anybody have some sites i can check out for businesses with a mothershiop kayakers would stay on while doing a kayak cruise.
i’m getting close to retirement and am possibly looking at setting up a houseboat to live on while i kayak cruise the intracoastal waterway
or if anybody has tried this type of cruising i’d love to pick their brain
thanks
smo
There are several in Alaska
I did a week long kayaking mothership cruise in Glacier Bay National Park on a small 32 passenger ship.
It was wonderful and we saw incredible amounts of wildlife.
Food was great, company also. You do have to be willing to adapt to the marine toilet/shower.
Unfortunately the cruise line went bankrupt. Such a shame
Skip the ship the next time
Then you don’t have to get used to the MSD or the showers. Just kidding. Maybe?
The advantages
were…not being cold camping in the rain. SE Alaska is wet. Covering a great deal of territory. Not worried about bears and our gourmet meals… we did see quite a few bear.
Kayaking with whales off Admiralty Island.
Sure its not camping. I don’t think the OP was looking for camping.
We were able to tour Alaska with two duffel bags this way coming from the East Coast. Camping would have been way more complicated.
The South East is beautiful…
– Last Updated: Jan-14-11 1:03 AM EST –
And wet. Had the privilege of paddling the southeast two summers in a row, pretty amazing. One trip paddled around Kuiu Island out of Petersburg, with a stop in Kake, very much worth checking out. Would love to paddle around Baranof and Chichagof Islands, but don't want to have to worry about the big brown bears. One of my more memorable nights camping was on the northwest corner of Kopreanof Island, when I awoke to the sound (and smell) of a mama black bear and her cub snuffling right outside my tent. Had gone to bed having done everything you're not supposed to do in bear country: spit tooth paste right outside the tent, had salmon blood all over clothes which I was using as a pillow, snacks in a bag in my tent, had left my bear spray under the tarp where the kitchen was. Luckily the bear was spooked easily by some loud hey-bears, and shuffled off down the beach. Next morning I looked to check out bear tracks right next to the tent. I loved falling asleep to the sounds of whales feeding off that nights beach campground. Would very much recommend a big good tarp if camping in anywhere in Alaska...
We did GB but camped out of our kayaks
It rained everyday but one afternoon, which meant 5.5 days of rain. But drysuits are also good out of the water.We saw bears, whales eagles and had wolves come into our camp one night while sleeping until I woke up with something breathing outside the tent. Still have the gear the pups chewed on. Paddled the Muir inlet and camped by McBride Glacier, which was calving all the time. It was a great trip. We drove from Mass to Skagway in six days. I can’t wait to go again. Sorry to hijack the thread.
seychelles
Didn’t Simon willis just write about mothership kayaking in the seychelles?
It might chase away the winter blah’s right into your bank account 
There’s one just to the south of me
http://www.seakayakvacations.com/
Look like nice tours. They are also selling off some Romany’s, Avocets, and other kayaks at good prices.
Terry
Try Kayak Transport Company
I don’t know what they’re up to these days, but in 2006 my husband and I took an 8-day trip with them. Beautiful boat, good co-captains (who were the entire staff, not counting the dog and cat). We had a nice, mellow time. It rained almost every day, but in SE AK in summer, those are good paddling days, when you have a hot shower and dry quarters to return to.
I had done a one-month self-supported kayak camping trip (also in SE AK) in 2004, and comparing the two forms of trips is like comparing apples with oranges.
The kayak camping trip was far more rewarding, no surprise. Also more demanding, and riskier. I knew my husband would not enjoy that for an AK trip, and he told me he wanted a “vacation” anyway–which expedition-type trips really aren’t. (Editor of SKM wrote a good editorial on this difference not long ago.)
One real advantage of the mothership is that since you are sleeping on the water, bear encounters at camp will not pose a problem. The bears were still around–but we didn’t have to worry about food stores, ripped tents, etc. And mosquitoes stay in the woods, not on the water.
If you can do both kinds of trips during your life, they’re both worth trying. They are definitely not the same, even if you were to go to the exact same places.
check out Wavelength
Wavelength Magazine had an article in their Winter 2008 titled “Choosing a Mothership”. The link is
http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2008/winter08_choosing_mothership.html, but it doesn’t seem to be working correctly right now. You may need to contact the editor to get the electronic copy.
Perfect Mothership
I’ve been musing about the same thing, and I’m still trying to pin down the best type of mothership. I want four things: room for living, easy carrying and launching of kayaks, cheap to buy and economical on fuel (I know, pick any three).
Powerboats seem expensive and tend to get gallons per mile, not miles per gallon. An old sailboat with a diesel inboard may fit the bill, if I can figure out the kayak storage thing.
Still looking, Alan
How about a
Bluewater house boat?
Mothership or houseboat?
I really can’t imagine anyone looking to buy a mothership!
houseboat
Depending on what part of the intercoastal you’re talking about, much of it on the east coast is open water, not suitable for most houseboats.
If you’re just in and around the gulf, that won’t matter much.
Bill H.
Bristol 42
Bristol 42 trawler, can be found on the cheap, great boat, 3-4 gallons per hour at around 9 knots, roughly a 1000 mile range on internal tanks, two staterooms. with a slightly larger swim platform they are very easy to get in and out of kayaks from.
That is why I said bluewater.
question
You wern’t the one asking the original question and again depends on what part of the intercoastal they are talking about. There are parts of that waterway that a flat water houseboat would be just fine.
One of the problems I have with this forum is that often a person comes in an asks one question then never shows up (or says anything if they do) again.
Bill H.
if you confine yourself to sheltered
water just about anything can work. There’s an outboard house boat I saw in the Chesapeake that made it up from Florida. brb with pictures.
here it is. I saw this in the Chesapeake. Definately not for high wind.
http://markvdesigns.tripod.com/boatbuilding/id12.html