Garden Ramblings: Cruise, Day 4 - Icy Strait Point...

The clouds had found us when we woke up on Monday morning. We were moored offshore from Icy Strait Point. There isn't a dock that will accommodate a cruise ship there, so we were tendered ashore in lifeboats. Only one cruise ship is allowed in at any time.

Icy Strait Point wasn't on the map a few years ago - the name was coined to describe a new, private dock, built to handle cruise-ship traffic near the Tlingit (pronounced "Klingit) city of Hoonah, the largest Tlingit settlement in Alaska, with nearly 1,000 residents. The private dock is on the site of an historic salmon cannery, built in 1939, which has been converted to small shops selling, thankfully, things made in Alaska!

There is very little in Icy Strait Point - it's more natural and undeveloped than our other stops, with the highlight of this little development being the abundance of sea life and the old growth rain forest. Grizzly bear sightings are common.

They do, however, have the longest zip-line in the world! It's a 48 minute bus ride to the top of the mountain, and a 90 second trip down! We didn't do the zip line, but did take pictures of the screaming people coming down!

We did a Hoonah sight seeing trip, led by a Tlingit native. Laverne (her English name) had been born and raised right there in Hoonah, and gave us additional background on the clans and clan custom.

The rain began as we were finishing our tour, and by the time we had toured the cannery and small shops, it was raining in earnest! Time to board the ship and have some lunch! We enjoyed Icy Strait Point - it was like going back in time, visiting "old Alaska" - except for the gift shops and cruise ship, of course!

Our ship, moored near the dock. You can see the small boats, "tendering" people to shore

The dock from the beach

And our ship, looking like it's from another time and place!

And another view

The harbor - framed by the fireweed. The Tlingit people know that summer is coming when the fireweed begins to bloom. They also know that when the salmon berry bushes fruit, that the salmon won't be far behind. Very much a culture based on nature

Bryan, in a Tlingit cemetary. Laverne told us that prior to the Russians coming, all of the dead were cremated, so cemetaries are a relatively new thing for them.