Videos
as seen on HGTV
In the Press
One Booking, Three Landscapes: How Bumble Expeditions Packs Alaska Into A Single Day
Most Alaska shore excursions ask travelers to choose between wildlife, rainforest, or coastal scenery. Bumble Expeditions, based in Sitka, Alaska, built its signature experience around a different idea: that a single booking should seamlessly combine all three. Instead of asking guests to choose one side of Alaska, the itinerary moves through land, sea, and a private island in a single day.
Everyone Talks About the Private Island. The Real Story Is the People Behind It
Most visitors assume Bumble Expeditions' competitive advantage is its private island. It isn't. The cove, the wildlife, the kind of stillness that's nearly impossible to find anywhere else in Alaska. None of that is wrong to notice. It's just not the whole answer. Beneath the island's beauty sits something harder to photograph and far more important to the business: the people who built it...
The most memorable part of an Alaska vacation isn't what you think
Travel long enough, and a pattern starts to show up. Ask someone about the best trip they've ever taken, and they usually won't begin with the scenery. They'll remember a guide, a server, or even a stranger who made an ordinary moment feel unexpectedly personal. The places people love most are rarely defined by the best meal or the most famous landmark. They're remembered because...
Bumble Expeditions LLC Receives 2026 Global Recognition Award for Transforming Wildlife and Hospitality Experiences
Bumble Expeditions LLC has earned national recognition for transforming Alaska tourism through personalized wildlife experiences, private island access, and strategic business expansion. Its innovative approach, strong leadership, operational discipline, and commitment to exceptional hospitality have established it as a standout...
From Alaska’s Waters to National Recognition: Inside Bumble Expeditions’ Founder-Led Rise
In the fog-thick waters off Sitka, where cruise ships crowd the harbor for a few frantic months each year, Sara Hadad-Dembs and Cole Dembs have spent three seasons proving that a tourism business can be built on restraint rather than volume, and their approach has earned Bumble Expeditions LLC a 2026 Global Recognition Award. Bumble Expeditions did not begin with an island...
How Bumble Expeditions Built an Economic Moat in Alaska Tourism
In investing, Warren Buffett popularized the idea of an economic moat: a durable competitive advantage that protects a business long after its first success. While the concept is usually associated with global corporations, Bumble Expeditions, a tourism company founded in Sitka, Alaska, in 2023, has quietly applied the same principle on a much smaller scale, building competitive advantages designed to become stronger, not weaker, with time.
Bumble Expeditions Announces Alaska Tourism Expansion After Securing Seven International Cruise Line Contracts
Bumble Expeditions has grown from a Sitka shore excursions provider into one of Alaska's leading tourism businesses. Following seven international cruise line contracts, it expanded into Alaska cruise excursions, wildlife tours, a private island experience, vacation rentals, an in-house café, and a full-service travel agency. Sitka, Alaska, United States, July 1, 2026...
From Spam-for-Dinner to an Alaska Private Island: How Bumble Expeditions Built One of Alaska’s Most Unconventional Tourism Businesses
The founders behind Bumble Expeditions turned an outsider mindset into a vertically integrated tourism company built around community, creativity, and people who never quite fit the mold. Every year, Cole Dembs and Sara Hadad-Dembs celebrate what they jokingly call their Spam-I-versary, a reminder of the two months they...
The Private Island Experience in Alaska is Reserved for Just Five Groups Each Season
There is a kind of luxury that has nothing to do with thread counts or champagne on arrival. It is the luxury of having an island to yourself, of stepping off a boat into a cove where the only sound is the water and the only agenda is one designed especially for you. In Southeast Alaska, experiences like this have become almost impossible to find. Bumble Expeditions quietly made sure...
Experience the aurora borealis from a national forest in Sitka
With eight national parks, the nation’s tallest peak, and wildlife galore, Alaska is, no doubt, the trip of a lifetime. Toss in a chance to see the northern lights (aka aurora borealis), and it’s an absolute no-brainer. Caused by earth’s magnetic field interacting with solar wind and charged particles from the sun, the swirling spectacle of blue and green hues is truly something to behold.
Alfresco Stress Relief!
VISIT A PRIVATE ISLAND
When Sara Hadad-Dembs and her husband bought Mertz Island — a 3.75-acre oasis in Sitka — a few years ago, their goal was to share it with others. “Sitka’s landscape is a canvas for adventure with endless possibilities,” Hadad-Dembs says. “A simple boat ride can transport you to a new world in minutes.” So the couple launched Bumble Expeditions to provide land-based tours and boat tours for guests to stroll their...
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