Dolphin Charters

These Alaska and British Columbia trips come with a warning: These trips are addictive. The proof is in the fact that well over half of the guests are either returning – some for over 40 trips – or have come because of enthusiastic recommendations from friends. We have welcomed guests from around the world, including Alaska itself.

Southeast Alaska/B.C. is best seen and visited by boat or float plane, and the smaller the boat or plane (within reason) the better the experience. Miles of tree lined deep green fiords combined with ice, dramatic basalt and granitic rock and all the animals that live here make for a tremendous sense of awe and exhilaration. Come and join us for the adventure!

The excitement begins immediately as we twist and turn around and between islands and narrow passes along side Vancouver Island—protecting you from the ocean—and the high, ice-covered peaks and fiords of the mainland. The space in between is the Inside Passage—an island studded wilderness and a boating adventurer's dream. After our passage through the Gulf Islands, Nanaimo and the Straits of Georgia, we must time our passage through the famous Seymour Narrows, just north of Campbell River as we can pass through here only at slack water. Next come Johnstone Straits and the legendary home of the northern community of resident orcas and the home also to a renaissance of Native culture. Crossing Queen Charlotte Sound at the north end of Vancouver Island brings us to a remote part of Coastal British Columbia and its treasures. Nine days after we start our adventure the trip ends in Ketchikan, just across the Dixon Entrance.

Valid passport required for this trip.

Check Schedule

Find out more about Ronn Patterson
Back to top of page

The journey from Wrangell to Juneau is as spectacular as the scenery, inhabitants, and wildlife in SE Alaska. The approximately 150 miles (as the raven flies) of watery wilderness is punctuated by coastal strands where there might be foraging black or brown (grizzly) bears. Pack Creek and Windfall Harbor on Admiralty Island are wonderful for observing brown bears and their playful cubs who've only recently emerged from their dens and are busy foraging on sedges and shellfish. Glaciers reach to the mountaintops, and surrounding you is the temperate rainforest of the Tongass National Forest. Humpback whales, orcas, harbor seals, Steller sea lions and many, many seabirds and fish species call this place home. With Ronn Patterson as captain and Roger Devore as photo leader, they'll endeavor to put you in the places of maximum interest and opportunities. We'll focus on the needs and desires of the group and immerse the photographer in the wildlife and photographic highlights of Southeast Alaska. The possibilities are endless!

Check Schedule

Find out more about Roger Devore
Back to top of page

Private Charter

Check Schedule

Back to top of page

This Glacier Bay adventure has it all – and possibly a little more. Glacier Bay National Park itself has the pinnacle of scenic splendor plus an amazing ice kingdom. An abundance of wildlife exists also - grizzly and black bears, mountain goats, marmots, eagles, Black-legged kitty wake colonies with thousands of birds, eagles, Tufted and Horned Puffins, humpback whales, killer whales and more. This cruise explores the backwaters and less visited portions of Glacier Bay as well as the "standard" must see portions. In addition, you visit and explore several wildlife rich areas - especially some of the best whale waters - outside the park. Best of all, you get to explore and play among the scenery - new and old forests, acres of imposing glacial ice, mountains, meadows of flowers – all in the shadow of grandfather grizzly.

Check Schedule

Find out more about Darran Leal
Back to top of page

These Glacier Bay adventures have it all – and possibly a little more. Glacier Bay National Park itself has the pinnacle of scenic splendor plus an amazing ice kingdom. An abundance of wildlife exists also - grizzly and black bears, mountain goats, marmots, eagles, Black-legged kitty wake colonies with thousands of birds, eagles, Tufted and Horned Puffins, humpback whales, killer whales and more. This cruise explores the backwaters and less visited portions of Glacier Bay as well as the "standard" must see portions. In addition, you visit and explore several wildlife rich areas - especially some of the best whale waters - outside the park. Best of all, you get to explore and play among the scenery - new and old forests, acres of imposing glacial ice, mountains, meadows of flowers – all in the shadow of grandfather grizzly.

