Blog & Articles

  We hauled Westward for regular maintenance in late June. My work list included replacing the rotten foremast, building aluminum outrigger poles from which to set our at-anchor stabilizers and giving her hull its annual paint job. Things took a major twist within a few days when we discovered that much of the wood used in Westward’s…

Dear Friends: Summer 2015, Alaska Newsletter As I write this we are southbound in Stephen’s Passage, on our way to Twin Meadows in Endicott Arm. We are making 8.3 knots with the wind and current at our backs, and the sky is fair overhead.

By Lauren Buchholz There are hundreds of ways to fall in love with Baja California. Maybe it’s the waving fluke of a blue whale as she pilots her sandbar-size body through waters less than fifty yards from your ship. Perhaps it’s kindled while you search for geodes on a beach lined with sea caves and hermit crabs….

Dawn greetings from Puerto Ballena, a beautiful cove on the west side of Isla Espiritu Santo. Allow me to lead with breaking news: WE HAVE OUR PERMITS!   For the many of you who have been waiting for that confirmation before you book a trip and buy airplane tickets, I suggest you refer to the…

Cruising The Inside Passage – A week aboard the Pacific Catalyst II -by Serine Halverson, Alaska Magazine Click here to read the pdf

We are very excited to announce that Pacific Catalyst was selected by the US Forest Service to have high-season access to Pack Creek Zoological Area on Admiralty Island during high season. Pack Creek is home to one of the largest gatherings of Brown Bears in the world, and has the smallest allowed number of daily…

The rising sun melts the fog, revealing the surrounding mountains, thousands of feet high and veiled with snow so thick and smooth that it resembles mounded whipped cream. As the warmth of the day grows, the fog retreats down the mountain’s flanks, until it slides free of the forest’s embrace and finally evaporates all together….

Story and Photos by Neil Rabinowitz: MOTOR BOATING AND SAILING/AUG. 1997 Adventure is guaranteed on a cruise of Alaska’s glacier-studded southeast coast on board Catalyst, a classic explorer. Two grizzlies before breakfast were more than we had bargained for. We dared not twitch as we sat I our kayaks just 50 feet away, eyes fixed on…

by Christine Hemp, Boston Globe Vintage 1932 motor vessel offers comfort, companionability, exploring in hard-to-reach spots, and even solitude. FREDERICK SOUND, Alaska – A miniature iceberg glistens and slowly melts on a chafing dish. The dining room table, steaming with plates of fresh salmon, is set for 13. The salon glows – not only from…

Exploring Nature’s Wonders by Boat and Kayak -Lisa Alpine, Pacific Sun “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”- Martin Buber The place of deep impact for me on my trip to Alaska last summer was a “shoe-sized,” sphagnum moss-blanketed island. Erik and I had stepped out of our sea kayaks onto…

Birthday cakes. That’s what Bill Bailey calls the leviathan cruise ships that ply the Inside Passage—decks piled on decks, lights ablaze. Compare them to Captain Bill’s 75-year-old Catalyst and you could call his boat a buoyant cupcake. At 74 feet long, with a 9-foot draft, she can explore remote inlets and coves beyond the reach…

-by Kristal Seeden, Sea Magazine Click here to read the PDF