Hoona and Icy Strait Point, Alaska
I awoke to beautiful, soft light at 4:30 am the morning. My wife and I intentionally left the curtains partially open the night before as we fell asleep to the evening glow of the reluctantly setting Alaksa sun. 20 hours of sunlight make for extended golden and blue hours. As I woke, I looked out the glass door of our stateroom balcony, and for a few moments, I sat frozen, completely overcome by the beautiful vision slowly passing before me. For me, it was love at first sight.
My first photo of Icy Strait Point, AK. June 6, 2023. 4:30 am
Misty Morning - Icy Strait Point
The photo above is literally the first photo I took that misty morning.
My wife was still asleep, and I endeavored not to wake her as I dressed and readied my camera gear, precious unphotographed moments slipping by. The only flaw in my plan to let my wife remain in her peaceful slumber was breaking the seal on the sliding balcony door, which cracked and popped just before the wind began to whistle as the sea air whipped by.
I spent the next 2 hours on the balcony taking close to 700 photos while my eyes twinkled with joy and my mouth was frozen in a grin from ear to ear.
Here is a small sampling of those photos.
Hoona
As the ship slowed and we slowed to approach the dock, I left our stateroom and rushed up to the deck to get the bigger picture, and continued to be in awe of everything around me.
Hoona truly is a beautiful place. To get the most out of a visit, you will need to spend more time here than we did. The hours we spent in Hoona served only as an introduction and still was one of our favorite destinations of the entire cruise, which is ironic because this port was not on our original itinerary. Originally our ship was scheduled to dock in Valdez, however, NCL received so many complaints from earlier cruisers that they changed destinations. From what we understand, passengers who did not book an excursion in Valdez were ship-bound. Since we would have fallen into the ship-bound category, the reroute to Hoona was a welcome change. If Hoona is on your itinerary, I recommend booking an excursion. Hoona is just too beautiful to miss.
Bear Warning
If you go to Alaska, you should expect bears, and anywhere tourists visit, warnings must be posted. You’re not in a zoo after all. Hoona is no different. Hoona is located on Chichagof Island which borders the Gulf of Alaska. It is beautiful, it is Alaska, and it is wild. In Hoona, you may see eagles, whales, and, yes, you may see bears too. The thing is, Hoona warns people with great gusto, and for good reason, “Chichagof Island has the highest population of Coastal Brown Bears per square mile on Earth,” so take the warnings seriously. Photos, courtesy of my wife.
We didn’t see any bears in Hoona, but we did in Ketchikan, but that is a story for another time.
If you would like to see my other posts related to Alaska, see Cruising Alaska with Norwegian Cruise Line.
