Experience It!
Protected by tall coastal mountains and warmed by Japanese currents off the Pacific Ocean, Southeast's moist maritime climate is characterized by comfortable year-round temperatures, with average summer days in the 60's and low to mid 70's.
It's great weather for fishing, strolls along the shoreline with our trained naturalists, kayaking adventures, or hikes - tailored to your level - among virgin forests, muskegs and alpine slopes.
While cruising from inlet to inlet, take some time to relax, fish (both fly and spin), whale watch, or photograph the gorgeous scenes you'll see from the deck of the MIST COVE or LISERON. It'll be an adventure you'll never forget!
To find out more about what to expect on your trip, visit our Discover Alaska page
FEATURED GUEST EXPERIENCE
“Everyone But The Dog”
By John Longwell, M/V LISERON
As any parent knows, a “vacation” with young children often isn’t much of a vacation at all. To the contrary, the everyday challenges of child-rearing are amplified by travel, usually in direct proportion to the remoteness of the location. It turns out that some of the most coveted travel adventures may be the very worst experiences to have en famille.
It was hard to ignore this logic as we contemplated a journey to Southeast Alaska with the Boat Company. Simple, daily interactions with my children, aged 7, 5, and 2, managed to transform my anticipation of the adventure into foreboding and nausea. Suddenly my 2-year-old’s tentative toddling around the house became a shipside balancing act over icy water. My daughters’ frustration with the confinement of a 20-minute car ride became a week-long, shrill chorus of “are we there yet?”
But this chance for the adventure of a lifetime was, as contemplated by our gracious host, to be a family getaway and reunion. Leaving the kids behind would defeat that purpose. And so it happened that we headed for Juneau with every member of our family except the dog, and that we were joined on board by a remarkable multigenerational assemblage of kin. Our group, 19 in all, included representatives of every decade of the ordinary human lifespan, spanning in age from my 2-year-old son to my 89-year-old father-in-law.
And here’s the thing. To the great credit of the crew of the M/V LISERON, the comfort and amenities of the vessel herself, and, above all, the stoic majesty of the surroundings and their inhabitants, it all worked. Beautifully.
According to a plan devised in consultation with the naturalist after dinner the previous night, a typical morning would see a group of kayakers paddle off into a sheltered lagoon, a group of fishermen off in search of leviathan halibut, a third group of hikers into the hills for a strenuous trek, while a fourth group pursued a more kid-friendly beach walk. I might have had one of my daughters with me in a kayak, while Papa and Gigi took the other fishing, and Aunt Rena played on the beach with my 2-year-old son. With a crew member for every three of us the permutations and variations on these activities seemed infinite. Thus, we had plenty of opportunity both for “grown-up” and kid-friendly pursuits.
Of course, much of the best of the Southeast Alaska experience revealed itself aboard the LISERON in a manner equally accessible and compelling to all ages. Whether a nature watcher is 2 or 72, there will be little difference in his reaction to the sight of a Humpback in full breach, of a cluster of groaning sea lions playing “King of the Mountain” on a navigational bell, of a pair of black bears flanked by bald eagles, or of a 20-story block of royal blue ice calving from a glacier.
No doubt there were special challenges presented by the makeup of our group, but they did not rattle our expert staff. There was nary a grumble from our gourmet cook when a perfectly presented salmon filet was refused in favor of macaroni and cheese. I did not see the cabin crew wince when Cheerios were pulverized into freshly vacuumed carpet in the salon. Our fishing guides kept their composure when explaining why a massive strike should not be expected 30 seconds after the line entered the water. Captain Seth steered past icebergs seemingly undistracted by a rugby scrum of pre-teen boys passing through the pilot house.
Thus the adventure of a lifetime was one that could be shared by everyone in our group, each in his own way. And though well-founded in past experience, my fears that my beloved children would turn this adventure into an exotic headache proved entirely unfounded. For that, we are grateful to The Boat Company, the crew of the LISERON, and the sheer wonder of Alaska itself.