The first cruise ship arrived in Point Hope since the pandemic

Point Hope residents hosted last week visitors from a cruise ship — the first since the beginning of the pandemic.

The cruise ship Silver Wind brought about 164 passengers from Canada, China and cities in the United States, said Henry Nashookpuk who organized the town excursion. This was the first tour of such scale in Point Hope since the beginning of the pandemic, he said.

“I’m glad they finally came back to Point Hope, it’s been a few years since COVID,” he said. “When we do get stuff like that, it’s exciting, you know, for the village.”

In two groups, the visitors came off the ship to the beach on the south side of the village for a three-hour-long tour of the community. First, they walked through the whaling feast grounds and looked at whaling bones and boats. Then they explored the town and enjoyed a traditional dance performance in the school.

“I thought it was a hit,” Nashookpuk said. “They were excited to learn about our culture, what we do to survive and how traditional we still try to be.”

The visit brought in some economic opportunities for the village, bringing money to tour guides, doughnut-makers and dancers — a total of 19 people, Nashookpuk said.

Elder Steve Oomittuk, who was one of the tour guides, said he wants the village to have more economic opportunities like this.

“Travel and tourism is something that we’ve always talked about, but never had,” he said. “But it could build our economy, with arts and crafts, tours and building hotels.”

Nashookpuk agreed that the visit was beneficial for the residents.

“This is something that was really needed,” he said. “It was able to feed some people. ... There’s a lot of people in town struggling for work.”

For Nashookpuk, the most exciting part of hosting the visitors was to show them the ways of life of the Iñupiat people in Point Hope.

“I talked about what I was taught growing up: how to respect the animal, don’t make that animal suffer, and then, you know, only hunt what you’re going to eat, don’t be wasting any animals,” he said. He was excited to share “our culture, our history, how strong we still are, how we unite when it’s needed.”