The second stop on our northbound adventure was a little port called Icy Strait Point. The cruise ship drops anchor in the harbor and its a short tender ride to the dock. Icy Strait Point consists more or less of the historic Hoonah Packing Company, which was operated as a salmon cannery from 1912 until the 1990's. Now it is the only privately owned cruise ship destination in the US and they only allow one cruise ship in at a time, which means there are far fewer people to contend with than at the other port cities that have three or four docked at a time.
There is a really interesting museum in the main building that goes through the history and machinery involved in processing the salmon which you can wander through at your own pace. There are also several shops and a cafe in the main complex, a crab shack, and a restaurant just a short walk down the trail. Aside from the museum portion, we didn't really use any of the aforementioned establishments, but you know... they are there.
The Radiance of the Seas... our home away from home for a week.
There are lots of excursions you can choose in Icy Strait Point, but we opted mostly to just walk around and soak in the scenery. It was cloudy and cool, but nothing a light jacket and hat couldn't remedy. There is a nature trail along the water and one that winds in through the trees, both of which were equally beautiful.
After our walk, we still had some of time to kill so we decided to add the zipline excursion just in time to catch the bus for one of the last rides up. This old school bus takes you through the town of Hoonah, just a short ride up the road from Icy Strait Point, and then up the mountain roughly a mile from the dock. The driver is a local and he pointed out all the highlights of town and had lots of good stories to pass the time on the 45 minute ride.
Aaaaaaand the zipline is freaking amazing. Its 5,330 feet long, and a 1,300 foot drop in elevation, which is pretty spectacular. In the minute and a half it takes you to get from top to bottom, you'll reach speeds of sixty miles an hour. Which is pretty freaking fast when you are suspended 300 feet about the tree tops in what seems a lot like a fabric camping chair. Seriously worth every penny. If you make it to Icy Strait Point, do the zip line. Don't argue with me, just do it. Also, please excuse the cursing at the beginning. Its a rather frighteningly long drop to the ground when they spring the doors open. And luckily Colby was holding the camera, because I'm pretty sure what I yelled was even worse...
When we got back, we took a few more scenic pictures and wandered over to check out the totem poles in front of the Heritage Center Native Theatre.
The view of the road towards Hoonah from the cruise ship was pretty gorgeous...
That black lump between the boat and the far shore is a whale... we saw quite a few, but all from a similar distance. Maybe next time we will try a whale watching tour and try for some closer views. We might have been a bit hung over this day, and seeing how rough that made the bus ride up the mountain, I'm not sure either of us could have handled a small boat.
Might have gone a little crazy with the pictures here, but the scenery is just so gorgeous I couldn't help it. Even the sky is more beautiful in Alaska.
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