Get Off the Beaten Path in Alaska

MOST ALASKAN CRUISES sail the familiar waters of the Inside Passage. Now it's possible to go farther afield, into the Aleutian Islands-the 1,200-mile-long archipelago that curves like a cat's tail toward Russia-thanks to HX, as Hurtigruten Expeditions is now known.

- Susan Portnoy

The cutting-edge line recently launched 18-day itineraries that link Nome and Vancouver, stopping in seldom-visited communities along the way. The Unanga✰ (Aleuts) were the first to inhabit the area, living there for eight millennia before Russian colonization in the 18th century. (The islands were sold to the United States, along with Alaska, in 1867.) Today only 8,000 people reside in the Aleutians.

Last summer, I had the chance to visit aboard the 530-passenger, hybrid-powered Roald Amundsen. I woke each day at dawn, eager to see what lay beyond my balcony, whether it was humpbacks feeding or sea otters floating supine on the waves. Excursions included kayaking on ice floes, taking Zodiac tours to sea stacks teeming with tufted puffins, and going ashore in several ports to learn about the Aleutians' past—and their present. Here are four highlights of the journey.

ST. MATTHEW ISLAND

"More people have climbed Mount Everest than have set foot on St. Matthew Island," said Frederico Marcelino, the cruise's expedition leader, as our Zodiac slid ashore onto a piece of land 200 miles from the nearest village.