We are currently on the Crown Princess on an 11 Day itinerary in the Inside Passage of Alaska, USA. As we write this, we are now on Day 3 of of the itinerary, and it took us 2 days and over 600 miles of cruising to get here, Icy Strait Point, from Vancouver, Canada!
Having been in Icy Strait Point less than a year ago, and going to a Crown Princess lecture by a local expert, we found that we were feeling like experts on the area, before we even disembarked the ship. We didn't feel like we needed to rush as we had more than enough time to do, or not do, whatever we wanted!
About Icy Point Strait
The Crown Princess started to allow guests off of the ship at about 10:30 am, which was earlier than the expected time of 11am. We were really happy and surprised by having the extra half hour, as there was some expectation of rain showers. We got to spend quite a long day in Icy Strait Point/ Hoonah, as the "All Aboard" was scheduled for 9:30pm.
The sun rise as of yesterday, June 25, 2023 on the Crown Princess was 3:58am, while the sunset last night was at 10:10pm! This extra long day offered more than enough time for all guests onboard the ship, to really experience one of the most beautiful places of Southeast Alaska.
Icy Strait Point is a popular tourist destination located in Hoonah, Alaska, on Chichagof Island. It is known for its breathtaking natural beauty, rich cultural heritage, and a wide range of outdoor activities. Specifically, it is located on the more northern part of the Alaskan Inside Passage, and only 35 miles west of Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, where we will be tomorrow!
Fun fact, that Icy Straight Point is ONLY accessible by ships or planes. Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, is the ONLY capital city that you can only access by ships or planes as well!
The Crown Princess had a special guest onboard, Rachel Moreno, who holds a very special role and shares historical and cultural information about the Tlingit people of the area. Going to the special lecture, the princess guests learned more about the area, the significance of things that we would see, and more. In a nutshell, we learned a bit about the people who had inhabited the region for thousands of years. She spoke about the Tlingit culture, the storytelling, and provided some insights about the totems, authentic homes and carvings. She even brought the worlds' smallest totem poles to show anyone who was interested.
What is there to DO in Icy Strait Point?
There are some great ways to keep yourself entertained in Icy Point Strait. Even though we were docked for 11 hours at this location, we decided that we could only realistically do a few things in order to keep our budget low, and to get a bit of exercise. We don't ever feel the need to have to do everything while we are visiting a location.
The Zip Rider... There is a Zip Liner which is actually the world's highest zipline at 5330 feet long with an incredible 1330 foot vertical drop. It has a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour. We didn't see anyone go on the zipline on this particular day, but we witnessed people doing it before, and it seemed very exciting. You could hear the screams even from the ship!
2. Nature Walks... This is the first thing that we had done when we disembarked the ship. Once you get to land from the ship, there are well marked trails where you can literally walk through the woods in the lush green forest. They do suggest that you walk in big groups, so that you are safer from the bears.
There are plenty of walking opportunities, you can even walk to Hoonah if you like. It is about a 45 minute walk. It is extremely scenic. While we walked today, we saw an eagle in the trees, and a few glimpses of marine life. Sadly, we always are a little "too late" in taking pictures because of our very slow ability to grab our camera!
3. Icy Strait Point is known for its whale watching. Although we didn't go on a special excursion today, we have been told that this is one of the most recommended places to do this. You can book a boat tour where you could observe humpback whales and orcas.
New friends of ours, that we met on this cruise, went to Point Adolphus, as it is one of Alaska's premier whale watching sites. The waters are very nutrient rich, therefore there are many orcas, humpbacks, seal lions and seals congregate here to feed.
4. Kayaking... We had a large group of kayaking tourists go by while we were taking a break from our walk to Hoonah from the ship. It looked like a lot of fun, and they seemed to have a great guide telling them about the nature! It's great that voices can carry so far over water... it was almost like we were on the tour as well! (We overheard the guide talking about all kinds of outdoor adventures in the area... including the bear watching activities!)
Speaking of bears, the Alaska coastal brown bear (grizzly) flourishes on the beautiful Chichagof Island, as there is a lot of salmon, and a ton of berries that attract them.
5. The Museum, Shopping, Cannery... We had spent some time visiting the shops in the former Cannery. There is a lot of information to there to keep you informed about how the Cannery operated. There are restaurants, famous mini-donuts, a shuttle bus ride, information booth, and local artists in the area to keep you entertained! I must note that there are some great Alaska made souvenirs in the shops. So... bring your wallet if you like to shop!
6. The FREE Transporter ride if you don't want to walk the trail back or to the ship! This was a fun way to relax and see the sites from above in Icy Strait Point, Alaska.
All in all, we had a great time re-visiting Icy Strait Point, Alaska. It was a lot of fun to walk around, and learn more about this amazing part of the world!
It is hard to believe that the entire population, at the time of writing this, of Icy Strait Point is only 760! If you plan to come here, and we hope that you do, please know that it is only 30 miles west of Juneau, and that they use American dollars!
We hope that you can experience Icy Strait Point too!