Alaska Mothership Trips

Alaska Explorer Charters and Kayak Adventures Worldwide have teamed up to put together an incredible adventure package. You'll motor or sail out to the Kenai Fjords National park and live in comfort aboard one of the Mothership vessels. Hot shower, flush toilets, warm beds, and a comfortable living/dining area bring the comforts of home to your trip. We won't just zoom you out there like most water taxis... but will take you along the coastline and share the most wonderful highlights of the area along the way. Alaska Explorer Charters teams up with your Kayak Adventures guide to bring you great Alaskan stories and information to truly teach you about the area you're visiting. The advantage of this package is that you can move around the fjords while living on board the boat and kayaking in the most impressive areas. This trip by far offers the greatest versatility, and maneuverability within the fjords, at the highest level of comfort.

Captain Mike, Captain John & Alaska Explorer Charters

Captain Mike came up the Alaska Highway on his Triumph Bonneville motorcycle for a two-week stay - in 1970. Alaska has been his home ever since, and the Kenai Fjords have been his backyard beginning in 1975. Mike has been a Seward resident since 1982, and a licensed captain since 1987, he's been a sailor and lived on his 35' wooden ketch for 8 years in Seward, tugboat captain, killer whale researcher, tour boat captain, commercial diver, and kayaker. He's a trained naturalist, an avid environmentalist, and most of all: a lover of Alaska. Mike haa worked Alaskan waters from Southeast to the Bering Sea in both summer and winter. Experienced, personable, knowledgeable, and conscientious, he is one of the most experienced mariners in the Kenai Fjords area, and has been sailing the park since before it was a park.

Dr. John Maniscalco first came to Alaska with the U.S. Coast Guard in 1985 and learned to operate a variety of vessels. After leaving the Coast Guard, he entered academia earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Master of Science in Fisheries, and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the University of Alaska. John’s research studies have focused on seabird and marine mammal ecology along the northern Gulf of Alaska coast. He has authored more than 20 articles that have been published in high profile scientific journals & has appeared on multiple episodes of Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin highlighting his research activities. John has been working as a Research Associate/Scientist at the Alaska SeaLife Center since the summer of 2000 where he continues studying the behavior and population dynamics of Steller sea lions and nesting seabirds. John has been a licensed captain in Alaska since 1992 and has been operating vessels in the Kenai Fjords region since 1999. He greatly enjoys his continuing work as part-time captain and naturalist for the tourist industry while sharing his passion and vast knowledge of Alaskan marine fauna with visitors from around the world.

Kayak Adventures Worldwide

Kayak Adventures Worldwide is a small shop located in Seward, Alaska, that concentrates solely on educational and environmentally friendly sea kayaking tours. You don't need any experience to join us, just an adventurous spirit and a desire to learn and explore the great Alaskan wilderness. We love to share the beauty and magnificence of the Kenai Fjords National Park with people - and we hope to expose you to, and educate you about, the wonders of the areas in which we paddle. Our Mothership Tours offer a fantastic way to view wildlife, glaciers, & the rugged coastline during the day. At night, our guests enjoy healthy, delicious Alaskan meals and a warm, dry place to sleep at night.

Mothership Vessels

Vessels

THE DORA

Though constructed in Tacoma, WA, the Dora is truly Alaskan tough. Built in 1990 for the lower Cook Inlet salmon fishery, she has sailed Alaskan waters as a commercial gillnetter from Cook Inlet to Bristol Bay and the Shumagin Islands. Forty-five feet in length and fourteen feet wide, she has served more recently as a research boat for killer whale scientists in the Aleutians and the Pribilof Islands, and as a camera boat for The Discovery Channel & National Geographic TV filming wildlife in the eastern Aleutians. She is now being offered to carry adventurous kayakers into Kenai Fjords National Park & Prince William Sound. A real Alaskan work boat, the Dora is not luxurious, but she is strong, safe and comfortable. She has a huge back deck, a commodious flybridge, walk-around decks, twin-engine reliability, and ample interior space for passengers and crew. A 12.5' rigid hull inflatable with a 30 hp engine complements the Dora for shore excursions or short cruises from the mothership.

THE STARR

Built of steel, the Starr was constructed in Portland, Oregon and launched in 1988. Designed for Alaska with a fully enclosed pilothouse as well as outside helms, she is well suited for traveling in any weather. Sixty-two feet in length overall and seventeen feet wide, the Starr has hosted months-long vacations in Southeast Alaska for her original owners, and is now being offered to carry adventurous sea kayakers into the fjords of Southcentral Alaska. Strong, reliable, and comfortable, you'll live on the Starr during your excursion into Kenai Fjords National Park or Prince William Sound. The Starr features such amenities as a full galley, dedicated shower, three heads (bathrooms), and a huge driftwood-paneled main saloon for relaxing and dining. She also carries an inflatable dinghy for both shore excursions as well as to help expedite entrance / exit to your kayak.