— Travel professionals combine air travel, RV’ing, and boating

Out for a paddle on Chilcoot Lake Alaska. The McCanna’s own a Sea Eagle 370, 2 person inflatable kayak. It just fits the 50-lb bag rule for airline luggage. “Always nice to have your own boat to get out on the water!”

Travel means business in the McCanna household. Chantal works for Air Canada in Montreal, and Mark is a project manager for a subsidiary, Air Canada Vacations.

But travel also means personal adventure. When the McCannas aren’t on the job, they’re off on their own adventures to far away places including China, Hawaii, Australia, Germany, South America, the Caribbean, the Gaspe Peninsula, Corsica, and more.

A grizzly bear catches salmon at a fish weir on a river near Haines, Alaska. The McCannas saw so many grizzlies on their adventure vacation they stopped counting.

Mark and Chantal have developed an ingenious way to combine air travel, RV’ing, and boating into fascinating adventure vacations. They pack up their Sea Eagle inflatable kayak; check it as airline luggage; fly thousands of miles to an interesting destination; rent an RV; and enjoy 10 days or so of rambling, sightseeing, adventuring, and boating on the open highway…and open water.

50-lb. airline baggage limit

“Many airlines have a 50-lb. limit on baggage,” Mark told us. “Our Sea Eagle, life-jackets, and paddles fit in one 50-lb. bag. We got a bag with wheels so it rolls through the airports easily.”

The idea of combining air travel, RV’ing, and boating came to them on a trip to Canada’s Kathleen Lake a few years ago. “We were sitting on the shore wondering what was on the other side when a couple drove up in their van, took out an inflatable kayak, pumped it up, and paddled away,” says Mark.

“We just sat there with our mouths open.” Back home, a quick search on the internet got them a Sea Eagle 330 inflatable kayak of their own. “It’s nice to have your own boat on vacation,” says Mark.

“You must see the Alaska Highway once in your lifetime”

“We’ve flown from Montreal into both Calgary, Alberta, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, rented an RV, and headed north,” says Mark. “You have to see the historic Alaska Highway at least once in your life.” But Mark prefers the Stuart Cassiar Highway in British Columbia because, “there’s less traffic and more wildlife there.”

One of their adventure vacations took them all the way to the Arctic Circle via the Dempster Highway — about 800 kilometers of well-engineered gravel highway. You may feel you’re a thousand miles from civilization but, “you can get gas at Dawson City, Eagle Plains, and at Inuvik” at the Arctic Circle.

RV’s and inflatable boats are made for each other

An RV and a Sea Eagle give you your own portable adventure vacation. Many RV’ers pack an inflatable boat in their rigs so they can enjoy fishing, paddling, and exploring lakes and rivers while RV camping.

An RV and a Sea Eagle inflatable kayak – the perfect combination for an adventure vacation.

And because it’s a full-sized, two-passenger boat that packs into a suitcase-sized bag, an inflatable kayak fits perfectly in space-restricted RVs.

“On the road, we stock up with a few days’ food and water and drive into the wilderness where we find a spot by a lake to set up camp,” says Mark. “We’ll go for a paddle in the Sea Eagle, then cook a nice dinner and have a campfire.” The McCannas are up and out early the next morning and start scouting that night’s lakeside campsite by afternoon.

Travel professionals recommend…

“One of our favorite place to go is Haines, Alaska because of the grizzly bears there. You can also see the bears at Fish Creek at Hyder, Alaska, but you can’t see them as well,” Mark reports.

The McCannas prepare to explore Kathleen Lake by inflatable Sea Eagle kayak

In Haines, there’s a fish weir in the river and it takes the salmon a while to cross it. The bears know this and come out of the forest and onto he weir to get the salmon.

In the Tlingit Indians region of Alaska, says Mark, “We put out boat in at Chilkoot Lake and found a very shallow sandy area where we could actually see salmon spawning. You can only do that in a non-powered boat like the Sea Eagle. It’s very quiet so we could watch the fish spawn for quite a while.”

“We enjoyed Barkersville, British Columbia,” says Mark. “It’s an old, restored Gold Rush town.” Mark recommends Liard River Hot Springs as another interesting stop. There’s a boardwalk, changing rooms, and the hot springs are free…and never freeze in winter.

Next adventure?

What’s the next adventure vacation for the McCannas? “Maybe a tour down the Amazon or the Nile,” says Mark. “Or maybe kayaking at

Aloha, from one of the McCanna’s trips to Hawaii.

Kalalau Beach on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.” Aloha!

George Davis trolls for Kokanee salmon on Lake Billy Chinook, Oregon, in his Sea Eagle FoldCat

We receive armloads of photos, letters, and e-mails from Sea Eagle inflatable boat owners who love to share their boating experiences and talk about the fun they have with their Sea Eagles.

Like this recent note from Colleen Faulkner, Sea Eagle owner: “We got our Sea Eagle kayak because we have a cabin cruiser and needed something we could use to take our dog, Morgan, to shore. We find the Sea Eagle very relaxing. We like to take it to a little cove in the Navesink River where we relax, read, and hang out.”

Tim Faulkner paddles his Sea Eagle 330 while Morgan navigates

We love receiving these pictures and notes because they’re further proof of what we’ve always known: Sea Eagle boaters are interesting, upbeat, active folk who love nothing more than a great day out on the water.

