Sharing Alaska

Sharing Alaska WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY • AUGUST 2-9, 2009

STORY BY SVEN LINDBLAD • PHOTOS BY KEN CARLSON & SVEN LINDBLAD

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n August 1st I departed New York, exhausted from months of very hard work. I was going on vacation, the first I had

taken in a long time, with my 12-year old daughter, Isabella, and 10-year old son, Eric. I was excited beyond description, as I was about to combine a geography I hadn’t been back to for 20 years with the sheer joy of time in nature with my children. We were going to Alaska on the National Geographic Sea Lion.

Ken's photo brings back my early years working for my father as an Expedition Leader

From left: Eric Lindblad aboard ship ready for adventure ; Eric and Isabella in Petersburg in a Zodiac commandeered by their father; Isabella and Eric. Right: Close encounter with South Sawyer Glacier.

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aturally, there were a number of skeptics who wondered if was I capable of going on one of our ships simply as a guest.

The answer proved to be yes, as any of my fellow guests can attest. I was definitely on vacation.

When we arrived in Juneau, I was quite taken aback by the port. There, alongside the dock at low tide you could barely see the Sea Lion, and what of her was visible, was totally dwarfed by two massive cruise ships tied up mere feet from her bow and stern.

The streets were packed with cruise ship tourists, most in shorts on a warm summer day, shopping bags in hand. The harbor was rimmed with umpteen stalls hawking various sightseeing excursions: kayaking in the bay; helicoptoring here and there; or a bus trip to a nearby glacier. Some of the hawkers were quite aggressive, shouting out reasons to choose their excursion over the one next to them. In a few hours we would head out into the wild, while they would steam off to the next town to repeat their daily routine.

To me the port shot proves that small is beautiful in wild Alaska 3

1,432 Passengers

Far left: Young kayaker awaits a co-pilot; Ken Carlson capturing moments. Near left: Built to explore the 62-guest Sea Lion carries at fleet of 20 kayaks and 4 Mark IV Zodiacs, allowing us to land anywhere in the wilderness. Below: Sea Lion moored between behemoths.

62 Guests 2,037 Passengers 4

The legendary Inside Passage is particularly lovely from inside, especially on a small nimble expedition ship able to roam free 5

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t 6 p.m. we cast off. The ship was full and of the 66 guests, 17 were kids. And over the course of the next few days, as many would agree, all the adults became increasingly kid-like too —a delightful by-product of being in the wild.

Pulling away from Juneau created a palpable buzz aboard. It was warm, the sky was clear and the waters flat calm. It reminded me of the days when I led safaris in Africa. They were private tented small-group safaris; very comfortable. And our camps each night were miles away from anything else — pitched on a riverbank, or on

the lip of a ridge. Every site was chosen based on where the animals were at that time of year.

On about the third day of every safari I would take our small groups to one of the large lodges for lunch. The crowds at the buffet, fumes from all the minibuses and noise served to reinforce for all the wisdom of their choice to do things differently. So, each time as we headed back to our seclusion there were big smiles and, yes, a bit of well-deserved self-satisfaction. And as we left the teeming cruise ships in our wake, I felt exactly the same relief and eagerness to be on our own.

Left: Alaska's Inside Passage. Top left: Mackenzie Carlson and Rene Romero (center) with new friends. Right; Bald eagle soaring over Redoubt Bay.

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t about 9 p.m. Tom O’Brien, our expedition leader, announced that we’d spotted whales. And not just a few–there were lots of them; three groups of 10-12 each; all engaged in a phenomena called “bubblenet feeding.” It’s an amazing form of cooperative behavior in which bubbles blown from one whale create a kind of enclosure that concentrates masses of herring. The others pass through the “net”, and burst to the surface with mouths agape, filled with fish. It’s an astounding thing to watch.

This page from left: Whales bubble-net feeding; Theresa and Rene Romero excited, surrounded by whales and tails. Main photo at right: Whales in Williams Cove.

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Asking Alaska whale expert and friend Fred Sharpe, I learned that First reports on bubblenet feeding behavior date from the 1930s 8

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hat’s when I met Ken who, before even saying hello, insisted I look at one of his digital photos of the action. It was really quite good. He asked to see mine.

“Didn’t take any” I said. “Why?” he asked, when he saw my own sophisticated camera.

“Just wanted to watch” I said, which was true because I had never seen this behavior before. “But I’ll take some during the trip,” I promised him. And thus began our friendship — my kids and I, Ken, his wife, Katrina, and their sisters, brothers and kids. Throughout the voyage there was much jockeying and jousting about our photographic skills. It was fun, and we decided right away to make our pictures available to everyone after the voyage — and therefore become the unofficial chroniclers of a grand week.

From Left: Carlson family portrait; in the Zodiac on approach to South Sawyer Glacier. Main photo at right: 9

Calving action at South Sawyer.

The native Tlingit call glacier calving "white thunder," perfect to anyone who's witnessed it up close

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There’s nothing like children and wildlife to bring out the kid in everyone

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Left: Rene Romero and Ken Carlson sharing the wonder.

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Main photo: Dramatic close-up of bubble-net feeding.

Seeing the whales engaged in such amazing cooperative behavior reminds us we’re similar.

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Below: Katrina Carlson on the bow with the kids. Right: Cousins Rebecca and Mackenzie. Voyage chroniclers Ken Carlson and Sven Lindblad with fellow explorer Rene Romero. Far right clockwise: Eager kids ready to board Zodiacs; Katrina and Ruby Rose on a forest trek; Isabella and new friend.

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I always considered photography a personal, kind of interior activity till I met Ken! I haven't had this much fun since I was eleven

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'm grateful to wild, beautiful Alaska and to the Sea Lion and its crew for inspiring the esprit de corps that made this voyage so meaningful for so many. My thanks to Katrina, Mackenzie, Ruby Rose and Zander, Rene Romero and his family, and all the other guests who shared this expedition for their lively companionship. Much appreciation to Ken for all the fun, his friendship, and for providing his wonderful photographs that so perfectly captured our Alaska.

And thanks to Eric and Isabella for giving me the joy of sharing Alaska with them.

To see more of Ken's photos from this voyage and other travels, visit kacimages.com To see the Daily Expedition Reports from this week in Alaska, visit expeditions.com/der To share Alaska with your friends or family, visit expeditions.com/alaska. Š Sven Lindblad & Ken Carlson

So, here it is. A small story of beauty and wonder, told in pictures, of people delighted by each other and their surroundings, of Alaska.