Ahoy “fellow” lady mariners!  

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Thanks for your interest in our Wilderness Mariner Course—and your patience in hearing back from us!

I am writing from what feels like the edge of nowhere: the majestic northwest rim of the Gulf of Alaska. Endeavour has been underway since May 1 this year, when we left Puget Sound with our spring WMC.  Now, five months later, we’ve just left Sand Point—finishing our 3,000-mile season with our fall WMC, another eight amazing women, ages 35 to 70.  The weather was as beautiful as the landscape, the group as fun as they were experienced, ready to learn, and do more. Don't tell their loved ones back home — but I don’t think any of them were ready to leave. 

Bill and I just finished putting together Endeavour’s 2027 research-expedition season, so we now know dates and itineraries for our spring and fall courses. Whale research will keep us in this beautiful area for 2027, rather than Southeast Alaska or Prince William Sound. So, both of our mariner courses will be along the Alaska Peninsula—and both will be all-women’s trips. 

 

• Spring Course: April 15-27 — outbound trip of the season, heading southwest from Kodiak to Dutch Harbor. 

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• Fall Course: September 15-27 —season wrap-up, heading northeast from Dutch Harbor to Kodiak.

Cost for either course is $5600.  Click here for more information. 

On both course we’ll explore one of the wildest coastlines left on the continent: roughly 500 miles of wilderness in every direction. You’ll see the Eastern Aleutians, the Chignik, Aniakchak, and Katmai coasts and the Kodiak archipelago. Along the way, we’ll likely see volcanoes, glaciers, grizzlies, and northern lights, as well as humpbacks, orcas, fin and grey whales—with no doubt plenty of otters, sea lions and puffins.

Both courses will be 12 days of hands-on time at the helm of Endeavour, a classic mid-’50s, 100-ton US Army T-Boat. We’ll have eight adult student/crew aboard, using Bill’s book as the core curriculum for learning and skill-sharpening at every level. Every day offers daily weather and route planning, morning & afternoon classes, and plenty of helm time. Fishing, canoeing, hiking, and exploring as weather permits. 

Melissa (a 40 year veteran sailor) just wrote us this about the fall trip;

“The value of this experience can’t be quantified.  While the learning is practical and world class, the intangible takeaways are what makes the Wilderness Mariner’s Course an adventure of a lifetime.  If you come with an open mind and heart, and absorb what Bill, Corky, the Endeavour, and Alaska teach you, you will leave with skills and a “captain’s mindset” that you would be hard pressed to learn anywhere else. This course is so unique and the lessons will stay with you always; I can’t recommend it enough.”

If that all sounds good, great — but here are some things for you to consider before getting back to us:

 

• Travel to this remote location— This will involve two airlines and is generally more expensive, and sometimes complicated than travel in the lower 48. Check costs from your area and make sure it works for you. 

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• Endeavour is a working research boat, not an eco/adventure boat. We see and treat our WMC student/crew just as we do our researchers — or any other crew — active members of the team —more than “guests” or passengers. Everyone onboard is working and doing;  helping cook and clean, as well as drive the boat. Cabins are shared, showers are short-- and every three days. #Boatlife:)

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• Sea conditions out here are generally “bigger” than in the protected waters of Southeast Alaska or Prince William Sound. For much of the trip, either our port or starboard side is exposed to the Gulf of Alaska. That said, we’ve had relatively smooth sailing on both of our expeditions  this fall, down and back up. Still, it’s critical that everyone aboard is prepared for potentially big seas and weather. The more you research that ahead of time, to make sure it’s right for you, the better.

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• It is essential you disclose any health restriction that might affect your ability to react or work quickly on the boat, get on and off our shore boats, or explore onshore. That includes anything from hearing loss or PTSD to dietary needs — which for various reasons we may or may not be able to accommodate.  Just shoot me a question in email, or we can talk about it during an interview call

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• We have twice as many people interested in joining us than we have space for, so don’t delay in getting back to us. This mailing is only going to those who have applied or voiced interest. Depending on response, I’ll put it out to a wider audience in November next so…Now is the time to let us know whether you are seriously interested in one course or the other—or flexible about either.

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• We’re a volunteer-run nonprofit organization dedicated to science and wilderness conservation; we keep things simple; fees cover our direct hard costs of running the boat, which helps support our research and education mission.  

What happens next:

 

• Reply as soon as you can with your interest and preferred course: spring, fall, or flexibility about either one. Once we hear back, we’ll will include you in the next round of conversations.

 

• Please be patient while we come off the boat and catch our breath. Bill and I are eagerly looking forward to some time off after we leave the boat next month. Starting in November I’ll schedule video calls to meet, learn more about one another, answer questions, and talk through whether the trip is the right fit.  

 

• ​We put together the crews. After those conversations, Bill and I take some time to consider the mix of people for each trip—interests, experience, readiness for the conditions, and what will make for a good crew aboard Endeavour. We hope to have our decisions made, and trips filled by the end of January. 

In the meanwhile, I hope you’ll stay in touch through Bill’s Wildnerness Mariner blog or my blog. I just wrote about the magic of last months’ all women’s trip, "Badass lady mariners, and a boat called Endeavour."

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Both will give you a better sense of us and the Endeavour, why and how we do this. Last spring’s course made this reel about their trip:

 

Looking forward to hearing from you!  Until then, fair winds — and fair elections! ​​