orcas cutting purposeful lines across the horizon, and bears working the shoreline, turning stones or fishing in tidal shallows. From here, we transition along the dramatic Waterfall Coast between Hoonah and Kake, where mist spills down moss-covered cliffs and brown bears fish in emerald-green pools below Hidden Falls. Eagles gather overhead, and under the right conditions, humpbacks may erupt in coordinated feeding events nearby. In Kake and Kupreanof Island, the experience becomes more intimate — Black Bears in quiet forest creeks, the sound of rushing water, and then the raw power of a Steller Sea Lion haul-out, where hundreds of animals jostle and roar in tight formation.

The final days build toward a crescendo in Frederick Sound and LeConte Glacier—a place that often feels alive in every direction. Orcas patrol, Humpbacks rise slowly through calm water, and Harbor Seals rest on luminous blue icebergs as the glacier cracks and thunders in the distance. By the time you reach Petersburg, you’ve travelled through a vast cross-section of Southeast Alaska—from rich coastal systems to glacial wilderness, with an extraordinary diversity of wildlife and wonderful photographic opportunities throughout.