Icy Straight

I had never been out here ~ Akis would look out and say, 'Ela, there are 4 buildings, what are we going to do here?' Alternatively the Cruise Director had said that Icy Straight was her favourite port, so who knows...

So after a failed attempt to get an excursion on the 4x4, we decided that we would take the $5.00 Hoonah shuttle and see what was in town. Perhaps we should have done a bit more research to realize that town was really only 800 people and that to call it a town might be rather generous. We sat on our 'school bus' and drove next to the water, heading into town, when the bus suddenly halted next to what appeared to be a Marina. We were then informed that this was infact Stop #3 and that he hadn't bothered to point out stops #1 and #2. Beth, Darci and I looked at each other and broke out into a 'you have to be freaking joking' grin. However the driver continued to advise us that he would pick us up at Stop #1 when we were ready to return and does everyone remember where the white building is? When we looked at him in disbelief, he continued to describe the stop as being the one next to the garbage can with the 'red lid'. Yes, that was our land marker...

So the girls and I wandered off the bus and wondered about the Asians firmly stationed in their seats, who clearly were not aware that this was the final stop, or chose to return to Stop #1 under the power of the bus.

The bus driver had told us that there was one place in town where you could do some souvenir shopping. It turned out to be about 4 times the size of my cabin, and with about as much stuff in it. The other alternative was to have lunch in town as one of the 2 fine dining establishments. Well, as I perused the menu, it reminded me of the snack bar you have at the movie theatre. Pizza on that spinny around thing with the hot light to keep the cheese from getting totally solid, the microwave to heat any frozen delight and mention that they would make you a ham sandwich. Passing on these gourmet delights, we wandered to the only other restaurant in town ~ and it took about 2 steps into the place which was smokey and Beth was on her way back out again. Can honestly say I only caught a glimpse of the menu, but what I saw didn't really look that appealling.

This was the second restaurant...

So the vote was unanimous to head back to the pier ~ there was a restaurant there and Beth was wanting Natchos. We wander through the pier and it is very well done up. Lots of tourist stores, and the quality seemed to be much superior to what we found in town. It is apparent that the pier is one of the major sources of income here.

We managed to find a restaurant on in the terminal and then balked at the limited menu ~ crab, fish and chips, a burger and fries.... oh and beer. We decided we would carry on to the other place, but alas, it was the same menu, different venue. Guess this saves on food costs, they can pool it all together and get a discount!

Needless to say, I have been out in Icy Straight and the fact that we have to tender to get there and we generally leave early means that I don't think I am in a great big rush to get off the ship again there...