Cruise of Inside Passage provides breathtaking views of wildlife and scenery

The subdued, slightly startled cry from one sharp-eyed passenger gained volume as it spread quickly through the dining room of the Spirit of Endeavour.

"Bear!"

	If you go: Cruising in Alaska Cruise West's Inside Passage cruises sail from May through August, departing from Juneau or Ketchikan on the Spirit of Endeavour, Spirit of Discovery and Spirit of '98. Per-passenger, double-occupancy fares range from $3,699 to $6,549. Excursions on this trip are not strenuous. Hikers and hardy explorers may want to plan their own shore adventures. Cruise West also packages cruises with other Alaska tours. For more information: 1-800-888-9378 or www.cruisewest.com. Other lines offering small-ship Inside Passage cruises include Glacier Bay Cruise Line, 1-800-451-5952 or www. voyagercruiseline.com; and Lindblad Expeditions, 1-800-397-3348; www.expeditions.com. Related article See Go with the Floe  Map: Endeavour's Route See Below

Diners leapt from their seats, dropping their forks and grabbing their binoculars.

"Bear!"

Half of the diners rushed to the dining room's large, water-level picture windows; the rest dashed up one flight of stairs to an outside deck. After five days of patiently peering through binoculars at every bear-shaped rock and shadow, no one was about to let this bona fide sighting pass unobserved.

Captain Jim Armstrong spun the vessel around -- such flexibility is among the advantages of a small ship over the mega-liners -- for a second pass by a sliver of rocky shore nestling against the thickly-treed slope of Tracy Arm Fjord. There on the water's edge was a large, chocolate-colored black bear 0nature is funny that way) with the face of a Steiff toy.

For the next dozen minutes, Captain Armstrong inched the ship in closer while passengers oohed and ahhed quietly snapping off digital images. For his part, the bear regarded the Endeavour quizzically and calmly before eventually squatting to do what bears typically do in the woods. Then he sort of shuffled on his way, casting occasional backward glances over his shoulder at the lingering ship.

A ship like this attracts people who appreciate natural adventures, including the two of us, who happened to find ourselves together with our spouses, Tom and Sari. These are not high-maintenance cruise passengers, but people who prefer glaciers to sequins and binoculars to black tie. Like the other seven vessels in the Cruise West fleet, The Spirit of Endeavour is outfitted to provide a comfortable small- ship experience. The ship accommodates 102 passengers and has few of the usual amenities of the massive liners, which dwarf it on occasions when they're in port together.

A mere 217 feet long, the Endeavour has only four passenger decks. There's a lounge where passengers hang out during the day and late into the evening, assuming late is defined as midnight.

Most folks were cozy in their cabins by then, ether reading, watching a video, or lulled to sleep by the steady purring of the Endeavour as it navigated clear, cold waters. Every evening a few night-owls perched on the upper deck, gawking at the great Alaskan night.

The daily routines are simple. The Endeavour has a single dining room with one seating per meal. There is no swimming pool, no hot tub, no sauna, no climbing wall and only two outside decks to circumnavigate at 17 laps per mile.

Instead of going to the disco, casino or splashy gala revues in the evening, passengers gather in the lounge to hear two young, knowledgeable excursion leaders present lectures on local history, flora and fauna, along with previews of the next day's itinerary. There's a bar in one corner of the lounge, and the other corner is stocked with books and movies for viewing on in-room VCRs.

All cabins are twin-bedded and come comfortably equipped with a shower/toilet stall, either portholes or picture windows, and binoculars for each guest to enjoy the cruise's main event: watching wildlife and scenery.

The seascapes and mountainscapes of the Inside Passage unfurl themselves on a scale difficult to comprehend or convey.

Equally hard to grasp is that the vastness of southeast Alaska, virtually all of which is incorporated within Tongass National Forest, is only a sliver of the massive state, a continental coastland laced with tight channels and glacier-graced coves and fringed with innumerable islands, small towns, national parks and forests.

Cruise West's Inside Passage routes originate in either Ketchikan or Juneau and follow an itinerary that alternates days on board with days that include visits to various ports.

