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day one

After being welcomed at the airport or the ferry terminal, guests will gather for drinks of local spruce tip beer, licorice fern gin & tonics and other local libations, with smoked salmon and home-brined ikura keta salmon roe. Following a dinner of seafood and other Southeast Alaska delights, visitors will watch a short film on the Tongass either outside on the lawn, or on the flatscreen television in the Harborview Abode.

Day two

Get acquainted with picturesque Sitka by the sea and its residents - the two legged ones, and the furry and feathered ones too! Guests will start the day with a behind the scenes tour of the the Alaska Raptor Center - Alaska’s only full avian hospital and rehabilitation center - to get an up-close look at bald eagles and other spectacular birds of prey. 

In late morning, guests will take a step inside Sitka’s most iconic landmark - St. Michael’s Cathedral - and take a step back in time. Learn about the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska and observe some of the oldest icons and saintly relics within the Orthodox world. At noon, join a church member to the bell tower for the daily noon-ringing of the church’s bells, and take in one of the best views in Sitka.

After lunch, guests will meet the colossal residents of Fortress of the Bear, a sanctuary for orphaned coastal brown bears and black bears. Learn about bear behavior and the lives of these most-revered creatures of the Alaskan forests.  

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day three

Guests will meet Marsh Skeele, director of Sitka Salmon Shares, and Jacob Finsen, plant manager. After touring the processing plant, and learning about different types of gear groups for fishing salmon, guests will head to the Sitka Sound Science Center which houses the state’s first modern commercial salmon hatchery. Meet the aquaculturists who help to ensure the salmon stocks in Alaska waters stay healthy and robust for generations to come. 

Pick Your Path for the afternoon: 

• Kayak the coastline, observing shore birds, sea lions, and perhaps a whale or two

• Hike one of Sitka’s many trails through open muskeg and towering spruce and hemlock forests

• Explore the largest private collection of Alaska Native artifacts at the Sheldon Jackson Museum

• Or, select from one of our additional add-on adventure options

We will regroup on the Adak, a World War II tugboat in Eliason Harbor in late afternoon to meet a local fishing captain who will fit guests for gloves, bibs, and boots in preparation for the following day of fishing.

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day four

At 6:30am, guests will head out to Cape Edgecumbe aboard a salmon troller for a day of work. Guests will learn what it means to put out 48 hooks behind a boat, land a salmon and dress them in the hold. Captains will discuss how commercial fishing has changed over the years, what it is like to earn a living on the sea and to raise a family in remote Alaska. After a day of fishing, the crew will return to Sitka Salmon Shares to deliver their salmon to Marsh and Jacob, who will be waiting dockside.

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day seven

After getting local tips on how to best negotiate fishy laundry (a 2-liter jug of Coke poured right into the washing machine!) guests will be brought back to Sitka airport for flights off-island, enjoying a final breakfast together at The Nugget Restaurant - a favorite Sitka send-off at the well-loved diner. A videographer will deliver individual films to each guest two weeks after they return home, showing their time catching fish and pulling gear as a deckhand aboard a commercial salmon troller.