Alaska 2010 – Day 5 – Icy Strait Point
by Jay on Jul.11, 2010, under Alaska 2010, General, Vacation
Departing Juneau, Royal Princess retraced back out the Gastineau Channel. Turning to starboard around Marmion Island, we entered Stephens Passage passing between Douglas and Admirality islands. During the early hours of the morning, the ship transited the Saginaw Channel, a narrow section of water that separates Stephens Passage from the Lynn Canal. Entering the Lynn Canal, we turned port and on southerly courses before finally turning around Couverden Island into Icy Strait. We expect to be anchored off Icy Strait Point by around 07:30.
We generally take an excursion in each port that we stop in, and sometimes we skip out on them if we’ve been there before, like when we visit the Caribbean. I signed us up for a few excursions in each port for Alaska because this place is just so awesome. Yesterday we broke a record for number of excursions done in a single day, with two. Today, we are signed up for two again, but Heather and I broke the record and took an additional excursion as well that we weren’t signed up for. Today we are in Hoonah, Alaska, in Icy Strait Point. We started the day tendering in to Hoonah, a small island that only allows a single ship per day. This place reminded me a bit of San Blas, but is much more populated and the people aren’t annoying you by trying to sell you their goods.
Our first excursion was a sightseeing tour and tribal dance demonstration. We rode around town in a van and a local Tlingit (pronounced Klinket) Indian woman told us of their history and showed us some areas of their town, including the airport, which is large enough for a commercial jet to land, but not take off. We then were taken to a theater of sorts, and it resembled a modern day clan house, like the one that we saw in Ketchikan. Some of the locals put on a few tribal dances for us, and told us their 12,000 year history in the form of dance. Heather and I even donned their ritaulistic outfits and danced along with them for the last one! After this informative excursion, we returned to the ship via tender, had a nice, short lunch, and tendered back over to the land. This time we got onto a tram and were driven through the rainforest and out along the beach. We were able to see the ship anchored and of course, I took way too many photos of it. This was called a “Nature Tram” and we were educated about the island’s different berries (salmon, blue, huckle, and a few others). We saw a few sea lions out in the water, and even saw one catch a fish, and then have an Eagle swipe down to try to steal it. The Eagle failed, but I got it all on video, so the sea lion and I both win. We stopped and walked around the beach for a few minutes where Heather decided that she needed ten rocks because they were all so different. We then got back on the tram and were taken back to the port area, where Heather and I boarded another bus for our third and final excursion: Zip lining. We try to zip line on each cruise that we take where it’s offered, but we didn’t sign up for it this time in order to take some more educational ones.
We signed up for this when we first arrived in Hoonah in the morning, only after seeing the zip lines. This is the tallest and longest zip line in the world. It starts 1300 feet up and comes down to sea level. It is over 1 mile in length, speeds up to 60MPH, and takes 90 seconds to descend. Usually these excursions go from tree to tree, but this is just a single drop, and up to five lines go at once. We took a 45 minute bus ride to the top of the mountain, saw a deer on the way, and then we dropped all the way down in less than two minutes. I tried taping it but was zoomed in for the beginning, so only the ending of it actually came out good. It was fun and exhilarating, and Mom and Dad were waiting at the bottom taking pictures of us as we arrived. It was a good way to end the day in Hoonah. We then boarded the tender, got back on the ship, had dinner, and then got to see a few seals and whales at night. It was a pretty awesome day.
Our first excursion was a sightseeing tour and tribal dance demonstration. We rode around town in a van and a local Tlingit (pronounced Klinket) Indian woman told us of their history and showed us some areas of their town, including the airport, which is large enough for a commercial jet to land, but not take off. We then were taken to a theater of sorts, and it resembled a modern day clan house, like the one that we saw in Ketchikan. Some of the locals put on a few tribal dances for us, and told us their 12,000 year history in the form of dance. Heather and I even donned their ritaulistic outfits and danced along with them for the last one! After this informative excursion, we returned to the ship via tender, had a nice, short lunch, and tendered back over to the land. This time we got onto a tram and were driven through the rainforest and out along the beach. We were able to see the ship anchored and of course, I took way too many photos of it. This was called a “Nature Tram” and we were educated about the island’s different berries (salmon, blue, huckle, and a few others). We saw a few sea lions out in the water, and even saw one catch a fish, and then have an Eagle swipe down to try to steal it. The Eagle failed, but I got it all on video, so the sea lion and I both win. We stopped and walked around the beach for a few minutes where Heather decided that she needed ten rocks because they were all so different. We then got back on the tram and were taken back to the port area, where Heather and I boarded another bus for our third and final excursion: Zip lining. We try to zip line on each cruise that we take where it’s offered, but we didn’t sign up for it this time in order to take some more educational ones.
We signed up for this when we first arrived in Hoonah in the morning, only after seeing the zip lines. This is the tallest and longest zip line in the world. It starts 1300 feet up and comes down to sea level. It is over 1 mile in length, speeds up to 60MPH, and takes 90 seconds to descend. Usually these excursions go from tree to tree, but this is just a single drop, and up to five lines go at once. We took a 45 minute bus ride to the top of the mountain, saw a deer on the way, and then we dropped all the way down in less than two minutes. I tried taping it but was zoomed in for the beginning, so only the ending of it actually came out good. It was fun and exhilarating, and Mom and Dad were waiting at the bottom taking pictures of us as we arrived. It was a good way to end the day in Hoonah. We then boarded the tender, got back on the ship, had dinner, and then got to see a few seals and whales at night. It was a pretty awesome day.No comments for this entry yet...
