The
Northern Lights Difference
Northern Lights
Expeditions pioneered sea kayak tours in British Columbia nearly
a quarter century ago. We understand how important your vacation
time is to you. Our dedication to excellence and safety, our unwavering
efforts to make your entire experience state of the art, and our
wide experience since 1983 give you the confidence you’ll
have a superb, worry-free and ultimately unsurpassed adventure with
Northern Lights.
You will benefit
from the quality and service that has led to well over half of our
guests each year having heard about us from friends or family who
have traveled with us before, plus the hundreds of those who have
returned time and again. Throughout this web site and especially
on our Reviews page, you'll find quotes
from some of the many letters we've received in just the last season,
expressing enthusiasm for the Northern Lights experience. 25 years
of experience have given us endless opportunities to perfect the
details and make this adventure your best adventure. Following are
some of the areas in which Northern Lights is committed to exceed
your expectations.
Why Choose
a Northern Lights Adventure?
Who We Are: The Company,
The Founder
Specialization
Experience
Our
Guides and Safety
Making
It Easy for You
Expedition-Quality
Equipment
Guaranteed
Trip Departures
Dining
Environment
and Culture
Environmental
Responsibility
Wildlife
Who
We Are
The
Company
The beginnings
of Northern Lights occurred during seasons of solo kayaking expeditions
on the British Columbia coast beginning in 1980. They progressed
to the “on a napkin” stage in 1982 after weeks of trial
guiding over two seasons. Northern Lights is the originator of the
idea of taking paddlers sea kayak touring in the Johnstone Strait
and Blackfish Archipelago areas of British Columbia with the goals
of encountering whales and other wildlife.
Over the course
of over a quarter century since our first trip, Northern Lights:
operated the first sea kayaking expeditions to the Galapagos Islands;
took paddlers on exploratory trips to the South Pacific, to Costa
Rica, and to the Canadian Atlantic coast and the waters of the beluga
whale; operated successful kayaking trips in the San Juan Islands,
the Sea of Cortez and the grey whale breeding lagoons on the Baja
Peninsula’s Pacific coast; even explored kayaking on tributaries
of the Upper Amazon River. We have decided over the past few years
to run our trips only in the best kayaking waters in any ocean,
those of the coast of British Columbia. Yet every bit of our wealth
of knowledge and experience we gained all over the world goes into
perfecting our British Columbia kayaking trips.
Simply put,
we design the kinds of trips we would do ourselves if we could do
it exactly our way. This means a lot of things:
Wonder:
around every corner on our adventures, you will be inspired to
ask about something you’ve discovered for the first time.
Innovation: nearly
every style of kayaking trip we’ve seen attempted on our
coast has been some kind of imitation of what we originated from
year to year along the way.
Planning: our role
is to create a spectacular trip for you, then to take the hassle
out of making it happen, to eliminate the potholes we all often
strumble through while traveling.
Integrity: we give
you the straight story. It’s almost impossible not to get
lost in the misleading and confusing world of internet travel
claims and overstatements. Our impressive return and referral
rate attests to the fact that our clients get more than they bargained
for.
Responsibility: you
– and we – have every reason to be concerned about
what effect our travel may have on the environment, people and
wildlife we encounter. We hope our site imparts to you our deep
commitment to disrupt nothing and to take home nothing but a sense
of awe and an urgency to help protect our vanishing wildlife and
ecosystems.
The
Founder
Over the many
years since I dreamed up a few rough ideas for a sea kayak outfitting
company back in 1982, Northern Lights has led me through many varied
waters. Sometimes I find other diversions, like spending time with
my little family these days and looking to the day I can get the
little ones on the water. Yet I’m still profoundly affected
by the experience of simply spending days and nights in this awesome
place.
Come on up our
way and you can likely find me on the water, still looking for some
small way to make our outfit a little better, and passing on what
I’ve learned to our ever-evolving guide staff. I’ll
still be marveling at the pod of whales passing by, hoping to hear
the howling of a wolf in the distance, and savoring a million little
moments where everything’s just right.
David Arcese
Founder, Head Guide, and Expedition Director
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Specialization
– The Experts in Our Area
We operate
(and have for over 25 years) in one area: encompassing the Blackfish
Archipelago, the western end of Johnstone Strait and the southern
reaches of the Great Bear Wilderness. For sea kayak tour outfitting,
this area offers simply, bar none, the best sea kayaking anywhere.