Every kind of boater

Owner letters and photos prove, too, there’s no one kind of Sea Eagle boater. If you can do it on the water, our owners are out there doing it in their Sea Eagles. That includes every kind of boating from adrenaline-fueled rushes through raging rapids to gentle paddling on placid lakes. Boating in waters from America’s great rivers to those in France, Thailand, and more.

Out for a day on the water in their Sea Eagle FastTrack Kayak

And boaters from twenty-something adventurers to golden-age grandmas and grandpas.

Some of our owners write in to enter our photo contest. Most write simply because they want to share what they enjoy. And many write and send photos just to say, “Thank you, Sea Eagle!”

We recently started posting owner stories and photos on the Sea Eagle Photo Blog you’re reading now. Not surprisingly in today’s computer-connected, social media-active world, our blog gets THOUSANDS of hits, fans, and followers as do our Tweets and Facebook page.

We think it’s clear: the only thing our owners like

Sea Eagle owner, Dirk Darling running the American River in his Explorer Kayak

better than boating in their Sea Eagles is talking and writing about the great times they have.

Tell us YOUR Sea Eagle boating story

So here’s an open invitation: e-mail your photo and story to our Photo Blog Editor, Staff@SeaEagle.com

Who knows? You could be featured on this blog, sharing your Sea Eagle adventures with our world-wide community of boating enthusiasts.

Looks like owner, Larry Green, had a good morning out on the water

(And you don’t have to be a “white water junkie” to have an interesting Sea Eagle story to tell. One of our most-read and most replied-to posts features 78-year young Maggie Dickeson who asked, “Why would you want to post my story? I just paddle around.”)

And while you’re at it, check out our photo contest and our photo gallery where you’ll see dozens and dozens of photos sent in by owners who’re out there doing what you do — paddling, fishing, exploring, sailing, lazing around, having fun, and enjoying the great outdoors in every imaginable activity that’s done on water!

“People don’t realize there are still areas where there’s no civilization at all,” says Brad Beaver. Brad’s a professional photographer specializing in wildlife and nature photography. In particular, he’s capturing the “unseen America” — the hidden, remote, pristine areas many miles from civilization.

Brad is exploring and photo-documenting America’s hidden wilderness areas. His dog, Laura, scouts the way.

Documenting natural areas most people will never see

“My photography is all about capturing beautiful scenery most people will never see unless they backpack deep into the wilderness,” says Brad. And there’s a lot to see out there as evidenced by Brad’s remarkable photos.

Living in Iowa, Brad’s documented the back woods beauty of many Western states. Little by little, he’s compiling a large coffee table book of photos of the natural splendor of America. “I want to photograph all 50 states,” says Brad. “That’s why I call my company ‘Zoom In America Photography.’” 14 states down, 36 to go.

There’s pristine beauty everywhere — you just have to take to the water to visit it.

A floating photo studio

How does a photographer get himself and all his camping gear, food, cameras, tripods, light meters, tons of photo equipment, and his dog, Laura, into the outback, many miles from the nearest road? Brad’s mode of transportation is his Sea Eagle FastTrack 465FT. Nearly 15 feet long, rated to carry nearly 800 lbs., his FastTrack holds everything he needs for extended water-based travel, camping, and photography in the great outdoors.

Brad recently visited the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota, about three hours or less north of Minneapolis, home of The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), Voyageurs National Park, and nearby Canadian Quetico and La Verendrye Provincial Parks. Collectively, they’re called the “Quetico-Superior country,” or the Boundary Waters.

Where fur traders & explorers paddled birch bark canoes

When you’re miles and miles from civilization, you must bring everything you need…and leave only footprints.

Covering well over 1,000,000 square acres, the Boundary Waters is a deep, north woods wilderness of forest and lakes.  Explorers, French-Canadian fur traders, and Indians paddled birch bark canoes through this area 200 years ago and Brad says it hasn’t changed much in all that time. “The only way to get back in there is by boat,” he says.

“Will I make it back to camp?”

Nature’s flora, fauna, clean water, fresh air…who could ask for more?

Sea Eagle calls its FastTrack kayak a “performance kayak,” and Brad agrees, citing a recent Sea Eagle boating experience. “I was out on a remote lake and the wind started blowing 15 or 20 miles an hour in my face. The waves were crashing and I wondered if I’d ever get back to camp. But the FastTrack cut right through it like it was calm. It was incredible. It didn’t even bother my dog, Laura. She can get nervous in waves but she just sat there.”

The FastTrack is Brad’s second Sea Eagle. Fascinated by the Missouri River and Lewis and Clark’s explorations, Brad and a friend traveled and photographed 750 miles of the Missouri a few years ago in a Sea Eagle SE9. “The SE9 was great on a big river,” says Brad. “But I talked to the folks at Sea Eagle and we agreed that for backwoods exploring, the FastTrack is more nimble.”

“There are places in The Boundary Waters where I’d have to drag the FastTrack over rocks, snags, and even beaver dams,” says Brad. He dragged it, carried it on his shoulders, then discovered the FastTrack can be deflated, rolled up, and worn like a backpack. “I was very glad about that,” he says.

Much more wilderness to explore

What’s next for Brad? He and his Sea Eagle FastTrack will take a trip down the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway —  225 miles of pristine waterway coursing through a lush landscape down the Wisconsin-Minnesota border.

We look forward to seeing more of Brad Beaver’s outstanding nature photographs from his trip down the St. Croix and many more of America’s great rivers!