This morning at about 4:30 the sun came shining through our
window as we were pulling into Icy Strait Point.
If you try to find this place on the map you may not be
successful it’s more a location than a town although the village of Hoonah is
just a little over a mile a way (which you may not find on a map either).
Hoonah has a population of around 1500 people and like so
many places up here is a small island accessible only by plane or boat. The weather is a carbon copy of yesterday
nearly perfect conditions with a cloudless sky and temperatures hovering around
70. We’ve been to Alaska enough to know
that what we’re catching so far from the weather Gods is pretty exceptional.
Hoonah has done a nice job developing this place and really
stimulating and diversifying their economy.
Cruise ships have been coming here since 2004. Until recently there was no dock so visitors
had to be tendered to shore by small boat.
We’re actually only the second ship to anchor at their new and
conveniently located dock. It took a
little longer to dock than normal this morning. I guess the harbor pilot who brought us in is
still learning the tricks the wind and water can play on a ship. I guess he just doesn’t have a 90,000 ton
ship sitting around to practice with on his off days.
We saw river otters from the ship as we came in, whales right
off shore as we walked towards town and eagles are all over the place. Sitka which is where we were yesterday and
Icy Strait Point are both new places for us and truly amazing. If you get a chance to visit this marvelous
state try to get these two places on your itinerary.
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| Icy Strait Point |
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| Icy Strait Points answer to Wal-Mart |
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| There are a bunch of these guys, they are amazing to watch |
