North to Alaska Day 6

Day 6 : Icy Strait Point

As all of our cruise days have before , today dawned with a high cloud cover and the promise of better weather ahead. This was the only tender port of our cruise, meaning that the ship does not dock but anchors in the harbour while the guests ride to and from shore in the life boats.

Icy Strait Point is actually the small native community of Hoonah. Its pier area has an abundance of shops, a restaurant, boardwalk and several walking trails. Once the sun had arrived for the day, we strolled among the shops and stopped for a bite in the restaurant. I had decided to try the Ziprider, the world's longest zipline at a full mile.A 90 second thrill ride takes you from a platform high above the town to a landing pad outside of the Landing Zone bar.

The other 3 members of my little travelling group waited for me at the pier while I boarded the bus for the 40-minute ride to the top of the mountain, 1300 feet above the town. We stopped at several lookouts along the winding dirt road and listened to an entertaining narrative by James, our bus driver. Once at the top we walked down a steep gravel road to the launching pad and lined up to await our fate.

One by one we were strapped into a harness chair and told to brace our feet against the gate in front of us. At a count of 3 the gates were opened and we soared out over the treetops towards the pinpoint of land which was out target. It was an adrenaline rush that left my legs shaking when I reached the bottom! I had managed to hold my camera out to my side on 'video' mode and captured the entire ride, albeit at some strange angles as I tried to keep myself from spinning in the harness. I was greeted at the landing pad by my friends and we went for a celebratory beer before heading back to the ship.

Tomorrow : Cruising by the Hubbard Glacier.