Hoonah is a small fishing-centric town just south of Glacier Bay. It is often used as a stopover either going to or from Glacier Bay. Although fishing is the main activity now, Hoonah has a small touristy area just outside of town including a historical cannery that has been converted to a museum, complete with the longest zipline ride in north america. Cruise ships are the main customers of the "touristy" area, and the locals grumble about it, since it doesn't really reflect the community of Hoonah. In spite of this, being a fan of the ziplines at whistler, bc, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to ride the longest zipline in north america.

We tried to go to the dock at the cannery, but were turned away by the cruise ship personnel. The dock is an international dock and unauthorized people can't land there. We got the phone number to call and went back to the marina. Since the zip line is a private cruise ship attraction, it is very difficult for anyone else to get on. The lady told us to call back at 2:30 to see if there was space at the end of the day. Meanwhile, Molly was trying to figure out how to gain a few pounds. The minimum weight requirement for the zip line is 90 pounds. With lots of clothes on, Molly is about 3 pounds too light. She has a big piece of pizza for lunch, and looks at fishing weights at the tackle store to put in her pockets. We call and find out there is space for us. Mom remembers she has ankle weights so Molly takes those to wear. A girl from a fishing boat on the dock, gave us a ride to the cannery. Molly puts on the ankle weights in the parking lot and has trouble walking normally. We go inside to buy our tickets. Mom and Molly go into the bathroom and decide to strap the ankle weights around her waist instead. We go out to be weighed and Molly barely makes it! We ride up to the top of the mountain on a bus which gives us a little history about the town of Hoonah. We arrive at the top where there is a big metal structure with gates. We are asked to go last since we are not on the cruise ship and it will be leaving soon. Finally it is our turn and we load into the harness seats. There are 6 of us going at once. 3,2,1 and the metal doors flew open and we all fell out into the trees. The trip up on the bus took 45 minutes, and it took 45 seconds to go down. The drop was more than 1300 vertical feet and we traveled at speeds of more than 60 mph. After a few seconds to get used to the feeling, we enjoyed the view above the tree tops. At the end, there was a huge spring to stop us. When Molly hit it, her feet almost swung up to touch it. We got a ride back to the marina from on of the staff in the parking lot.

The next morning we hired a wonderful fishing guide (We hired Chris and Agatha Erickson) to teach us how to salmon fish. This is something we've never taken the time to learn. We meet at the fishing boat "Icy Lady" at 8 AM for a fishing trip. They taught us the proper tackle to use and how to thread a herring onto a hook. Molly caught the only fish - about an 18 pound Chum salmon. We trolled in 2 different spots, but the fish just weren't biting. We spent the afternoon buying everything at the tackle shop! (Now that we are excited about fishing) We also made a trip for supplies at Ace hardware and the grocery store. We had a yummy meal of Molly's salmon for dinner!

The next morning, Garth, Molly and Brian got up early to go fishing. Molly got a big fish on the line, but instead of reeling it in, it stole everything except for the pole and the line! They could see it swimming around in the water with the tackle floating beside it. They tried to catch it with the net, but it got away. A few hours later, we were back at the tackle shop buying more gear to replace what was lost. Mom did a few loads of laundry, then we were ready to leave.

The next few days we spent a few hours south to Pavlov Harbor. We anchored there with one other boat. There is a beautiful water fall and we saw a few Grizzly Bears on the shore. We went on a Whaler trip to check out the bay, waterfall, and bear watch. We wanted to get closer to a Grizzly (Kitty) to take a picture. We didn't find any bears, and it was a little choppy in the Whaler. We were going to go to Tenakee Springs in the Whaler, but it was too rough.

Back at the bay, we tried our luck at fishing but didn't catch anything, even though there were salmon jumping all over the place. We saw a big Kitty on shore and Brian and Molly and mom went for a closer look in the Whaler. It did not seem too concerned that we were close by in the boat watching it.

On friday, we spent another night at anchor, waking up often listening to the anchor chain dragging across the rocks. We had plans to leave to Tenakee Springs, but the wind was picking up. As the wind got worse, the dogs got more nervous. Brian and dad go to look at something in the pilot house and see one of the bow cushions fly off into the water. Brian jumped quickly into the Whaler and chased after the cushion. When he picked it up out of the water, the wind caught it and shot it back into the water again. Once again, he picked it up and the wind whipped it out of his hands. The third time, he kept the cushion very low, and brought it back safely. Meanwhile, dad noticed that the new bimini canvas was coming off. The wind gusts, now about 35-40 knots will rip the canvas off the top. Mom and dad were holding it, trying to get it zipped back on when another cushion flew off the top. Again, Brian chased that in the Whaler and recovered it.

Once Brian returned, he helped mom and dad hold the bimini so we could take it down and cover it with the boot. We then took Shadow on a leash out to the bow to do her business. It was 1 PM and she had been too scared to go outside to pee. The weather slowly died down through out the day. There were many board games played and mom worked on her scrapbook. We decide to stay here more night and leave in the morning when the straights are calmer. About 8PM, the wind begins to howl again...... but the next morning it had calmed down enough that we decided we could move south.

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