Newsletter | Northwest Navigation Co.

A New Season Begins

30 April 2014

christine

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Categories: Alaska, Cruises, Inside Passage, News, Newsletter

Sticking to it-

When we bought the David B in 1998, we knew that we’d be battling a lot of uncertainty. First we needed to rebuild the boat, a project which we initially thought would take two years, but instead took eight. Then we needed to learn how to run our business, get people’s attention, and fill up trips. At times figuring out how to get people to find us and come cruising with us has seemed like an impossible task. We struggled through the economic downturn by doing whatever we needed to do to keep advertising, paying the bills, and taking care of the boat.

Finally going into our ninth season, the David B is mostly full, and it looks like we’ll have our best season yet! We attribute this to our wonderful passengers who keep coming back and keep sharing their “secret getaway” with their friends and family, and that everyday that we’ve had the David B, we’ve stuck to our plan of offering the best nature cruises in the San Juan Islands, Inside Passage and Alaska. We still have a few spaces left for this summer, so hop on over to our website and have a look at our 2014 schedule.

A New Season-

It’s springtime and the David B is looking fantastic and we are getting more and more excited about our upcoming season. Over the winter we have been busy making the David B better than ever with several big improvements. The first is that we moved the exhaust from the back of the boat to the port side. This lead to the second big improvement — no exhaust pipe through the dining table!

To fill the space where the exhaust pipe used to go we commissioned a local artist/boat varnisher, Annie Patrick to create a new inlay piece for the dining table. She’s done an amazing job!

Below is a sneak peak at our first test-fitting of the inlay artwork. We can’t wait for you to see it in person!

Cruise Ideas in the Works-

Over the next few weeks we’re going to be meeting with a Bellingham winemaker and a local dive master for a couple of new and exciting trips in the San Juan Islands! We’re just starting to put our heads together on these cruises and we’ll have more information by mid-May. If you are interested in either a wine appreciation cruise or a scuba mothership cruise. Let us know!

Something New-

We’re very excited to announce a special Alaska cruise for next summer 2015. We’ll be hosting Killer Whale researcher Josh McInnes as a guest naturalist aboard the David B. While we’ll be shifting the focus of this cruise to spend more time with whales, we’ll still be hiking, kayaking, tidewater glacier viewing, and looking for bears.

This trip will sell out.

For more information email us today!

Josh is currently working towards a graduate degree on transient killer whale. He is very interested in foraging and diet studies and the ecological relationship exhibited by prey. Besides conducting research, Josh has been a whale watch guide throughout British Columbia and was recently interviewed for the upcoming documentary Fragile Waters. He is also conducting independent research on killer whales with a small group of volunteers. We’re looking forward to having Josh on board and to the new insights on killer whales he brings through his research. We hope you’ll join in on this new trip.

As always,feel free to call us toll-free call at 877-670-7863 — or send an email.We’d love to hear from you!

Christine & Jeffrey Smith

Don’t miss the boat! Call 360-201-8184 or email us to book your space.View our 2014 schedule.

Read the award winning story about how Captain Jeffrey and Christine rebuilt the M/V David B

Cruising on theDavid B

makes people happy!

Our mailing address is:

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Looking Ahead

3 January 2014

christine

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Categories: Newsletter, Uncategorized

Looking Ahead

This is the time, the holidays are nearly over, and in a couple more days it will be back to the January winter grind. The relatives have come and gone, the holiday parties are almost over. It’s not too early to start planning something fun for the summer and give yourself something to look forward to during the rest of the cold winter months.

We Suggest: The Inside Passage

August trips on the MV David B are warm and sunny. Desolation Sound is hot enough that it makes for great swimming (really — often 70°F water and 85°F air temps). We stop there on all of our Inside Passage trips. Or maybe you want to see something new and amazing that you’ve never seen before, like glaciers calving into saltwater fjords, or whales feeding, or salmon spawning or bears meandering along a remote beach in Alaska. Now, there’s an adventure to look forward to!

