Icy Strait Point Excursions: Best Shore Tours in Hoonah

By the time your ship ties up at Icy Strait Point, humpbacks are surfacing out in Icy Strait, brown bears are working the salmon streams of Chichagof Island, and the Tlingit village of Hoonah sits a short walk down the shore road. You have a few hours here, and this guide helps you pick the Icy Strait Point excursion that fits your group and your dock time. Every tour below is one of our independent, small-group Icy Strait Point excursions, led by local guides who meet you at the port.

Why Book an Independent Shore Excursion at Icy Strait Point

This port is nothing like Juneau, Skagway or Ketchikan: a quiet dock with whale-rich water on one side and bear country on the other. It helps to get the names straight. Icy Strait Point is a privately owned cruise destination developed by Huna Totem Corporation on the site of a restored 1912 salmon cannery. Hoonah, Alaska is the town about a mile and a half along the shore, and Icy Strait is the waterway where the whales feed.

Booking independently buys you smaller groups, local experts who fish these waters, schedules built around your dock time, and better value. The biggest first-timer worry is settled before you book: every tour carries our Back to Ship Guarantee. Our Icy Strait Point cruise port guide walks the site from dock to town.

Types of Icy Strait Point Adventures

Icy Strait Point activities sort into four groups:

• Whale watching cruises in Icy Strait. Heated boats and guaranteed sightings on most trips. For first-timers and photographers.
• Bear viewing and wildlife tours on Chichagof Island. Small vans into the Tongass National Forest with quiet stops along salmon streams. For families and patient wildlife watchers.
• Guided van tours for easygoing sightseeing. Coastline, forest and eagles from a comfortable seat. For travelers with limited mobility.
• Sea kayaking along the shoreline. Calm, protected water with otters at eye level. For active paddlers.

Most of our Icy Strait Point tours run about three hours, leaving room for one big experience plus time on foot. Our Icy Strait Point Alaska excursions, boat tours and land tours alike, fall between roughly $135 and $240 per person, with the exact price on each tour page.

Whale Watching Cruises in Icy Strait

Icy Strait Point whale watching is the flagship experience here. The waters off Point Adolphus hold one of Alaska's largest summer gatherings of humpback whales: cold tides out of Glacier Bay pile herring and krill into the strait, and the whales follow. This is also one of the few places on earth where bubble-net feeding is seen regularly, a group of humpbacks blowing a ring of bubbles to trap a school of herring and then surging through the surface together, mouths open. Our expert captains see it here more than anywhere else they have worked. Expect Steller sea lions, sea otters, porpoises and bald eagles too, and the occasional orca.

Our whale options:

• Guaranteed Whale Watching Adventure: the classic choice for first-timers. About three hours on a heated, enclosed boat with a local Native captain, sightings guaranteed. Rated 4.78 stars from 489 reviews.
• Guaranteed Whale Watching Catamaran Cruise: a stable, roomy option for anyone worried about the water, with the same guarantee. Rated 4.76 stars from 393 reviews.
• Premier Whale Watching Tour (the Premier Whale Watch Tour on our booking pages): a slightly shorter small-group trip for tighter port schedules. Rated 4.81 stars from 487 reviews.
• Whale and Drone Tour: for guests who want aerial footage of the whales to take home. Rated 4.97 stars from 518 reviews, our highest-rated tour at this port, with sightings highly likely rather than guaranteed.

The whales keep their own schedule. Our guides know where they keep it.

Bear Viewing and Wildlife Tours on Chichagof Island

Chichagof Island is brown bear country. Some 3,500 coastal brown bears live here, one of the highest densities anywhere, and the forest roads around Hoonah run through their territory. A bear viewing day starts with a short drive from the port into the Tongass, then quiet time along a salmon stream while your guide reads the bank for tracks and keeps everyone at a respectful distance. Sightings follow the salmon runs, so late July through September is the sweet spot, early summer is more about eagles, deer and scenery, and no tour can promise a bear.

