Jack Hasten feels completely at home at sea. The 93-year-old American WWII and Korean War navy veteran, served on three different destroyers, commanded a Landing Craft Infantry, and was Chief Engineer on a destroyer escort. If anyone is an expert when it comes to ships and the ocean, it’s Jack.

After owning several boats in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois, Jack and his wife Annette decided to start cruising with NW Explorations.

In the early 2000s, the couple chartered a 36’ Grand Banks named Spellbound and journeyed their way around the San Juan Islands. It only took one trip to hook them in.

“Cruising with NW Explorations puts us in some of the greatest cruising waters in the world with terrific scenery and wildlife galore. That’s true whether you just cruise around the islands or go north to Alaska,” says Jack. “Whether it’s watching a whale breach, a black bear with cubs at play, a glacier calving, or getting up close and chummy with a large waterfall, there is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be had nearly every day of the cruise. “

Meandering through coastal islands and inlets, all the way up to majestic Alaska, Jack celebrated his 89^th and 92^nd birthdays with NW Explorations, on our Mother Goose Flotillas.

“Spending my birthday on the Mother Goose Flotilla has to be one of my favorites,” he says. “Both times we were able to celebrate with a good meal together, complete with birthday cake – and no, we didn’t use a candle for every year for fear of fire!”

However, for Jack and his wife, it’s the people that make the experience with NW Explorations unparalleled.

“The single factor that has given us the greatest pleasure is the people we have cruised with. It is the most pleasant way to have a truly wonderful experience, and one that you will never forget.”