North America

Adventures typically last 10-12 days and are contingent on the tides. Departing ports include Sitka, Petersburg, and Ketchikan. Voyages will experience the best grizzly and brown bear sightings imaginable and will cruise around icebergs and into nutrient-rich sounds where humpback whales feed in teams. Frederick Sound, Admiralty, and Baranof Islands are spectacular. When spawning salmon return in July, a frenzy of grizzlies, orca, and bald eagles are waiting.

Not a million miles away, expedition vessels have carved out adventures among the temperate rainforest of western Canada, above Vancouver Island. The Haida Gwaii archipelago is referred to as the ‘Galapagos of the North’. Typically, weeklong cruises depart Old Masset to visit densely forested islands with abundant sightings of baleen whales and black bears. It’s here that the Haida First Nation culture has occupied these islands for 13,000 years. Heritage totem poles and UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites like SGang Gwaay Llnagaay are part of their ancient lineage.

Closer to British Columbia, experience Ursus galore in the Great Bear Rainforest during small vessel coastal safaris. With bear-hunting ended, driven by First Nation communities such as the Kitasoo Xai’xais, it has become one of the planet’s wildlife spectacles. Sightings include grizzlies, the famed white spirit bears, and coastal timber wolves and orcas. Expeditions typically last around eight days and and commence from Kitimat, Bella-Bella, or Prince Rupert. 

There’s a massive shift in temperature and geographical zones heading to Baja California’s 1200-kilometre-long (745-mile) peninsula in Mexico, south of San Diego, which encloses the biologically rich inland Sea of Cortez. It is set, almost incongruously, in a semi-arid desert; its mega-biodiversity was popularised by John Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez.

 Cortez cries out for exploration by small vessels, not least when grey whales crowd close around your zodiac dinghy. Ship departures leave the likes of San Carlos port. You may cruise along the Pacific coastline and visit bays and fertile lagoons for extraordinary birds and calving whale displays. Frigatebirds are always wheeling overhead, and from October to May, whale sharks come to feed in great numbers. Snorkelling off the ship encounters turtles and playful sea lions. Expect manta rays, bottlenose dolphins, fin whales, and orcas between the coast of La Paz and Loreto. Specialist photographic expeditions can help you capture this wildlife utopia in greater clarity.

There is assistance out there to guide your choices. In Alaska, look for Adventure Green Alaska (AGA) certified trips. These vessels will provide educational lectures on the local environment and indigenous cultures. Recipients of this designation will have banned single plastic use, operate cleaner energy vessels, perhaps hybrid fuel ones, and cut down on food waste. 

To support Haida Gwaii’s First Nation communities, travellers can add extra days to their voyages to spend money on the community’s accommodation. The islands have many worthy sustainable and cultural travel initiatives and, in 2023, received a Global Vision Award from Travel + Leisure Magazine. 

Small-ship adventures in the Sea of Cortez encourage wildlife interactions through snorkelling, SUPs, and kayaking. But it’s imperative to behave calmly around animals and avoid touching slow-moving whale sharks.