Travel-Learn Program

When: June 21, 2012 - June 28, 2012 (iCal)

Description

We begin this tempting cruise (featuring free air* and a host of complimentary services aboard ship) in Vancouver, British Columbia, and traverse the pristine waters of the Inside Passage, to end in Seward, Alaska. No comfort is spared during the entirety of our journey, aboard the Six-Star, all suite small ship, M.V. SILVER SHADOW. We will meander past towering mountains and untouched coastlines and pass up-close to the Sawyer and Hubbard glaciers, all the while watching for whales, harbor seals, porpoises, sea lions, sea otters and eagles in the natural beauty that is the Inside Passage. A Pre-Cruise Option to Vancouver and Victoria and a Post-Cruise Option to Fairbank and the heart of Denali National Park are available.

Activity Level: Moderately Active

*Free Air and Low Air Add-Ons have limited availability and are not guaranteed.

Featuring Faculty Host

Dean James Glaser

Download the program brochure.

For Early Booking Incentive, your choice of cabin category, and to avoid disappointment of a sold out program, register now!

Cost

From $10,195 per person, double occupancy, includes air.

Contact

For more information,contact Usha Nand Sellers Ed. D., Director Tufts Travel-Learn Program, at usha.sellers@tufts.edu or 617-627-5323.

Itinerary

Day 1 - U.S./Vancouver, Canada

Today we depart our home cities for Vancouver, British Columbia. Upon our arrival, we will embark aboard the M.V. SILVER SHADOW.

Day 2 - The Inside Passage

Today we arrive at one of the few pristine marine wilderness areas in the Western Hemisphere, the protected waters of the Inside Passage. We will pass countless islands and evergreen forests that reach down to the water’s edge, and watch for an ever changing variety of birds, humpback whales, harbor seals and sea otters.

Day 3 - Ketchikan

Today we will dock at the colorful fishing village of Ketchikan, the “Salmon Capital of the World.” We will stroll the boardwalks of Creek Street and watch salmon swimming upstream in the middle of the village. We will have the opportunity to learn about the rich culture of southeast Alaska’s Native people during an optional excursion to a living Tlingit village. Here we will view the cedar totem poles at the Totem Bight State Historical Park, and visit the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery, where King, Coho, and Steelhead salmon are raised. An alternate option is to cruise to the Misty Fjords National Monument, a perfect place to view the teeming wildlife and mountain scenery.

Day 4 - Sawyer Glacier/Juneau

This morning, as we cruise, we will watch for harbor seals, kittiwakes, mountain goats, whales and brown bears. Later we will navigate a canyon of vertical rock cliffs and waterfalls, and view the twin Sawyer Glaciers.

Our afternoon’s arrival in the state capital, located on the edge of scenic Gastineau Channel, offers the opportunity to join an optional excursion to the renowned Mendenhall Glacier, a mass of ice 12 miles long, one and a half miles wide and more than 100 feet high at its terminus. We also have the choice of exploring Juneau’s urban attractions, including the Alaska State Museum and the Red Dog Saloon: Alaska’s best-known frontier watering hole.

Day 5 - Skagway

During the great Klondike gold rush of 1896-1901, prospectors thronged to Skagway, the gateway to the Yukon Territory. Today we can choose to join an optional excursion aboard the landmark narrow-gauge White Pass and Yukon Route Railway steam train to follow 20 miles of the gold prospectors’ route through some of Alaska’s most forbidding territory.

Day 6- Sitka

A renowned, beautiful Inside Passage self-governing community, Sitka is replete with the art and history of its Russian, American and native Alaskan past. Originally settled by the Tlingit people, by the late 1790s, Russian fur traders had become permanent settlers. An optional excursion provides an opportunity to explore the National Historical Park with its native artifacts, and St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Or visit the Raptor Rehabilitation Center, Alaska’s foremost bald eagle habitat where more than 100 injured eagles each year recuperate and are subsequently released back into the wild.

Day 7 - Hubbard Glacier

Here we will see one of nature’s wonders, the awesome “galloping” Hubbard Glacier whose rapid advance—at times over 40 feet in one day—is the largest piedmont glacier in North America. In 1986, an unprecedented geological record was set when the glacier blocked Russell Fjord, creating a natural dam over 90 feet high.

Day 8 - Seward/Anchorage

Our journey ends in Seward where we will disembark and travel by our motor coach to Anchorage. On the way we will pass the scenic Seward Highway, tracing the shores of spectacular Turnagain Arm and snaking around the towering snow-capped mountains of the beautiful Kenai Peninsula. We will continue to lookout for pods of orca or beluga whales hunting for salmon and waterfalls cascading to the valley floor. This afternoon we will board our homebound flight.

Price and Itinerary remain tentative and subject to change

617-627-5323|usha.sellers@tufts.edu