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Benchmark Study Expedition to Bear Bay, Affleck Canal, Kuiu Island, Alaska
May 31 - June 11, 2025
Greetings, Students and Parents!
For the first time, I am writing a study site description from the site itself, in this case, Bear Bay, off Affleck Canal, on Kuiu Island, Alaska. We have the Endeavour anchored at 56.247324 -134.108467. You can cut and paste those coordinates into Google Earth to see where we are. - Bill Urschel
The Study Site
Affleck Canal is about 20 miles long and almost bisects Kuiu Island from the south. Bear Bay is an enclosed inlet on the Canal’s west side.
South Kuiu Island split by Affleck Canal.
Detail of Bear Bay with meadows to the north.
We have chosen this site because it is remote, has a superb anchorage (we’ve just weathered a significant storm here with ease), and the wildlife is extraordinary. Yesterday, we watched a mama black bear and two cubs grazing just above a beach. I’ve seen moose, deer, and wolf sign nearby. There are lots of places to set our trail cams. Sea otters and harbor seals are all around us. We might get some underwater photos. There is a salmon stream at the north end of the bay that meanders through a series of three salt meadows filled today with Canada geese, mergansers, herring gulls, golden-crowned kinglets, peregrine falcons, crows, belted kingfishers, and more than a hundred bald eagles. We can explore these meadows by kayak and canoe, riding the rising tide in and the ebbing tide out. Closer to our anchorage, there is a one-acre inlet that goes nearly dry at low tide, giving us an easy way to study intertidal life. On our way into the bay just ahead of the storm last Tuesday we caught a large ling cod.
The meadows at the north end of Bear Bay.
The Route
You will be flying into Petersburg on Alaska Airlines. We’ll pick you up, and then the plan (weather permitting) is to take you to Baird Glacier on the mainland, then to the south end of Stephens Passage where the humpbacks often feed (we’ll have our hydrophone gear on board), then we’ll go to Eliza Harbor on Admiralty Island to look for brown bears and spot prawns. We’ll visit a sea lion colony on Yasha Island, look for more bears and visit a salmon hatchery on Baranof Island, then come around the south end of Kuiu Island into Affleck Canal and finally to Bear Bay for our study.
The route back is shorter. We’ll go north up Sumner Strait, east in Clarence Strait, and north through Wrangell Narrows, returning to Petersburg.
Curriculum
Our curriculum for the benchmark study is here. it describes the study, life on board, and offers a checklist of what students should bring. We'll be going over this curriculum in an orientation meeting a month or so before the expedition.
Expedition Agreement
Please download the Expedition Agreement here, and please read and sign it, then scan it and email it back to us at Expeditions@AlaskaEndeavour.org.
Costs
The cost to each student of this expedition is $2,500. A deposit of half ($1,250) is due at signing. Please fill in your name and contact information below and continue on to the credit card payment screen.
The balance will be due 15 days before the departure date. We'll send you a payment link at that time.
Your school will contact you about air travel.
Questions
Please reach out to Expeditions@AlaskaEndeavour.org with any questions.
Bella the boat dog in the woods at Bear Bay.
Black bears only (we think) at Bear Bay.
Sea otters are thick in Bear Bay.
Ling cod (left) may be ugly, but they're tastey.
We're looking forward to having you on board!