Arriving at Icy Strait Point, one might say, “Is that all?” But there is more to it than meets the eye at first glance. Lots of nature-type excursions are available here.
We docked near a LONG covered walkway. If you look closely in the upper left corner of the photo below, you might be able to make out an additional pier where a second cruise ship can dock.
We walked, and walked…….
and walked some more to get to the main building.
Just outside the main building, we met up with our group for a whale-watching excursion; rode a bus to meet up with our boat; and set off to find whales. We were still under the mask mandate for Alaska, so while inside the heated cabin of our tour boat, we wore our custom-made masks for the occasion.
We came upon a large school of whales. Unfortunately, the weather was so cloudy that my pictures were not very spectacular, but it was exciting to see the water spouts and the tail fins even if our photos did not turn out so well on this visit.
After the whale watching, we walked around the port area.
There are several restaurants if you are in the mood for fresh-caught salmon, crab, and other fishy dishes, and I saw several reindeer items on the menu.
We found a kiosk for tickets to ride a shuttle over to Hoonah which was 1.5 miles away. Evidently other excursions could be purchased from locals here, too.
We rode over to Hoonah on the tram, walked around a bit, and returned to Icy Strait point. Many of the workers at the port area are residents of Hoonah and are of the Tlinget (Pronounced like clink’-et) tribe of Alaska Natives. Fishing and adventure tourism are two major industries.
Back at Icy Strait Point, we found a little donut shop with extremely yummy mini donuts.
There is the old cannery with an extensive display of machinery with signage that explains the process of canning salmon.
A pleasant walk along the rocky shoreline led us to some picturesque spots and some starfish on the beach.
Folks can ride a gondola:
Normally, I research things pretty thoroughly. I knew that this port has the “World’s longest zip line,” but I did not plan to ride. I mistakenly thought this Gondola ride was for people who planned to board the zip line. I found out much later that people could take a complimentary ride to the other dock from here, or they could purchase a ticket to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain. There is also an adventure park with a ropes course that I didn’t think to look for. Next time I am in port at Icy Strait, I will give the gondola a try. – Who knows? If it is warm enough to fly through the air at 65 mph, I might even ride that zipline!