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Books Travel

Alaska by J.A. Michener

imageThis must be a good introduction to the place.

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Travel

Valdez to Whittier

We have decided that in the last leg of the trip we will visit Prince William Sound, Valdez, Whittier, and the Kenai Peninsula. We won’t have much time so we will be looping around from Anchorage to Valdez, and then taking the ferry to Whittier. If weather and time allows, we would like to explore the Kenai in a lightning-bolt road trip, with the idea to try to reach Homer.

An ambitious road trip, but hopefully we will be able to catch some more inland populations of monkeyflowers as well as the mythical monkeyflowers that live nested in sea cliffs and which were first brought to our attention by Jason Berg in his last trip to Alaska (and check this awesome photo from the Kenai!).

It should be a fantastic way to end our Aleutian expedition!

Mimulus guttatus, Kenai, Alaska. Sea birds
Monkeyflowers on a sea cliff in the Kenai peninsula. Photo credit: https://donachyblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/kittiwakes-n-monkey-flowers-n.jpg

 

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Storytelling Bootcamp

The first European Storytelling Bootcamp for National Geographic Explorers was held on 18-21 March, 2016 in Stockholm Sweden.

Facebook Group

 

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Adak

City of Adak

http://www.franklinhaas.com/adak/logistics.htm

Little Michael Lodge

http://gettingbyinalaska.blogspot.co.uk/2008/03/adak-island-adventure.html

Adak

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Travel

Trusty Tusty

From Kodiak to Dutch Harbor

The MV Tustumena is a ferry, part of the Alaskan Marine Highway, which connects Homer in the Alaskan Peninsula with Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian island of Unalaska. Also known as the Trusty Tusty, this boat joined the Alaskan fleet in 1964. It is one of two ferries in this fleet that is prepared to sail in open sea, which reflects in part the need to face sometime rough conditions in the Aleutian chain.

The Trusty’s long life serving as the only public link between mainland Alaska and the Aleutians is coming to an end. A replacement for this boat is currently underway. This is the end of an era!

We have decided that the best way to start our search for monkey flowers in the Aleutians is to arrive there by boat. The motivation is in part to try to emulate the sea trip taken by Langsdorff (although he travelled in the opposite direction from west to east). In part it is also an opportunity to visit other islands along the way during the short ferry stops. There won’t be much time while the ferry calls at these islands but perhaps an hour or two is enough to spot out monkey flowers in places like Chignik, Sand Point, King Cove, False Pass, Cold Bay, and Akutan. Of course, a 2 1/2 day boat trip in Alaska will hopefully give us a chance to see amazing landscapes and wildlife… if weather conditions allow, of course!

MV Tustumena

http://alaskaferryvacations.com/Ferry_CabinInformation.htm

http://www.alaskaferry.com/docs/MV%20Tustumena.pdf

http://www.alaskatouradventures.com/vessels_Tustumena.html

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Travel

Kodiak

Official website here: http://www.kodiak.org

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Map

See the travel map here

Screen Shot 2016-01-30 at 20.04.48

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Travel

Dates all set!

The dates of the trip are all set!

24 July – 10 August 2016

First port of call will be Anchorage

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Explorers Magazine

National Geographic Explorers 2015-2016See the latest issue of National Geographic’s Explorers Report here

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Travel

Unalaska Map