We don’t run trips in “the next best” places.
We have chosen to remain a small, custom sea kayak tour company,
providing a limited number of extraordinary adventures each season.
Thus, we are able to give each guest the highest level of consideration
and service and to limit any impact we have on the wildlife we encounter
and the habitats we travel in.
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Experience
– The Most in Canada and North America
The rush of
new adventure travel companies has not escaped our area. The advent
of the internet as the first place many people look for information
on their next vacation has led to more confusion that clarity. But
nothing changes the fact that experience matters immensely. And
that’s one of the things Northern Lights has over all the
new competition. We won’t offer you bargain basement adventures,
equipment, guiding, service or meals to get your business. We won’t
tell you a thing that isn’t true and we will bend over backward
to deliver what we promise, and more, every time.
We offer you
the compilation of twenty-five years of dedicated knowledge, of
working with the local residents, researchers, and Native peoples,
of refining training methods, of knowing where and when we’ll
most likely find the wildlife you’ve come to see; we have
the best camp locations
in the area for allowing us to easily and frequently encounter the
largest variety of wildlife possible; and we know what it takes
to put the magic into a wilderness adventure. What’s more,
we offer you the best guides in the business; our reputation leads
the best to want to work for the best. Another reason Northern Lights
is firmly established as British Columbia’s one, superb kayaking
outfitter.
When we occasionally
offer special trips that travel to areas outside the BC coast, like
Baja and the Sea of Cortez, we travel with those with as much expertise
there as we have in BC, assuring you so there’s still a high
level of quality and service you can expect in those locations.
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Our
Guides and Safety
We take seriously
our claim to have the best guides and the highest safety standards.
We have a quarter century of experience under one owner and head
guide, and a meticulously developed, in-depth guide training program.
Our superb safety record and our company safety
standards since 1983 give you the confidence you’ll be
traveling in security and peace of mind.
Each guide has
training and certification in Wilderness First Aid and is well versed
in our local wildlife, weather, Native culture and environmental
concerns. In addition, Northern Lights does not accept certification
from outside organizations as ample evidence a guide is well qualified;
if a guide doesn’t meet our high standards and excel at our
in-house training, they end up guiding elsewhere or not at all.
The bottom line:
our guides plan our trips to unfold naturally, beautifully and safely.
Your guides are well-trained professionals whose goals are to help
you have the most comfortable, exciting and enjoyable trip of your
lifetime.
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Making
it Easy for You
We consider
your adventure to start at the moment you first contact us and not
end until you return home safe and sound, relaxed and excited. We’ve
all had trips that were more work to pull off than they were fun
in the end. Once you sign up for a Northern Lights trip, you’ll
receive a precise, detailed list of every step you need to take
until your trip date, everything you need to bring, loads of additional
information, our own field guide to every plant and animal you might
see. All in all, it’s the package that Outside Magazine called
“The best pre-trip information I’ve ever seen.”
We’ll help you with all your travel and hotel plans, finding
any gear you might choose to pick up beforehand, and with every
other conceivable detail.
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Your
New, Expedition-Quality Equipment
It makes a
big difference when you’re using the finest
equipment for the task. You will use only new, expedition-quality,
fiberglass sea kayaks with comfortable, padded seats, custom crafted
for Northern Lights. Your hands will hold hand-crafted wooden kayak
paddles. On our camping trips, you’ll sleep soundly in a new,
weather-proof tent, with a cozy and warm sleeping bag lined with
a silk liner, on the softest sleeping pads, with your head on a
luxurious pillow.
You will use
the same quality paddling jackets and pants/raingear your guides
choose for themselves. We fully outfit you so you don’t have
to spend money on gear you likely won’t use at home. We take
care of the details of state of the art outdoor equipment so you
can arrive relaxed and worry-free to savor your vacation.
Guaranteed
Trip Departures – The Trip is On
We never cancel
a trip because of a minimum group size once anyone has joined it;
once your trip is confirmed, you have no need to worry about whether
or not your experience of a lifetime could end up as no experience
at all.
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Dining
in the Blackfish Café
Over all these
years, we’ve fine-tuned the best wilderness cuisine in the
business. Years ago, some of our guests said we couldn’t have
a restaurant this good and not have a name for it: thus, the Blackfish
Café. We make sure our guides know how to prepare and present
your meals so you’ll feel like you’re at your favorite
restaurant every time you hear them say “your meal’s
ready!”
