On time at 7:00am we anchor in the bay only a couple of
hundred yards off the pier at Icy Strait Point, just around the corner from the
tiny town of Hoonah . This is the home of the Tlingit people whose corporation
runs the place for the social benefit of all. The place is rugged and not
commercial in the typical port sense. There are no diamond stores but locally
made jewelry and crafts abound beneath the ZipRider, the world’s largest
zip-line at 5,330 feet long with a 1,300 vertical foot drop soaring 300 feet
above the ground at its highest point. Riders reach sixty miles per hour on the
trip down for only $139 per trip. The Tlingit’s know how to make money.

I opt for the Whales, Wildlife and Brown Bear Search
excursion. Whale sightings are guaranteed on a high-speed cruise to Point
Adolphus. But first we bus into the Chichagof Island interior forest to the
Spasski River to find bears. Bear sightings are not guaranteed. I see why. We
didn’t see any.

The whale guarantee is an easy one. They are everywhere. We,
however, are among those few who happen upon not just humpbacks but also find
ourselves in a pod of killer whales . Our crew is very excited at the many black
and white orcas we see so it must be special. I have a fine time here and, if
the light were only a tiny bit better, I would have some award winning
photographs. But, alas, the sun shines for only a few moments.

We sail at 4:00pm. The officers of the Radiance
are unhappy with our whale boat captain as he is late back to the pier after apparently
being captivated by the Orcas. We will sail overnight to Ketchikan for a 9:00am
arrival.