"...an imposing array of jagged spires and pyramids, and flat-topped towers and battlements, of many shades of blue, from pale, shimmering, limpid tones in the crevasses and hollows, to the most startling, chilling, almost shrieking vitriol blue on the plain mural spaces from which bergs had just been discharged." John Muir

Check Schedule

Find out more about Don Paulson
Back to top of page

This trip leaves Hoonah and enters Icy Straits, some of the "whaliest" waters to be found in Southeast Alaska. The abundant food supply of krill and herring causes these whales (the same population to be found in Hawaii during the winter) to congregate for their months of eating. The scenery and wildlife on the way to Wrangell over the 10 days of the trip compete with the humpbacks for magnificence. Pack and Anan Creeks are on the agenda because salmon are on the bears' menu. Wrapping it up is a jet boat trip up the Stikine River on your final morning. Then you can fly home or relax and spend a little more time in this great area of Southeast Alaska.

Check Schedule

Find out more about Barbara Jordan, Ellen Anon or Don Paulson
Back to top of page

One feature of these two cruises is the opportunity to visit both Pack Creek and Anan Creek Bear Reserves. Here you will watch bears be bears as they are used to people being present and are protected from hunting. Both have rich salmon streams and intense old growth forests. Anan even has a photo blind at creek level beside a falls where you can be eye to eye with the bears and the salmon. And sometimes your telephoto lens is way too long!

Between these two locations you cruise through the prime humpback lunge-feeding and bubble-net feeding areas that for the past 30 years have provided some of our most spectacular whale experiences. Orcas commonly forage here as well, and Dalls porpoises regularly bow ride, providing close up views of these fast swimming animals. Occasionally, "transient" or marine mammal eating orcas chase and feed on Dalls porpoise as well.

Ice Kingdoms, old-growth forests, and other awe-inspiring scenery will complement your journey. Another special experience is a jet boat trip (before or after your trip) up the Stikine River out of Wrangell to experience the Shangri-La beauty of Shake's Lake and Glacier (ice dependent).

Check Schedule

Find out more about Betty Sederquist or Gordon & Cathy Illg
Back to top of page

This trip starts with a jet boat trip up the Stikine River out of Wrangell and ends in the Norwegian heritage town of Petersburg. In between are lots of adventures involving whales, bears (both black and grizzlies), ice, and spectacular scenery in some of the best humpback waters and bear areas in Southeast. This trip goes to both Pack and Anan Creeks where the bears should still be stuffing themselves with salmon for their upcoming hibernation.

What's not to like? Bears, water, magnificent scenery and an ever changing view. While in Petersburg a visit to the LeConte Glacier is very wonderful!!

Check Schedule

Find out more about Gordon & Cathy Illg
Back to top of page

Beginning in Ketchikan, this trip enters into very remote British Columbia. It's a land of mists and mountains and, apart from Prince Rupert, only scattered human populations. Bears and other wildlife outnumber the people! The "Spirit Bear" –a white phase of the black bear– is most visible on Princess Royal Island where we'll be guided by natives to, potentially, the best bear viewing locations. They also can be visible from the beach, as were these two cubs from last year. The scenery and narrow passages through this area emphasize the glaciers that cut these channels during the last Ice Age. For overall grandeur, this cruise can't be beat!

Check Schedule

Find out more about Ronn Patterson
Back to top of page

More orcas inhabit this region than exist in the rest of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska combined! This cruise spends time with resident orcas at two communities as well as the transient orcas in between. The northern resident community is near Johnstone Strait, and the southern resident community is near Friday Harbor, Washington. This region, the top of Vancouver Island to Friday Harbor, is the heart of a strong native culture with well–developed art, religion and social structure.

The setting is one of unbelievable beauty – deep green bays rimmed by forests and mountains, punctuated by the black and white of the orca whale (actually the largest member of the dolphin family). We will spend as much time as possible with the orcas, visit bird rookeries and go ashore for brief hikes and beach combing. We will also make special visits to wonderful native museums and village sites.

A valid passport is required for this trip.

Check Schedule

Find out more about Brenda Tharp
Back to top of page