Note: Special
diets are happily accommodated!
Read other reviews
we’ve received about the Blackfish Café.
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Environment/Culture
Over our history
as an outfitter, the environmental threats to our area, and the
Earth overall, have increased dramatically. Our awareness of those
threats has increased on a similar scale. In response, Northern
Lights has continued to evolve into more and more of a company with
a focus on helping our guests come in contact with the land, the
water, the trees and the wildlife that are all imperiled. We don’t
preach our thoughts on these issues, but we hope by coming into
respectful and close contact with these awesome members of our planetary
community, you will be enriched and will go on to do your part to
help to make a difference.
Before Northern
Lights ever ran a trip in the Inside Passage waters, we approached
Native people whose ancestral lands and waterways we hoped to navigate.
Ever since, with mutual respect and gratitude, we have continued
to have outstanding relationships with those whose grandmothers
and grandfathers watched the same tides rise and fall that we do
today.
Northern Lights
has been a great supporter of efforts to facilitate Native (First
Nations) people to work together with those of us who have come
more recently to these waters and islands. We fully support their
quest to resolve land use and ownership issues with the provincial
and federal governments. And we continue to be supportive members
of the local communities we operate in.
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Environmental
Responsibility
Even an environmentally
compatible activity like running sea kayak tours affects the habitat
in which it operates. As such, sea kayak tour operators have a responsibility
to conduct their adventures responsibly. Northern Lights is based
in Port McNeill, the meeting point for this area's kayaking tours.
Our office and warehouse overlook Inside Passage waters. As a local
operator, and as a British Columbia company, we have long been leaders
in encouraging kayaking outfitters to protect our area's cultural
and environmental values. Since 1983, Northern Lights has set the
standard for responsible whale watching and other wildlife viewing
by sea kayak.
When you travel
with Northern Lights, your guides will follow practices that allow
us to observe wildlife as closely as possible. But there are limits:
they won’t disturb wildlife in the process. We helped write
the standards; in fact, we pushed for standards when there were
none and we behaved as if there were accepted standards before they
existed. Our heritage is rooted in: knowing how to behave in ways
that actually encourage the wildlife to choose close contact with
us; knowing what their likes and dislikes are; sensing their comfort
zones; and always leaving a margin of comfort for the animals. Close
encounters are our goal, but they never come before care and respect
for those we come to see.
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Wildlife
The wildlife
whose habitat we share and who we encounter each day is, more than
anything, the reason this area is absolutely extraordinary in ways
that are very difficult to describe. You literally have to be there.
We live in a time when it has become critical to get in touch with
nature, feel why it’s important, understand how interconnected
we are, and care about the effect we have on it.
Our passion
for the wildlife in our area is why Northern Lights has always been
the kayaking company of choice for those serious about encountering
wildlife while at the same time being able to understand and respect
just what kinds of encounters are in the best interest of the wildlife
we see. Whales are of course our special icon. This would be a fantastic
wildlife and kayaking area if we never saw a whale. Add frequent
sightings and encounters to that and you have simply an area that
is unmatched anywhere. Audubon Magazine rated our Inside Passage
kayaking adventures North America’s #1 Wildlife Adventure
for good reason.
Note: Some Northern
Lights trips include “Guaranteed Whale Sightings.” How
can we offer this guarantee and what does it mean? First of all,
it means that if you don’t see whales, you can return for
free on an equivalent trip; it doesn’t mean we guarantee you
will see whales, period. We can offer this guarantee because in
almost every case, our guests have seen whales. What we have learned
over those 25 seasons, combined with the campsite locations and
paddling routes we enjoy, ensures you’ll be at the heart of
whale activity on your Northern Lights adventure. We’re confident
enough of that to guarantee you a free trip if you don’t see
a whale.
Our guarantee
certainly doesn’t mean our guides will go outside our standards
to make a whale encounter occur. We are successful with whale
encounters for two reasons: the first is location
– our camps and paddling routes are where the whales are;
second, our vast experience has given us the knowledge and familiarity
with whales that simply allow us to know how to behave when whales
approach. Northern Lights set the standards for responsible whale
watching by kayak; we also have an unmatched record for satisfied
travelers and for showing respect for the needs of the animals we
encounter.
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