Our cruise ship stopped at Icy Strait Point, and we took the tour entitled Ancient Oceans & Newborn Forests Walking Tour. It was led by a native Tlingit named Jeff, who was a retired science teacher. He was knowledgeable and informative. He explained a little about the Tlingit culture and history, walked along the shore telling us about the rocks and their formations, then walked us through the forest explaining about the spruce and the hemlock. We even saw a whale during the walk along the shore. Jeff also did carvings. It was nice to visit an area that sold native Alaska products and had NO jewelry stores. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
I really enjoyed my tour of the city Ranelle was our guide and she did a wonderful job,telling us about the city and the history. Jonell was our driver and she was good. We attended the tribal dance show.We also got to see some whales.
Visit mid. September 2013: Although we did not see any bears on our guided trip, we had a beautyful day in the woods. The trail was easy to walk, and the even provided a toilet (for those who needed). Our guide was extremely good, fun and enlightning, and we learned a lot about the life and living i Hoonah.
We took the whale watching and bear search trip in perfect weather. Run by the Tlingit people it is the only privately owned port in the US. We did the whale watch first followed by the bear search. Good naturalist commentary on the whales and excellent information on the Tlingit people and the development of the port of Icy Strait Point by Kevin. Saw numerous humpback whales but the surroundings are so beautiful that the ride alone is worth the trip. The bear search was guided by Jacob who provided great details about the bears as well as his culture. We were lucky enough to see two brown bears on the way to the observation platform as well as a mother brown bear and 2 cubs at the platform. Several eagles were observed as well though the highlight was seeing a bald eagle catch a salmon in the ocean as we were returning to the port. The restoration of the cannery as a museum was interesting and the grounds were beautiful. We walked along the beach before returning to the ship, observing starfish, jellyfish and jumping salmon in the clear waters.
Fantastic, Fantastic, Fantastic, and great value for money. You are coached up the mountain to a landing stage where you then drive an ATV up the dirt trail with regular stops to hear about the area and great bear stories. You just need to be suitably dressed for the weather. Well planned and culminating in an exhilarating Zip Wire descent at over 60kph from 1300 feet. Watch this you tube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC30O9vC6IE.
Excellent ATV ride/tour and Zip Line ride. Nice little town due to not allowing the flock of tourist traps to build. 5,330 feet long in about 90 seconds.
If I can do this so can you. This was part of my tour through the cruise line at Norwegian, Jewel, the ATV Expedition and ZipRider tour. My son really wanted to do this so I decided why not give it a try. I had just had a summer of back pain but it did not affect my back at all.
You start at the cannery where you catch a bus for the tour. We were then dropped off and you do have to go for a walk down a dirt road to get to the zip rider but the walk is beautiful through tall tree forest. There are outhouses if you need to use the bathroom before taking the zip line.
They take a group of say six people at a time. They give you a number and then you go to that seat or gate for the ride. They help you get seated for your ride. I guess there are googles available though I did not see them. The speed of the ride along with the wind does make your eyes water a little so they would be helpful. You go on a platform first and can see the group ahead of you go down. They you step down the platform and go to your desalinated numbered spot to get ready for the ride. When you sit down the gate so to speak is closed and you can not see down. I think you get less scared that way and before you know it you are on your way.
The ride was comfortable and secure, I never felt like I was going to fall off. The views are fantastic. At first my son who is lighter than I went down the line faster but half way down it seemed like he slowed down and I caught up. At this point my seat turned to the right which I am not sure is suppose to happen but offered much better views as to the left the view is cut off part way down by trees.
You are traveling 60 some miles per hour so the force of the wind does makes your cheeks and eyelids bounce around a bit. So again the googles would help with the eyes. The whole ride is over in 90 seconds so don’t close your eyes you would miss the whole thing. The landing is smooth. I noticed some people had those special cameras to film everything and there are videos on YouTube that you can see others videos. Afterwards it is just a short walk along the coast back to the cannery. The cannery has shops and restaurants. Try the Halibut fish fry at the Cook house. It is excellent.
The bus trip up the mountain was 45 minutes.. Very entertaining and educating great guide…once you get to the zip rider wow…..takes your breath away….this I would do again….
We couldn’t wait to ride the highest zipline in the world & it was work every cent even though it was fast…
I made this excursion on August 15, 2015. The boat was a large catamaran well equipped, comfortable, w/ onboard snack bar, and the crew was very good. They were well informed and boy did we see whales. We saw An Orca pod up close and personal and they watched and spied on us as much as we did them. A beautiful large male with his tall slender dorsal was with the pod. We then took off to see a group of humpback whales and there was breaching, fluke slapping, and beautiful tail shots. Again we were able to get in close to them and one of them breached fairly close to the boat, a tremendous sight to behold. Beyond all the great whale and wildlife sightings (I saw deer laying down sunning on the beach as well) they shared with us a salmon spread that was delicious, they offered the recipe and I am sorry I didn’t get a copy of it. Great trip and was well worth the cost and effort.