Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Alaska Port Reviews

I probably should have gone for whale watching or kayaking, but I did the Zip Rider. 45 minute drive to the top and a couple minutes ride down to the bottom. There's stuff to do right at the port and it looks to be a nice walk along the water to get to Hoonah, but there's not a lot there. Sighted whales from the shore here... but didn't have my camera ready, ugh.

Visited: May 11, 2019

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This is a very nice spot! I loved the smell of the trees when we got to land. We booked a whale watching tour through the ship mate app. It was a little cheaper then the ones listed on Princess.com. We were so glad we did. It was a smaller boat that held about 16 people on a full tour. We had 6 guests, the captain and our guide (Josh and Keith) with Alaska Galore Tours. Josh and Keith were just great. One of the other guests spotted a humpback whale on the way out. We followed it for a while and eventually lost it. Josh, the captain, got on the radio while looking around trying to find out where some whales were. Eventually we came across a group of hump backs bubble feeding, They told us to watch the birds as there was a flock on the water feeding on some of the same fish the whales were. Whenever the birds took off it was an indication the whales are coming up. We got several videos of the whales breaching the surface feeding. On one occasion the pod surfaced much closer then anyone thought, maybe 50 feet off starboard. The next thing we knew there were at least 5 whales heading directly for us. They slowly swam towards us, bobbing for air, ducking under the boat and emerging on the other side. Truly the most amazing part of our entire trip. My wife can not stop watching the video. I am so glad I was able to book this small tour and not one of those massive whale watching tours.

Visited: Sep 05, 2018

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I loved this little Port. Wish I would have had more time to spend exploring this cute little town. We did a bear Excursion here, which was great because we were able to see two bears, but the problem is that it took up the majority of our day in we didn't get much time and the town.

Visited: May 17, 2019

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Walk to Hoonah instead. Support the small town businesses and not the cruise ship shops in Icy Strait. We had a great whale watching tour.

Visited: Jun 15, 2018

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Beautiful day at this port. Went on an amazing whale watching tour outside of the cruise excursions (Glacier Wind Charters - 15 stars!!) - and saw humpback whales bubble feeding 50 feet from our boat, 3 orca whales swimming around and seals, bald eagles and sea otters.

Visited: Aug 21, 2017

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This place was my favorite. We did an ATV and Zip excursion. The tour was very small and the tour guide did a great job. The ATV tour was really memorable because we got the perfect pictures of the ocean and learned a lot about the Tlingit people. The Zip was really exciting and we had a great time.

Visited: Jun 29, 2018

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Since this place is newer than the more well known established towns and cities I wasn't expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised at the newness and cleanliness of the place. Zip Rider was awesome - overpriced - but awesome and would do it again. Nature hikes. Easy and hard. Wildlife excursions (did not do personally)

Visited: Jun 29, 2018

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Very scenic east walk and shopping and the gondola let’s you see a lot of wildlife from above Beautiful views we saw black tail deer and eagles flying

Nature walk (FREE!) was excellent. Otherwise there’s not much there. Well marked and clean. Nice to be able to get off the ship and stretch our legs.

Definitely recommend you do an excursion first. We went whale watching first and toured the cannery once we got back. We had a great lunch at the restaurant after. The locals are very friendly. Was one of my favorite stops on our trip. Good place to get souvenirs also.