The following is a suggested itinerary for a cruise to Alaska. The itinerary is only suggested and would be flexible and changeable. The route may be reversed and leave from Juneau instead of Vancouver.

Day 1 - Leave Vancouver about noon, cruise up Georgia Strait, pass Pender Harbor and spend the night at anchor at Lasquitti Island in Scottie Bay, or cruise longer and anchor at or near Desolation Sound.

Day 2 - Continue up Georgia Strait, cruise through Desolation Sound, and navigate through the rapids in order to reach Johnstone Strait where we will look for pods of Orcas. (More than nineteen families of Orcas have been identified in this waterway.) We will also look for porpoises, dolphins and eagles. When we tire of cruising, we will find a cove such as Port Harvey in which to anchor. Or, we may decide to cross Queen Charlotte Strait, pass Blackfish Sound (again looking for Orcas) and anchor in beautiful Miles Inlet or Blunden Harbor.

Day 3 - Up early to cross Queen Charlotte Sound. (This crossing will take us into the Pacific Ocean for a few hours. But don't worry, you have an outstanding crew on a heavy-duty ocean-going vessel that has been Coast Guard inspected and certified for exposed waters. Most boats are not Coast Guard inspected to carry passengers and very, very few are certified for exposed waters.) Continue up Fitzhugh Sound, pass Namu, through Lama Pass and stop at Bella Bella/Shearwater for the night. We will probably take a short walk to Fisherman's Bar and Grill.

Day 4 - Continue north, pass Klemtu, pass Couger Bay into Tolmie Channel, go by Butedale and view the magnificent waterfall. Anchor in Bishop Cove and crab, or anchor in Coghlan Anchorage.

Day 5 - To Prince Rupert via the long, narrow, beautiful Grenville Channel. Traveling up this 45-mile-long channel we see snow covered peaks and thousand foot waterfalls. Last year we followed several deer swimming across the channel. Prince Rupert is the center of two native peoples, the Tsimshian and Haida Indians. Explore the town, shop, check out the locals, and perhaps go out to dinner.

Day 6 - Cross Dixon entrance and enter Alaska. Since it is approximately 85 miles from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan, we may opt to spend the night in Foggy Bay. The basin is surrounded by a rain forest, and we will probably see wildlife, including bear, along its shores.

Day 7 - Ketchikan. Find moorage, clear customs, and explore the town. As late as the 1950s, Ketchikan was a rough town full of loggers and miners. It boasted the largest red light district west of the Mississippi. There are gift shops, art galleries, and museums.

Day 8 - Ketchikan: Explore the town.

Option: (This option will take an additional 5 days.) Circumnavigate Revillagigedo Island via Behm Canal. Behm Canal is a wonder. We will visit Yes Bay (great fishing), Bell Island Hot Springs, and Misty Fjords. Comments from others: "Magnificent scenery and wildlife; remote and intensely beautiful; Misty Fjords National Monument encompasses 2.2 million acres of solitude and primitive surroundings; numerous waterfalls tumble from snow- filled bowls; New Eddystone Rock is a remarkable shaft of rock 230 feet high, rising from a sand shoal in the middle of the canal, with deep water surrounding it; you may see brown bears, black bears, Sitka black tailed deer, wolves, mountain goats, bald eagles, porpoises, whales, sea lions, and seals; spectacular cliffs; famed place for salmon, cod, halibut; mysterious and haunting place of precipitous sides, rock overhangs and beautiful waterfalls; a fearful wonderful place; a majestic wilderness area that deserves serious exploration."

Day 9 - Leave Ketchikan to Meyers Chuck. This is a small active village in a tiny cove. There is an art gallery built in the trees along a dirt trail. Our last year's guests could not believe the prices and they thought the artifacts were a "steal". They loved this cove and felt it was worth the trip just to experience it.

Day 10 - Into Ernest Sound and explore Santa Anna Inlet (good crabbing), and Frosty Bay (just to watch the seals). We will find a secure anchorage in the area for the night.

Day 11 - Visit the town of Wrangell. Wrangell is less sophisticated than most of the other well-known Alaska towns and could be worth a visit. After exploring the town we will decide if we want to spend the night or to find an anchorage.

Day 12 - Navigate the narrow, intricate, Wrangell Narrows. The Narrows has the highest concentration of navigational aids (67 lights and buoys for 21 miles) in the world. At the north end of Wrangell Narrows is the town of Petersburg, population 3600. Known as the halibut capital of Alaska, it is home to a large fishing fleet.

Day 13 - Cruise into Frederick Sound. We should see large numbers of humpback whales and Orcas throughout this region. We will also see (and dodge) icebergs. Explore Thomas Bay, which is exactly like a Norwegian fjord. This bay takes us to Baird Glacier where we will spend time enjoying its grandeur. Anchor for the night somewhere in the bay. We are approximately 100 miles south of Juneau.

Day 14 - To Baronof Warm Springs. We will anchor in front of a beautiful 100-foot waterfall. We will take the boardwalk and trail to the lake and sit in the hot springs next to the falls.

Day 15 - To Red Bluff Bay. This bay has probably the most spectacular combination of mountains, waterfalls and ice fields in Southeast Alaska. We will anchor near a drying mud flat known as Bear Meadow.

Day 16 - To Sitka.

Day 17 - Explore Sitka. Most people consider Sitka to be the most beautiful city in Southeast Alaska. The city is the oldest in Southeast Alaska with architecture that dates to the Russian period. You could see the many attractions Sitka offers including the National Historic Park, Sheldon Jackson Museum, and St. Michaels Cathedral. The National Historic Park has the site of a Tlingit Indian Fort and a collection of Haida and Tlinget totem poles.

Day 18 - Leave Sitka and anchor in Baby Bear Cove: This cove is one of the most sheltered anchorages around. Once inside through the narrow entrance, it seems totally landlocked. It is so protected; we can kayak around the bay.

Day 19 - To Cannery Cove. This beautiful cove located on the east side of Admiralty Island, was the site of a cannery in the 1920s. We will do some crabbing here.

Days 20 & 21 - Enter Stephens Pass where we can see grizzly bears fishing along the shore. Explore some of the harbors in Stephens Pass, dodge the icebergs and view the tidewater glaciers in Tracey Arm, hoping to see them calve huge chunks of ice into the water.

Day 22 - Arrive in Juneau, Alaska's capital. Juneau is Southeast Alaska's largest and most cosmopolitan city (population of 29,000). Lots of gift shops, tours to Mendenhall Glacier (or we could rent a car and drive there ourselves), see the city, visit the Red Dog Saloon.