Our southbound cruise started with an overnight in Juneau's Goldbelt Hotel. Juneau, Alaska's capital and third most populous city, is America's only state capital that is accessible only by air or water, even from within the state's own borders. Occupying a stretch of mountainous mainland coastline, Juneau is a neat little town with streets so steep that many sidewalks require stairs.

 

	Indigenous peoples find new niche After years of abuse, southeastern Alaska's three tribes -- the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian -- ultimately carved themselves a better deal than tribes Outside, as the lower 48 states are known here. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, passed in 1971, transferred 44 million acres of land and millions of dollars to corporations whose shareholders were the native people of Alaska. While the act is not without problems and critics, it has provided a way for Alaska's native population to exploit their land for their own profit. In Juneau, the Tlingits and Haida own the Mount Roberts tram and the visitors center at its upper terminus, where visitors may view a film on Native culture, visit a nature center and head out on trails winding through the woods. Natives also own the Goldbelt Hotel in Juneau, several cruise lines that offer day cruises to Glacier Bay National Park and elsewhere and a company that offers river rafting and sea kayaking excursions. A travel agency and retail shops selling Native arts and crafts are among their other businesses.

Many interesting and historic buildings (you can walk up and knock on the governor's door) and other relics remain from Juneau's decades as a silver boomtown. Juneau is also home to the splendid Alaska State Museum, which includes an absorbing collection of artifacts of Alaska's indigenous people. Like Alaska's other major cruise ports, Juneau's streets are lined with gift shops catering to the steady flow of cruise liners that tie up at city pier.

Some memorable buys can be found among the usual tourist bric-a-brac, but make sure your "authentic" Alaska souvenirs weren't made in China.

Cruise West also offers a whale-watching excursion from Juneau and a helicopter excursion up onto the Mendenhall Glacier, which terminates a few miles from city limits.

Like eagles, glaciers become a commonplace sight for passengers by the end of an Inside Passage cruise, but the Mendenhall must rank as the world's most-seen glacier, both because of its easy access from the capital and its ability to be seen from passing cruise ships.

The Endeavour departed Juneau in the late afternoon, sailing south around Admiralty Island an then north into the Chatham Straits and the Lynn Canal, the mile-wide natural, mountain-lined passage with sheltered waters that have made it a main route north for Alaskan seafarers.

Our first sightings of breaching whales came just before dinner, and the ship paused for 20 minutes to watch their antics. The full moon rising over the mountain peak at our stern was a breathtaking sight.

In the morning, we arrived in the colorful frontier town of Skagway, at the northern end of the Inside Passage. From here some 20,000 Klondike gold seekers set out in the winter of 1898 on their epic trek up the Chilkoot trail toward the Yukon. Some passengers tromped off to stretch their legs on the trails that climb steeply out of town.

Others boarded the narrow gauge White Pass & Yukon Route Railway for a two-hour scenic excursion up into the mountains. Still others wandered down Broadway, Skagway's main street, dipping in and out of its kitschy galleries and gift shops. Upstairs from the Red Onion, a saloon and former brothel dating to 1898, the Brothel Museum offers a peek into the restored boudoirs of some of Alaska's most resourceful pioneers.

"These girls were the real gold miners," joked docent Madam Chinookie (a.k.a. Lauren Anderson from Minnesota), who does her job appropriately dressed as a working girl. For passengers interested in learning more about this colorful aspect of Gold Rush history, the "Ghosts & Goodtime Girls Walking Tour," another shore excursion option, got high marks from passengers.

Later that day, the Endeavour docked at the tiny village of Haines, where the most popular excursion option is a gentle raft trip through the 48,000-acre Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. Drifting down the river in six-person inflatable rafts was a pleasant respite, especially with a running commentary from our guides, including Tom Lang, an engaging naturalist who occasionally also provides commentary on NPR.

Although we eyed many eagles here in their natural environment, it was always from a discreet distance. The real flurry of excitement that afternoon came at the float's end, when one group of rafters spotted a bear racing across a hillside meadow maybe half a mile a way. Nice but distant.

Another intimacy of our small ship cruise was the course Captain Jim steered through Peril Strait, a narrow, natural glass-smooth channel that threads its way between Baranof and Chichagof Islands on our way to and from our next port, Sitka. This is a passage no large liner can navigate, and trolling through the low-lying forests on each side provided a closer view of the Alaskan wilderness.

