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images: awl images; alamy |
Every day in this journey highlights a new aspect of Alaska’ s raw, visceral beauty
Above: Brown bears at the
Fortress of the Bear rescue
facility in Sitka; Hubbard
Glacier
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ICY STRAIT POINT
Each day of this sailing highlights a new aspect of Alaska’ s raw, visceral beauty. At Icy Strait Point, passengers will explore the human relationship to that wildness, as shared through the stories of the port’ s owners— a corporation representing the descendants of the Tlingit people, who’ ve lived in this area for thousands of years.
Some 85 % of the port’ s staff are Tlingit people from the neighboring town of Hoonah. They have tales to tell and they know where to find the best of everything. Whether fishing, kayaking, whale-watching, searching for bears, birdwatching, enjoying a gondola ride up the mountain or zooming back down on the world’ s largest ZipRider, visitors to this port are in expert hands.
Speaking of whales, Icy Strait Point is within reach of Glacier Bay National Park, so the same marine life abounds in these waters, too. Lastly, don’ t miss a chance to tour Icy Strait Point itself and learn more about its history, from cultural demonstrations to a tour of the cannery that was once the key driver of commerce in this area.
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HUBBARD GLACIER
One might argue that the truest Alaska experience comes between ports of call, as Viking Venus sails through exactly the sort of untrammeled wilderness that populates tourism brochures— except this is real life.
That’ s certainly the case for this day at sea near the Hubbard Glacier, which springs to life from an ice field on the flanks of mighty 19,551-foot Mount Logan in Canada’ s Yukon territory. The glacier’ s calving face is six or seven miles wide and about 600 feet tall, although‘ just’ 350 feet of that appear above the waterline. The glacier’ s face is roughly equivalent to a 35-story skyscraper, if that same building had another 25 levels in the basement.
When the glacier calves, it becomes more obvious why Viking Venus and all other ships stand off at a safe distance. The ship-sized pieces of ice that crumble off its face can break into smaller pieces that travel a great distance through the air, and‘ shooters’— submarine chunks of ice that break off beneath the waterline— can surface nearly a quarter-mile from the glacier face.
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winter 2025 • 67 |