Story and photos by Terry Sheely

This is not the type of cruise where we lean on damp steel railing four stories above green water, talk about food and watch Alaska slide past in the misty distance, too far away to know but close enough to say that we were here. Neither, though, is it a daylight-to-dark hardcore fish trip, although we do our share, or an eco-cultish excursion, although we have an onboard naturalist, or safe and padded exploration, although we’re well-tended by guides with bear sense and 12-gauges.

This excursion is an Alaska education, a boot-in-the-mud learning adventure with just the right amount of edge, action and diversity—Southeast done right. This trip, mapped out by The Boat Company, is the kind of experience that once back home you soon give up trying to describe because what you’re describing is impossible to conceive by those who weren’t here. This content is available for subscribers only.