Icy Strait Point
It is now Day 4 of the cruise – Monday, May 14th, 2012. I don’t have any excursions booked for today, but one of the main excursions for this port is the zip line – which is for all those who wish to experience adventure, excitement and who aren’t afraid of heights. I’m not daring enough to take the zip line – I like adventure, and excitement – but I think I either don’t like to be too high up or I’m just afraid of rides.
Icy Strait Point is very picturesque, and I’m glad I came off the ship to take a look. There were several people onboard the ship who didn’t want to get off today because it was raining, and there had been a steady drizzle for most of the day. We had to get on a tender boat to get to where the boat docked, and when I got off, I couldn’t help but be in awe of how beautiful the Radiance Of The Seas looked against the snow-clad mountains.
That’s me – Davinder – posing in front of the Radiance Of The Seas.
After taking pictures of the ship, I walked along the beach, to where I could see the zip line. The rain kept on falling on the lens of both my camera and camcorder, so I kept on putting them away, and then getting tempted to take them back out again a few moments later, and then away again after a few minutes because of the rain. It was a busy time mostly due to the rain. Here are some more pictures that I took along the way.
As you may have noticed in one of the pictures, somebody had started a little fire on the beach to keep everyone warm. It was quite icy cold in Icy Strait Point, it surely lives up to it’s name! The drizzle did put a little damper on my outing, as I would definitely have liked to take more pictures, but I didn’t want to damage my camera, and already had got it wet various times.
I walked into the big brown building which was kind of like a museum towards the end of the pier, and this building also had quite a few shops. Apparently, I had missed a native dance, and found out about this later.
I then started on the track of one of the nature trails on the other side of the building shown above (museum) to the left of it, and discovered a most incredible sight – a lake with trees and snow-clad mountains in the distance (shown below). By this point, it was drizzling quite a bit. I then recorded the zip line on my camcorder, and will have to put it into a video later and add the link.
Altogether, I spent about two and a half hours in Icy Strait Point, and would definitely recommend that you get off the ship to visit this port. Don’t listen to those who tell you there’s nothing to see here, if you like natural beauty, you will see a lot of that around you. I then proceeded to take the tender boat shown below at the dock back to the Radiance Of The Seas.
Recommendations: take your umbrella to Alaska, and a thick jacket, plus gloves, and you can’t go wrong. Will soon write about Day 5 of the cruise.
Ketchikan
It is now Day 4 of my trip, but Day 3 of the cruise – it is Sunday, May 13th, 2012, and it is also Mother’s Day. Ketchikan was our first port visit on the cruise, and therefore, my first real glimpse of Alaska. I had a shore excursion that I had pre-booked with our CruiseOne shore excursions provider http://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/Ketchikan-Shore-Excursions-s/104.htm. The shore excursion consisted of three excursions in a package, and would allow me to experience Ketchikan, as well as two of the other port stops – Skagway, and Juneau. The price was really good, and I figured that instead of just walking around the pier where the cruise ship docks, I should go further into these destinations, and go to the main attractions. So, today’s Excursion 1 (out of 3) is the Saxman Native Village and Ketchikan City Tour.
I live in San Diego now, so it’s a little like someone coming to San Diego, but not knowing about the beautiful beaches of Del Mar, La Jolla, and Encinitas or about Balboa Park, or the Hotel Del in Coronado. If they just wander around the cruise port area, all they would see is beautiful SeaPort Village, and the harbor area near Anthony’s Fish Grotto Restaurant. There would be so much left of San Diego that would be left undiscovered, and that is why you sometimes just have to take these excursions, so that a professional tour organizer will take you to the best spots.
I only had to walk about two or three minutes away from where the cruise ship docked to check in with the bus – all the information about the meeting point was on my ticket. The bus set off promptly at 8:30 am and altogether this excursion lasted about two and a half hours. We went past the downtown Ketchikan area, which is within walking distance of the cruise terminal, and then made a few stops along the way to our ultimate destination – Saxman Native Village – which is where all the totem poles are. The two stops we made along the way were so we could take pictures of a waterfall, and a lake.
Here are some pictures of these two stops along the way:
This picture was taken while in the bus on the Saxman Native Village Tour shore excursion
I kind of like the picture above, even though it’s not the best since it was taken in the bus, and shows one of the passengers in the way of the view. The waterfall pictures were not that unique, so I didn’t include. Below is a picture of the lake where we stopped, and then I just had to take a picture of a house in Ketchikan. Then there are some pictures of totem poles, and some interesting street signs, as well as a Ketchikan trolley.
Some historical information about the totem poles
After viewing all the totem poles, we headed back to downtown Ketchikan, which is where I took the rest of the pictures below:
Don’t forget to visit Dolly’s House on Creek Street, this is a tourist attraction – with a story behind it that I won’t get into here. Ketchikan is well worth the visit, it is so colorful, I could not stop taking pictures. I hope you enjoyed looking at all of my pictures, and please let me know if you have any comments.
12 Day Trip Vancouver to Alaska, May, 2012
This gallery contains 5 photos.
I flew into Vancouver from San Diego on May 10, 2012, and spent a day there, and then caught a seven day cruise on the next day from Vancouver to Seward on the Radiance Of The Seas. The port visits for the seven day cruise from Vancouver to Alaska include Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, […]
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