Our second port did not exist 15 years ago. It was built specifically for the cruise trade and is wholly owned by a corporation. If this sounds like it would be just your cup of poison, then let me hit you with this twist: the corporation (the Huna Totem Corporation) is owned by the native Tlingit people of the nearby town of Hoonah.
The corporation was established as part of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the culmination of a years-long fight to return to the natives of Alaska some of what was taken out from under them as Alaska was “settled” by white Americans. I learned about this as we rode on an excursion school bus out to the bear huntin’ grounds.
If you can believe it you can achieve it.
As our guide explained, at first most of the money earned by the corporation came from exploiting the only resource readily available to them - timber. Throughout the 70s, 80s and mid-90s, the Huna Totem Corporation cut and milled the timber from their land holdings and shipped it to buyers from their small port. But as the timber market warped and changed in the 90s leaving them without a way to make a profit, the corporation looked around for another steady income generator. In the late 90s, somebody’s uncle got the hare-brained idea of attracting cruise ships.
This is not my drone photo, but it is helpful to show how this port is fashioned out of a crazy-idea-that-just-might-work amid a forest on a remote island.
There were a lot of committee meetings (I mean, the name “Icy Strait Point” can only be derived from a committee). I’m sure there were some plans drawn up. Some speculative drawings. Maybe even one of those scale models. And then they booked the meetings with the cruise lines. There were a lot of “no thanks”s, but eventually they hooked one: the owner of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines could see the opportunity: I can imagine they offered cheap docking fees; virtually no city permitting of whatever it takes to permit a cruise ship to vomit 2,000 tourists into your city and then vacuum them back up; and a completely exclusive destination.
A port in the middle of nowhere
I’m sure it took some trials and errors when the first cruise ships started coming in 2004. For one thing, they didn’t even have a cruise ship-worthy dock until 2016. Before that, they had to tender visitors over in boats - an awkward process for a cruise style tourist used to constant comfort. Some of the attractions took a while to be completed. The zip line, which is super long at 5,330 and super high as 1,330 feet, was completed in 2007. There is also a gondola which looks pretty new, and they are still working on the second leg of the gondola which will go all the way to the top of the hill. The corporation has also built a nice visitor center, a restaurant that makes halibut pizza, and has converted the old Hoonah cannery into a museum and a bunch of tourist-friendly shops.
Look! They made a gondola! And adventure hiking trails with rope bridges! And an enormous zip line!
Why, you might ask, am I carrying on about the origin story of this port?
Bear hunting with a cheap telephoto lens attached to my iPhone. Would not recommend.
BECAUSE I HAVE NO BEAR SIGHTING STORIES. I paid a lot of money to be school-bused across Chichagof Island to hike out to a viewing platform on the Spasski River to not see bears. But those are the chances we take. If they could guarantee bears, the bears would be in a bear jail and that would not be thrilling. One can only feel the thrill of wild bears from wild, untamed, unpredictable bears. The bears are so notoriously unpredictable, our excursion group was flanked by armed guides. And even though the river was alive with spawning salmon, the wild bears chose to nap this day.
The old fish cannery now cans money.
We went back to Icy Strait Point and soothed our disappointment with halibut pizza. Eagles feasted on salmon in the river. A raven sat in a tree and told us a story. Whales poked their heads up out of the strait. And the bears napped on.