This closeness was made more meaningful by a pod of about a dozen orcas cutting graceful arcs through the channel as they passed the ship, moving in the opposite direction.

The onboard fauna was also interesting. With so few people and so much free time, striking up conversations with fellow cruise passengers was easy and rewarding.

We met interesting couples from around the world who all had found their way to this small ship because they appreciated its intimate approach to nature, as opposed to a huge cruise ship experience. And because we encountered each other frequently over the course of the week, at meals, in the ship's lounge, strolling the decks, those conversations had time to mature into more than polite chit-chat.

That accessibility also extended to members of the crew, who were friendly, helpful and multitalented. Indeed, the same bright-eyed young men and women who served our consistently tasty meals also straightened our cabins and lent their talents to the amateur evening. Onboard as much for the scenery and experience as the money, their enthusiasm continually added to the ambiance.

Amid a flurry of eagles, we arrived at Sitka just before lunch. For decades, this outpost was capital of Russian Alaska. On that sunny Sunday afternoon, serenaded by the sound of the town's church bells, we strolled a mile to the lovely National Historical Park, the site of a key battle between the native Tlingits and Russians, who hoped to invade and take control of the lucrative fur trade. Although they made a noble showing, ultimately the Tlingits were driven from their log fortress. A path spongy with spruce and pine needles passed an impressive array of reproductions of historic totem poles.

The most intimate encounter Cruise West passengers had with native Alaskan culture came a day later in Metlakatla, a Tsimshian town on Annette Island.

The settlement was founded in 1887 by Father William Duncan, an Anglican priest and missionary who persuaded 800 Tsimshian followers from British Columbia to resettle here to escape persecution (and bad influences like alcohol).

Although we were experiencing the worst weather of the week, a chilling, wind driven downpour, visitors were loaded into school buses for a tour of the bleak but hopeful canning town. After a visit to the cannery and Father Duncan's house, the tour ended in the spacious new longhouse (a sort of tribal community center) for a show of native dance and song by local adults and kids. No one didn't join the dancing (and toss a dollar or two in a blanket) by the program's end.

The Endeavour's final stop was the bustling burb of Ketchikan, Alaska's fourth-largest city, with 14,000 residents. On any given day, cruise passengers can increase the population by 50 percent.

Before we caught our flight home that afternoon, we had ample opportunity for souvenir shopping in the little stores lining Ketchikan's creek side boardwalks. For a glimpse of a more authentic Alaska, check out the Totem Heritage Center, with its extraordinary and well-preserved collection of poles, house posts and other wooden artifacts.

As varied and interesting as the ports of calls on this Inside Passage cruise, the days of straight cruising and wildlife watching created the most memories.

We were fortunate with the weather on our mid-May cruise. While cold, the skies were generally sunny, with starry nights. On those days spent mostly at sea, passengers sat in sociable clusters in the lounge, and others bundled up to read novels on the "sun deck" (ironically named in this rainy climate).

Because we were never out of sight of the land, many passengers simply stood by the rail, hypnotized by the view, binoculars poised for wildlife sightings.

Significant animal sightings were announced over the loudspeaker by an excursion leader, usually causing even the most comfortably settled passengers to leap from their seats for a look. For particularly interesting moments, such as a passing whale or pod of orcas, the captain stopped the ship for a good long look.

In Glacier Bay National Park and Misty Fjords National Monument, park rangers boarded the ship to add further insights and inspiration. ("The pigeon guillemot is probably my favorite Glacier Bay bird," said one ranger, with enchanting enthusiasm.)

The flukes of Humpback whales became gratifyingly common displays, while their breachings were far rarer sightings. A few days into the cruise, bald eagles became commonplace, while less common puffins enchanted the masses, and a gang of Stellar sea lions on a rock were described by a ranger as being "like a frat party."

Passengers amused themselves learning to differentiate white-winged scooters from black-legged kittiwakes, and marbled murrelets from Kittlitz's murrelets, all of which appeared on the ship's ongoing tally of wildlife sightings posted outside the lounge.

But our wildlife list wasn't quite complete until that first bear made his appearance. Of course, once we'd seen the first one, a dozen were spotted over the next half-hour of deepening dusk as we cruised between the steep, embracing flanks of Tracy Arm.