2014 Trips are Filling Faster Than Ever

The problem is, we’re filling up. We are almost sold out for Alaska trips for 2014. We just posted our 2015 schedule because we’ve had a number of inquiries into dates that far into the future. We’re super excited about finally getting the word out about just how amazing trips on the David B are, but it does mean that you might need to plan a little farther into the future. We still have spaces on 2014 Inside Passage trips.

Give us a toll-free call at 877-670-7863 — or send an email.

We’d love to hear from you!

Happy New Year to All ~ See You in 2014!

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your patronage and continued support, and look forward to sharing more exciting travel adventures with you in 2014 aboard the MV David. B.

Happy New Year to you and your families, from Jeff and Christine

Don’t miss the boat! Call 360-201-8184 or email us to book your space.

Read the award winning story about how Captain Jeffrey and Christine rebuilt the M/V David B

Cruising on the

David B

makes people happy!

Our mailing address is:

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Traveling When You Were Young

17 December 2013

christine

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Categories: Newsletter, Uncategorized

Traveling When You Were Young

Traveling as a kid was so much fun. You didn’t have to worry about anything and you still got to enjoy all the same sights. You could watch the world go by, albeit from the backseat window, but you still could see it all. Someone else took care of making sure you got there and making reservations and all that. All you had to do was look out the window and enjoy the ride.

When you finally arrived, you got to explore and find things: the ice machine at the hotel, or the trail to the beach from the campground. It was un-scripted. You could run off and play and “discover” stuff. I even had my own little Instamatic camera that I could use to take photos of the cool stuff I found.

Traveling Aboard the David B.

Cruising aboard the David B is a lot like traveling when you were young. Yeah, you do have to make your own reservations and get yourself to the boat, but once you’re aboard, you really can just look out the window and enjoy the ride. You can go for a hike and “discover” a few new things (and they’re going to be way more exciting than an ice machine.) You can paddle into a cove you’ve never seen before. You can watch the world go by out the galley windows, or you could also watch it from the Bridge, and capture it with a camera that’s a whole lot better than that one from 1965. And you still won’t have any of the responsibilities.

Someone else will make sure you get there.

Our new 2015 Sailing Schedule is now available!

Our Schedule for 2014 is Filling Fast

Be sure to stop by our website and have a look at our 2014 schedule. We have lots of great cruises in the San Juan Islands, Desolation Sound, and Alaska.

Don’t miss the boat! Call 360-201-8184 or email us to book your space.

Read the award winning story about how Captain Jeffrey and Christine rebuilt the M/V David B

Cruising on theDavid B

makes people happy!

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Over The River and Through the Woods

9 December 2013

christine

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Categories: News, Newsletter

Last summer Jeffrey and I were standing on the back deck talking with one of our guests. He said to us that one of the best things about the David B was how much being aboard the boat reminded him of all the comforts of being at his grandma’s house. We’ve been thinking about that this winter. Here’s the first part of a series that we originally published in our newsletter.

If you can’t see the newsletter below here’s a link to the newsletter.

Over the river and through the woods . . .

Remember going to grandma’s house when you were young? It had so many things about it that made it great. It wasn’t just the warmth and comfort of her house, or the food that she fed you (one of my grandmas made the best molasses sugar cookies). It wasn’t the adults standing around gabbing in the kitchen (about somebody’s gall bladder or something.) It was nice to see that special auntie, but that wasn’t it. It was the fun feeling of getting to do something different. It was un-scripted. You got to play with those kids that lived next door to grandma. You got to explore the woods and the fields with your cousins, and nothing was expected of you. No school, no chores, you just got to be free—“ Be home by dark.”

Traveling aboard the David B is a lot like going to grandma’s. You get to enjoy all that great food, and do what you want. You’re free from all those chores, and you can just play (in that adult way). What used to be, “be home by dark” is now “paddle your kayak back in time for dinner” but it’s the same feeling. And since you’re an adult, you can do all that and you can even sit around and talk about someone’s gall bladder if you want.

It’s about that childhood feeling of being free.