Icy Strait/ Hoonah, AK July 12, 2025

We arrived at the Icy Strait Port around 7am. Our excursion is in the afternoon so we had a slow morning and plenty of time to shop.

Mom, Kelle and I started our morning in Cove while While at breakfast we saw some whales out in the port area.

Once we had breakfast we got off the ship to do some exploring and shopping. We were told a few things to see while on the island and had until 1pm to explore before our excursion started.

We did not see any orcas while in port. We did see whales really close to shore about 100 yards from the shore the water drops to 500 feet so the whales can come really close.

We walked along the water and found sea stars, crabs and other cool things. This area was super slippery with all the seaweed.

From this picture you can see the edge of the old dock and the whale just off in the distance.

Just missed the whales in bubble feeding. We had no idea they were so close and in the area, so I was not prepared for them to pop up.

We did see a pod of whales really close to the shore come up once and do a bubble feed. Then we followed them down the water back towards the ship where they dove down and we didn’t see them again.

This is low tide and you can see the beach in the bottom of the photo and how close the whales are to shore. We learned that the drop off where they are is about 500 feet down which is why at low tide they can come so close to the shore.

Green little crab. So many animals visible during low tide

The mini donut place opened around 11am so we got in line to grab some donuts. There were so many good flavors it was hard to narrow down what to get! We ended up getting maple, apple pie, and apple cider. They were really good! If I go to Icy Strait again I’d try some different flavors.

After shopping we decided to head back to the ship and grab a quick bite before heading back of the ship for our excursion.

Jennah, Mom and I went on a bear walk. We boarded a bus and headed away from the town. We drove through Hoonah which is super small one gas station and one grocery store.

On the way to the trail head we saw a bear walking down the road. This turned out to be the only bear we saw the entire time. We saw lots of bear poop and a bear paw before going out on the trail.