Our next stop started with the anchor dropping as we stopped in Icy Straight Point around 7:00 a.m... We all slept another hour or so before rising to have breakfast in the main dining room. This is not a deep water port, so we have to tender today to the shore for our adventures. Sara went out on the balcony (really worth the extra dollars) and spotted two humpback whales cruising by. What a way to start the morning followed by a Bald Eagle soaring by and snagging a fish.
From that start we headed up to breakfast and sat with a family from Modesto, CA. The food is pretty much the same as the buffet, but fresh and brought to your table. The boys voted that was worth the long time to eat.
After breakfast we packed up and headed down to tender to shore. We rode on the life boats they had lowered earlier that morning. The trip is only a couple of minutes to shore, where you have an old cannery museum and shops. We learned about the canning Salmon business and then headed on the beach and forest nature trail. Yes we like to hike and bond with Mother Nature. Then we hiked into Hoonan the local town that is home to 8
00 native Alaskan’s who work the cruise ships May to September and than wait out 200 plus inches of snow each winter. On the hike we saw another Bald Eagle and Sea Lions just off shore. The walk into town was easy, but really not much to see in the town. The major attraction here is the Worlds Longest Zip line. Over a thousand foot drop at 60 miles an hour down the mountain face to the shore line. We did not ride this one as we have a zip line adventure already booked in Skagway.
Back to the ship for a lunch and nap before we tendered back to shore to start the Kayak adventure. We paired up Logan/Drake and Jeff with Sara. Janie volunteered to go with a gentleman by the name of Jim from Phoenix, AZ. We had the breeze to our backs with a nice sunny blue ski. (weather
has been outstanding and no rain since we arrived). While we sat near the shore close to the marina we were surprised by a Sea Lion. It was quite the site to see his head bobbing up and down as he watched us and we watched him. At the same time we had 3-4 bald eagles looking down on us from the tree tops. When we ventured back we saw about a dozen eagles swooping and diving with each other. Then we saw one eating its catch perched on a piling. Drake and Logan finished the 2 hour trip racing the guide and won!! Of course Cody had been kayaking all day and was by himself, but he was impressed. The water is so beautiful and cold.
We climbed aboard the second to last tender back to ship and straight to the dining area. While waiting the fisherman were cleaning a 115 lb Halibut someone on the ship caught on their excursion.
At 8:30 we sat down to another wonderful dinner where the boys ate scallops, mussels and shrimp. We finished the night with a banana Crème Brule and a trilogy of chocolate. Does life get any better? Our waiter Sergie is from Ukraine. He has a lot of great stories to tell of his up bringing and food experience. On a cruise you definitely meet folks from all around the world and it makes things seem a little more at peace to know we are all the same.
I’m (Dad) sitting on the balcony of our room at 10:20 p.m. with the sun barely set, but light as day out. The sky is still bright with mountains all around. We are going to Juneau tomorrow, so not being far the ship is basically idling along. Oh yeah, I’m in my long sleeve t-shi
rt. The water is steel blue with purple and blue horizon. Snow caps on the mountains. Mother Nature paints with a might powerful and skilled hand.
We have a comedy show to go to at 10:45 and then to bed. We have an early morning with whale watching tour at 8:45 a.m. Oh yeah, the sun rises in 6 hours so thank god the kids have an inner room that is pitch black and our curtains are thick.
See you tomorrow with another update……One additional picture that captures earlier description of night time, except this is at 12:00 a.m. Wow....
From that start we headed up to breakfast and sat with a family from Modesto, CA. The food is pretty much the same as the buffet, but fresh and brought to your table. The boys voted that was worth the long time to eat.
After breakfast we packed up and headed down to tender to shore. We rode on the life boats they had lowered earlier that morning. The trip is only a couple of minutes to shore, where you have an old cannery museum and shops. We learned about the canning Salmon business and then headed on the beach and forest nature trail. Yes we like to hike and bond with Mother Nature. Then we hiked into Hoonan the local town that is home to 8
00 native Alaskan’s who work the cruise ships May to September and than wait out 200 plus inches of snow each winter. On the hike we saw another Bald Eagle and Sea Lions just off shore. The walk into town was easy, but really not much to see in the town. The major attraction here is the Worlds Longest Zip line. Over a thousand foot drop at 60 miles an hour down the mountain face to the shore line. We did not ride this one as we have a zip line adventure already booked in Skagway.Back to the ship for a lunch and nap before we tendered back to shore to start the Kayak adventure. We paired up Logan/Drake and Jeff with Sara. Janie volunteered to go with a gentleman by the name of Jim from Phoenix, AZ. We had the breeze to our backs with a nice sunny blue ski. (weather
has been outstanding and no rain since we arrived). While we sat near the shore close to the marina we were surprised by a Sea Lion. It was quite the site to see his head bobbing up and down as he watched us and we watched him. At the same time we had 3-4 bald eagles looking down on us from the tree tops. When we ventured back we saw about a dozen eagles swooping and diving with each other. Then we saw one eating its catch perched on a piling. Drake and Logan finished the 2 hour trip racing the guide and won!! Of course Cody had been kayaking all day and was by himself, but he was impressed. The water is so beautiful and cold.We climbed aboard the second to last tender back to ship and straight to the dining area. While waiting the fisherman were cleaning a 115 lb Halibut someone on the ship caught on their excursion.
At 8:30 we sat down to another wonderful dinner where the boys ate scallops, mussels and shrimp. We finished the night with a banana Crème Brule and a trilogy of chocolate. Does life get any better? Our waiter Sergie is from Ukraine. He has a lot of great stories to tell of his up bringing and food experience. On a cruise you definitely meet folks from all around the world and it makes things seem a little more at peace to know we are all the same.
I’m (Dad) sitting on the balcony of our room at 10:20 p.m. with the sun barely set, but light as day out. The sky is still bright with mountains all around. We are going to Juneau tomorrow, so not being far the ship is basically idling along. Oh yeah, I’m in my long sleeve t-shi
rt. The water is steel blue with purple and blue horizon. Snow caps on the mountains. Mother Nature paints with a might powerful and skilled hand.We have a comedy show to go to at 10:45 and then to bed. We have an early morning with whale watching tour at 8:45 a.m. Oh yeah, the sun rises in 6 hours so thank god the kids have an inner room that is pitch black and our curtains are thick.
See you tomorrow with another update……One additional picture that captures earlier description of night time, except this is at 12:00 a.m. Wow....
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