Icy Strait Point in Hoonah

Early this morning the ship anchored in Icy Strait and they had tenders to bring us to the dock. The day in port was short and we had to be back on the ship by 3:30pm so we didn't plan any excursions and we thought we would do a little letterboxing and just walk around the town. We had breakfast (just the two of us) in the Ocean Cafe - I had waffles, bacon, milk, orange juice and coffee. Thomas had fried eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. And then we headed for the gangway to the tenders. We met up with Dave and Deanne and joined them on shore. We did a little shopping in Icy Strait Point in a building that used to be a fish cannery. I found a great book on Alaskan Wildflowers that I bought along with a few post cards and a patch. After a little shopping we bumped in to Black Ibis and roadrunner and they joined us as we headed for the Beach Trail and the Nature Trail to do a little letterboxing. We started our walk and followed the clues, we found landmarks and then we were heading right to the first box where there was already a group (deniserows, Doublesaj and Old Blue, Mark & Sue and moonstone) stamping in. We joined them and we all finished stamping in and got the box back in place. The other group headed off to Hoonah and we continued along the trail. We found the second box with just a little work and stamped in at a nearby table. Once we all had the stamp and the box was hidden we needed to find a spot for me to hide my box. I left Tlingit Art here on the nature trail for other cruisers to find. With the help of the group it was fast and easy to find a good spot - I jotted down the clues and we continued on.

Black Ibis and roadrunner decided to find something to eat and Dave & Deanne and Thomas & I decided to take the mile and a half walk to Hoonah. We all had a nice walk and a great talk as we made our way along the coast. We passed a small cemetery and boats in the harbor and made our way to the little town of Hoonah. Once we got there we looked around for a short period and the made our way back to the dock to catch the tender to the ship. It turned out to be a quick visit on shore and very relaxing.

Back on the boat Thomas and I went to the Ocean Grill and had burgers and fries for lunch. Then we went on a walk on the track on Deck 11 for about 20 minutes before returning to our cabin for a nap - that's right we took naps - we have kept ourselves busy since we left Santa Fe and I think it caught up with us today. When I woke up I took my letterboxing things and went to find two boxes - one in the AquaSpa and one in the movie theater. I then went back to the cabin and changed for dinner. Tonight it was just me and Thomas. I had a shrimp cocktail, lettuce with carrots salad, penne pasta quattro formaggi and vanilla ice cream while Thomas had a caesar salad, pan seared pork medallions and a hot fudge sundae. After dinner we went to the Cosmos Lounge and listened to some big band music and waited for the Dessert Extravaganza. We were joined by roadrunner and Black Ibis just before the desserts were ready. When they started serving the desserts I stayed with our seats while everyone else went in search of sweets. Thomas told me he would bring me back a selection. We ate our desserts and to be honest I was a little disappointed. Most of what they served were things we could get in any of the restaurants on board the ship. I guess I was thinking they would make more elaborate and different items for this special occasion. Anyway, we did have a nice evening and around 11:30pm Thomas and I called it a night.

We have been having a great time and enjoying the trip. I have enjoyed all of our port visits and excursions and tomorrow we visit our last port - Ketchikan.