Icy Strait Point strikes me as a manufactured destination, much as the Caribbean islands that each of the major cruise lines have. A place under their control where guests can not only enjoy the beach and a bar-b-que, but also partake of parasailing, snorkeling, scuba diving, drinking rum based concoctions and other profitable excursions for the company. Similarly, a company took an abandoned cannery and surrounding territory, renamed it ISP and added profitable excursions. It's just a little colder, frequently less sunny and lacking in rum based concoctions.
We berth at ISP, a short walk away from one of the excursion boarding areas.
Soon to be the bane of my existence, the 4000pax Quantum of the Seas.
Among the things you could do included the one mile cable car ride to the top of the mountain. ($50)
For those with more money than brains, you could come back down via a zip line that reached 60+mph.
We chose the Wildlife Viewing excursion. Our repurposed school bus was captained by Amy, on her last tour of the summer. We were met by Blake and his arsenal at the viewing area. I think it was mostly for show -- no shots have been fired in 20 years, but you never know.
We were told we shouldn't step off the boardwalk onto the muskeg because we'd sink to our deaths. I was not convinced, but remained on the boardwalk just to be safe. Later googling revealed that if I were a backhoe I'd be in danger of sinking into the muskeg, but as a human it was pretty safe.
At the viewing area we met Apples, a 3 year old female, still a svelte 350 pounds. She was still learning the business of being a bear in the wild. The salmon were beginning to run up Spasski Creek, and she was hungry.
Here's the wily hunter stalking her prey using all of her senses.
A quick dash, but she comes up dry.
What's a girl got to do to get a fish meal out here?
Wait, I hear something, could it be......it's a plane.
OK, this is it, dinner is served. Or not.
Yet another vigorous try, to no avail.
As we drove back to civilization from our wildlife viewing, the wildlife decided to cross the road and view us. Shot through the windshield of our school bus.
Exit through the gift shop: every tour ended with the passengers dumped about a mile from where our cruise ship was docked. There was more than a quarter mile of shopping and dining we had to negotiate, and the only thing I was interested in I couldn't find -- a mini-donut stand. It was mentioned in online writeups, I had it waypointed but I never found it. I also never saw anyone with powdered sugar lips, so perhaps it wasn't in business this summer.
Art
The half mile nature trail from the end of gift shops to our ship's berth. We took this trail out of desperation rather than desire. The alternate method of travel was the "Transporter" cable car arrangement. It was more like the Skyway transporter at DisneyWorld than a cable car to the mountaintop.
Well, it turns out that the entrance to the Transporter was right where the people from the Quantum of the Seas came ashore from their dock. So they lined up for this attraction. By my estimation the line was more than one hour long, perhaps two. ISP should have done something so people returning to their ship could have precedence over those just wanting a ride to nowhere. So we hiked a half-mile through nature with several steep rises (anyone mobility challenged would just have to wait out the Transporter line). Not a good ending to our stay at ISP.
As we ate lunch, outside at Terrace Restaurant, there was wildlife at the unused end of the pier. Throw in a guy in bear costume and we could have just stayed aboard and eaten donuts.
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