Bare of bears...I need a beer!

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Dropped anchor (becoming a right old salt with all this naval lingo - may invest in an eye patch and a parrot) in Icy Straits Point this morning at dawn. You wont find it on the map. Look for Hoonan or Hoonah, one or the other.

Again the mist lifted but not as much so whole day was a little overcast but dry. The setting is really special. Heard other travellers comparing it to Milford Sound or Dusky Sound and I can see where they are coming from. Very still, very quiet.

Tendered ashore about 400 metres. Town or the cruise ship terminal is a couple of red barns on a set of wharves. Town proper is about 1.5 kilometres walk around the coastal walkway but it is a township of houses and homes with a couple of local shops intermittent amongst it. Functional for the locals but this part has no real interest for tourists other than general curiousity.

Very special setting. Completely memorable for its natural charm and magic. We had a excursion booked here. Looking for bears on the Spasski River. Have to say I had a bad feeling as I watched the tour organisers and ticket sales people operating. Icy Straits Point is owned and operated by a group of the Tilingit Indian people, very much in the same spirit the tribes run the Kaikoura whale tours and others run the attractions in Rotorua. I think that is where the comparison ends.

Suspected more and more there was a bit of a stroke being played. It is the last day of the season and they were filling the tours for all the events, including the excursion to Spasski River, hard out, and were indicating a good chance of there being bear there.

At 10.30 along with 20 others we boarded a railways type old bus and drove for 30 minutes through the township, which was a snap shot of life here, and up into the forest and eventually we pulled into a layby on a dirt road where we met our 'guard' complete with his rifle for our security. We then walked through the bush on a raised walkway to some viewing platforms. We had to walk very slowly and when we got to the first viewing platform I saw why. There was another group the next platform along, maybe 200 metres, and then another beyond that. Way too many people for any decent chance of game viewing, especially given how loud the elderly can speak on occasion. So we stood around on viewing platforms looking over a stream that probably hadn't seen a bear in days or weeks and our guides knew it well. They made a song and dance out of seeing a few Bald Eagles. It didn't really wash. The bush was beautiful and it was nice to be amongst the trees and ferns and the view from the look outs was good.

To be fair I did see one Coastal Bear high on a hillside as the bus crashed through the bush.

We then caught the bus back to the cruise terminal. Both ways our guide, a Tilingit woman, pronounced 'Klink-it', was very personable and told local stories and tales of the history of the area. Tried to interweave it with spiritualism and the special link between the environment here and the Tilingit people that sounded all so familiar from home. Usual inference that the white man couldn't relate to this love of nature etc...blah, blah, blah...

Final word in a negative vein is that I did not mind not seeing bears, that is always the risk with game viewing, we have learnt that all around the world (you want guaranteed - go to the zoo) but there was never any likelihood of seeing any and our cash grabbing hosts knew that from the outset. The salmon run ended weeks ago here, without the salmon there is no real reason for the bears to be on the river. If a hokey from Auckland knows that then you'd think the local indigenous with their ethereal link to the earth about them might have a clue as well. The bear rip cost the same as the Sea Otter experience in Sitka. The only comparison that can be made between the two is price. One was professional and well equipped and operated. The other was amateurish, poorly equipped and solely money motivated.

Now we were back at Icy Strait Point the day got much better. We walked around the point and skimmed stones over the glass like surface of the sound. We watched Squirrels play around us and a group of Sealions put on a floor show just 10 - 15 metres off shore that Seaworld would have been proud of. That part of the day was unforgettable and worth the trip here for that alone. Tendered back to the ship around 3pm and enjoyed a quiet afternoon as we sailed out.

Some of our travel companions are not so pleased with their cruising experience. To put this in perspective, I think moaning about your cruise is part of the experience many of them sign up for. The sort of people who would have complained about the decor on the life boats if they had survived the Titanic.

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Photos

What a setting...
Stones were ideal for skimming...big competitions with the kids.

Its a mess...
Really bad photo but this is sealions frolicing. Apparently not only lambs do this..

The Cruise terminal at Icy Strait Point
Reubs looking for McDonalds...

What's missing?
Apparently bears live on the Spasski river.

Comments

[JB and Big Al]

What beer?
Great to read last 2 blogs - sorry about the bears but clearly the locals like others we know of are in it for the bucks! Your comments re some cruise patrons is pretty much on the ball - can't see the 'wood for the trees' so to speak - or the beauty of what they are seeing. Anyway it looks as if you are all having a great time. So that's pretty cool. Photos of the kids and Sandy are appreciated but where's the author in all this. Love you word pictures of what you are seeing. Take care - Mum and Dad / Nana and Poppa.