Tuesday, September 26, 2017- Icy Strait Point and Hoonah Alaska

Tuesday, September 26, 2017 Hoonah/Icy Strait Point

We awoke to see the clouds had lifted enough off the sea to reveal islands out our balcony view.  We had turned northeasterly out of the open Pacific and into the Chatham Strait, in SE Alaska.  The waters were noticeably calmer, and the ship was not rolling like it had been most of yesterday. We sailed just to the west of Admiralty Island National Monument, which appeared to be made of many fjords carved out of a volcanic coastal mountain range.  They appear densely tree covered.  The clouds shroud the tops of the mountains, but so far, no visible glaciers or snow.  There are lots of tiny bits of rock poking out of the water off some of the points, and this area looks like an ancient inhabited version of the San Juan Islands.

Ben managed to wake up without a hangover, despite his best efforts to get his money's worth with the drink package last night.  That included a glass of red wine with dinner. During the 7:30 vocalist show he had a scotch and ginger ale cocktail, and for the 9:00 comedy show, we ordered White Russians, in honor of the Big Lebowski.  Then during the Karaoke he had something called a Rebellious fish=vodka, Passos Passion fruit liquor, triple sec and prosecco, the drink of the day, and a Mai Tai.  Then it was Irish coffee at O'Sheehan's for the midnight nightcap.  That's the most booze Ben has had in an evening since forever.  Today's drink of the day is called "The Painkiller"= Pusser's rum, pineapple & coconut.  A souvenir Tiki cup is an extra $6.

We decided to try breakfast at the Garden Cafe since it took quite a while for our breakfast order to be served in the Summer Palace. It was still very crowded, but there was a good selection of breakfast items.  There were two egg cooking stations for omelets and eggs cooked to order, which seemed to work well.  Seating was still a problem, but since it was just Janet and I, we were able to snag a two-top just as another couple had finished.  The waiters don't seem to do anything other than clear tables as quickly as they can.  On Princess, the waitstaff always made sure we never went without coffee, tea, or juice in the buffet dining room.  The selection of teas on Norwegian is limited to Lipton regular, Lipton green, and Lipton breakfast, all of which were inferior in quality and taste to the broad assortment of Bigelow and Twinning teas, including Janet's favorite Bigelow Earl Gray, offered in the Princess cruise ship dining venues. The quality of the foods was good, and they even had grits for Ben, who likes grits and bacon with his breakfast.  

As we finished eating, we saw Franklin coming out of the buffet, so we followed him back to where he and Betty had managed to snag a table.  Betty was looking and feeling better this morning, now that the seas had flattened out. We decided to rendezvous at O'Sheehan's at noon for lunch before the ship ties up in Hoonah- Icy Strait Point at 1pm.  We then retired to our room to watch our cruise up the Chatham strait.

We did meet Franklin and Betty in O'Sheehan's, and it's a good thing Franklin and Betty grabbed a table early.  Ben and Janet got there a little after noon, and by then, the wait for a table was 40 minutes.  We had pub fare including Irish stew, shephard's pie and fish-n-chips, all of which were pretty good. Janet and Ben ordered Guiness (what else do you order in a pub?) but it was in a can, and it was not so good as fresh draft.  The ship docked at Icy Strait Point while we ate lunch.  

The Indians have really outdone themselves in making this cruise ship port.  The new cruise ship dock is state of the art and has nice well lighted and covered gangways that are not at all steep.  It was easy getting Betty's scooter ashore and back.  There is a gravel nature trail that loops around the point about 0.25 miles along the beach and then through some old growth forest.  The visitor welcome center is very modern, spacious, well lit and has architectural nods to the Salish culture.  There are banks of iPads that guests can use to book tours and shore excursions on, and there are very nice, modern and clean restroom facilities.  Janet even snuck off with a bit of their nice soft 2-ply toilet paper because the ship's cheap single ply TP is hard on the nose and her nose began to run a bit in the rain.

When we first arrived, we could see rain pouring down through the restaurant's windows.  As if on cue, a bald eagle positioned himself in a tree right at eye level on the shore across from the ship.  By the time we finished lunch and grabbed our rain gear, the rain had largely turned into an intermittent drizzle, so it was not unpleasant at all to walk along the nature trail and then through the Cannery museum complex, which was a short walk down a gravel path which then became a nice wooden boardwalk along the waterfront.  The world's highest zip line ride (1330') originates high on a mountainside overlooking Hoonah, and terminates right next to the visitor reception center.  When the zip riders come in, they make an alien buzzing sound that catches your attention.  Some seem to be coming down turned around sideways and even backwards in their harnesses.  Once the riders are unloaded, the harnesses are then pulled back up to the top of the mountain along the same zip lines, but empty.  