• Wildlife and Bear Search: about four hours with a flexible route that follows the week's bear activity. The most thorough choice.
• Guided Passenger Van Wildlife and Bear Viewing Tour: about three and a half hours in a van of no more than eleven, bear-focused and family friendly.
• Guided Passenger Van Wildlife & Scenery Tour: two to three relaxed hours of coastline, forest and eagles with plenty of stops. The gentlest tour at the port.
• Land-Based Wildlife Tour: three hours of bears, bald eagles and Sitka black-tailed deer spotted from the road, for anyone who prefers solid ground.

Compare the full set on our Icy Strait Point wildlife tours page.

Kayaking the Shoreline near Icy Strait Point

Our Guided Kayak Tour is for active travelers who want to meet Alaska at eye level. The paddle hugs the calm shoreline near the port: sea otters a few boat lengths away, eagles overhead, and spruce running down to the tide line. No previous experience is needed. Your expert guides handle the gear, the safety briefing and the route, and double kayaks pair nervous paddlers with confident ones. Plan on about three hours and moderate effort, dress in layers you do not mind getting damp, and accept that in Southeast Alaska the rain is less a forecast than a lifestyle. Rated 4.92 stars from 368 reviews.

Exploring Hoonah's Tlingit Heritage on Your Own Time

Save an hour before or after your tour for the town itself. Hoonah is Alaska's largest Tlingit village, home to about 900 people whose history here runs back centuries and whose connection to the land and water around Icy Strait shapes everything about the place. The walk from the port follows the shore road for a mile and a half, harbor on one side and forest on the other. At the dock, the restored cannery holds a small museum on the history of the fishing years and the families who worked them. In town, local artists sell carving and beadwork, and the shops and cafes are run by people who live here year round. Come with respectful curiosity; you will leave knowing the people, not just the wildlife.

How to Spend Your Day

Ships tie up at one of two docks at the Icy Strait Point cruise port, and most tours meet within a few minutes' walk of the gangway. A typical call gives you six to nine hours ashore, enough for one tour plus a stop in town. The season runs May through September: May and June bring the first humpbacks, July and August are peak for whales, bears and salmon alike, and September turns quieter. Pack for Icy Strait Point weather, which is cool, misty and often wet even in July, so rain gear, layers and waterproof shoes are essential.

A few sample days:

• Whale-first day for wildlife lovers: the Guaranteed Whale Watching Adventure, then the museum and lunch at the dock.
• Bear-and-Hoonah day for first-timers: a bear van tour, then the shore walk into town for history and local art.
• Van tour and cannery stroll for families: the Guided Passenger Van Wildlife & Scenery Tour, then the museum and the beach.
• Paddle-first morning for active travelers: three hours on the water, then a walk to town and back.

One practical tip: peak whale and bear departures sell out weeks ahead in July and August, so book early, and book the departure our team recommends for your exact ship times.

Icy Strait Point Shore Excursions FAQs

What if my tour runs late and I miss the ship?

Every departure is timed to your ship's all-aboard, our guides stay in contact with the port, and our Back to Ship Guarantee covers you if a tour we run ever makes you late.

Am I guaranteed to see whales at Icy Strait Point?

On the Guaranteed Whale Watching Adventure and the Catamaran Cruise, yes, with the terms on each tour page. On the Premier and Drone trips, sightings are highly likely rather than promised. Humpbacks feed in Icy Strait from May into September.

When is the best time to see bears near Icy Strait Point?

Late July through early September, when salmon are running in the streams. Bears are around all summer, but the fish pull them into the open where our guides can find them.

Is Icy Strait Point the same as Hoonah?

No. Icy Strait Point is the privately owned cruise destination on the old fish plant site. Hoonah is the Tlingit town about a mile and a half away, and Icy Strait is the body of water between Chichagof Island and the mainland. Our Icy Strait Point excursions depart from the port and explore all three.

What should I wear for a shore excursion at Icy Strait Point?

Layers, a waterproof jacket, and shoes that can get wet. Boats are heated but decks are not, and the forest is damp year round. Bring binoculars.

Are independent tours better than the cruise line's excursions?

The ship's program is solid. Ours gives you smaller groups, local expert guides, more time on the water or in the forest, and usually a lower price, with the same back-to-ship protection. Ask for our recommendation and we will match a departure to your port times.