located on Chichagof Island, Icy Strait Point is a cruise destination that is only open to the public when a ship is in port. Its epicenter is a restored 1912 salmon cannery which now houses a museum, local arts and crafts shops, restaurants, and a mid-1930s cannery line display. Icy Strait Point is Alaska Native owned and operated with all profits directly supporting the community of Hoonah, Alaska’s largest Native Tlingit village. Chichagof Island is home to more brown bears than humans. We had no fear of course (gulp), because we had done the deep dive into bears at the lecture yesterday afternoon.

Cyd and Barb went whale watching; Cleone was down all day with a killer headache; and Walter, Dan, Hettie, Ronnie, and I checked out the cannery, rode the cable car, and walked the mile and a half to Hoonah, a small, unassuming town built at the water’s edge. Dan embellished his day hunting shells near the shore. My favorite activity so far this trip was a short hike through the mesmerizing forest here on the island. The trail is kept clear but everything else is left for nature to deal with as it will. Moss, ferns, trees, and small plants smother the forest floor in a velvety carpet of various shades of green. The trail is marked with, I kid you not, instructions on what to do and not to do (run) if you come across a bear.

Icy Straight boasts the world’s largest (5,330 feet long) and highest zip line with a shocking 1,300-foot vertical drop. I intended to take this 13 second, 60 mile-an-hour plunge to my near death after lunch but got lazy and, darn it, didn’t just go for it.

We kept with tradition and met for cocktails, sans Cleone, before going to dinner and the show. Cyd kept Cleone company at the buffet and the rest of us ate our customary four courses in the dining room.

Most of us saw seals playing near the shore and bald eagles. Dan and Walter even managed to see (whale) docile fins at a distance, but the wildlife sightings blue ribbon goes to Barb and Cyd who had a National Geographic experience on their whale watching excursion. Their disappointment at running across one humpback that seemed to be napping quickly turned to excitement when they ran into a pod of orca and then a courting humpback couple. The orca got so close to the boat that they could have touched them had their arms just been a little longer. In fact the spray from one blow hole misted their faces and clothes! The courting humpback couple not only breached at the same time, they slapped tails for well over 10 minutes!