Icy Strait Point

We saw bears, eagles and whales🥳 A lesser-used cruise stop here in Alaska is Icy Strait Point, which we visit today. From the dock we walk a few kilometers along the coast to the town of Hoonah. The bay is teeming with whales and we spot several on our beautiful hike into town. Hoonah is an authentic fishing village with around 800 inhabitants. Something completely different from our previous stop! Few tourists and a sense that life is more than just tourists dropping a pile of dollars at a cruise stop. Hoonah is the most isolated town on our route. The city can only be accessed by limited ferry departures and a few small planes. The ferry to the isolated town of Juneau runs twice a week. Crime is very low, the only threat is the bears (Costal Bears), which are much larger and more dangerous than the bears we have previously encountered on our route. Bears here are on steroids, as a local celebrity puts it🤨 We have bear spray on us, but the locals tell us that these bears would just laugh at us if we try to spray away🙃 In the town, the police patrol for the safety of the inhabitants, as the bears visit the town from time to time. There is no such thing as hiking alone here or going too far off the main street😳 Everything is crazy expensive here, way out of our budget. We are requesting a 3 hour bear spotting tour with a guide from a local tour operator in town. It will cost us 600 USD (3800 dkk) for all 4 of us. So it's quite out of the question😛 But we are crazy lucky and get it for 200 USD (1250 dkk), as they haven't sold all the seats. It turns out to be a fantastic trip with great experiences. The river is teeming with salmon, which usually attracts bears. We see a bear by the river that comes very close and a huge bear a few kilometers from the river. Great experience for all of us and super trip👌