Haines

Haines is the quietest of the major Lynn Canal ports, a small working town of about 2,500 residents on a peninsula between the Chilkat and Chilkoot rivers. Because few large ships call here, the downtown feels genuinely lived-in — the Hammer Museum, Sheldon Museum, and Fort Seward's restored parade grounds are all walkable from the cruise dock. The signature excursion is a float trip on the Chilkat River through the Bald Eagle Preserve, where up to 3,000 eagles congregate on a late-run salmon feed in autumn and several hundred are resident year-round. Haines is also the staging point for bear-viewing flights to the Chilkoot River weir during pink-salmon season.