The cannery museum complex was kind of like San Francisco's Fisherman's wharf, with restaurants and numerous gift shops and stores.  There were a few rooms with old cannery equipment set up as exhibits, and a hall with exhibits on Alaska history, and the history of Hoonah as well.  It seems that all old cities have a great fire in their history, and Hoonah is no exception.  Several women were smoking fish under the boardwalk when one of the canvas walls fell and caught fire.  It didn't help that the villagers stored drums of gasoline under the boardwalk as well.  The entire village burned to the ground.  The chief of the clan, to whom the women belonged to, felt an obligation to compensate all the other clans who had lost everything in the fire, so he gathered what was left of all his clan's ceremonial relics, and then burned himself with all the clan's relics to atone for the fire.  Pretty harsh.  

In addition to shops and restaurants, there are even more vendor booths for land excursions both inside the complex, and in the parking lot near the exit of Icy Strait Point, which is where a road links Icy Strait Point to the actual city of Hoonah, which is a 2 mile walk from the cruise ship dock and Icy Strait Point complex.  We found an ATV tour operator that had tours available for about $50 less than the cruise ship's advertised price, but this didn't include the zip line ride.  There was a fleet of old school buses painted blue with signs telling which excursions they were going to, such as "Bear Search", "Zip Line Mountain ascent", and "ATV Adventure" that drove back and forth along the road.  There is a dance theater near the parking lot as well.  They put on Native American dances at 3:30pm and 7:30pm.  

Most of the gift shops were advertising big sales because the Norwegian Pearl is the second to last cruise ship to visit for the season.  The Norwegian Jewel will arrive in 2 days, and after that, the whole Icy Strait Point complex gets boarded up until next summer's cruise season begins anew.  There was a crab shack out on the pier selling Alaskan king crab legs for $29 each, and they had an Alaskan King crab Bloody Mary cocktail featuring a king crab claw for $18.00. Half a Dungeness crab was $18.00.  Boy, we sure have it good living on Whidbey Island where crab is plentiful during the summer for the catching.

Franklin and Betty were ready to head back to the ship after touring the Icy Strait Point complex.  Ben and Janet took the 4 mile hike into Hoonah to see the real village.  The first mile was nice wide concrete sidewalk, which lead to the ferry terminal just outside town.  Then it was narrow and cracking municipal sidewalks for the last mile, leading into a typical small SE Alaskan Native American fishing village.  The yards were filled with fishing paraphernalia and vehicles in working and wrecked condition, and the houses were a ramshackle collection of buildings of various ages and construction.  They did have an amazing hardware store on a pier jutting out over the water that had everything from nuts to soup, and everything in between.  You could get a bear rifle, a new dishwasher, and a 24 pack of cold Bud Light all in one stop. We ended up walking to the center of town, which is around a tree containing an eagle's nest. There was no resident eagle in the nest at this time of year, but it's funny that it is situated right in the heart of town, across the street from the High School.  There is also a working marina in the heart of town filled with fishing and crabbing vessels.  Huge crab traps are piled up in various places around town.  The Native American residents of the town are quite a contrast to the tourist hoards that pour off the cruise ships.  It's no wonder they built the Icy Strait Point complex to try to maintain a zone of separation.  There is a guard posted at the entrance to Icy Strait Point who limits traffic into and out of the complex. The locals who work in the complex have to park their cars along the bushes  on the side of the road leading into Icy Strait Point.

It began raining in earnest so we turned around and hiked back to the ship.  We were glad to have packed full gortex rain gear for this trip.  By the time we got back to our room, we were exhausted, and our feet were dead tired.  Ben's Apple Watch clocked nearly 18,000 steps.  We rested up for a bit, and then gathered enough steam to head to the Indigo restaurant for dinner.  This is a smaller, more contemporary themed venue that is complimentary.  It offers the same menu as the Summer Palace main dining room, but with a different ambience.  We found the service to be much slower, and it didn't seem like the servers and waiters worked in teams like they did in the Summer Palace main dining room. We ended up skipping out as soon as we finished our entrees to catch the 7:30 stage production show.  We planned on raiding the buffet for desserts after the show anyway.  

We met Franklin and Betty in the theater.  We ordered the cocktail of the day, "The Painkiller", and also got a Pepsi for Franklin.  The production show team put on a good show with dancing and singing starting with some Billy Joel hits, then working through some Pop including Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston and ending on a medley of ABBA hits.  The costumes and vocals were all pretty good, although one of the female leads needed her mike turned up for a few songs.  The stage decor was very simple and basic.  Princess cruises seems to invest a great deal more in production values for their shows.  Still, it was a good show and a great way to wind up the day.  After hitting the buffet for desserts, we headed to our room, too tired to consider another night of karaoke madness.