Homer

Spent the past week in the town of Homer on the southwestern tip of the Kenai peninsula - another place that claims to be the "prettiest town in Alaska". To be sure it does sit in a dramatic setting, located at the edge of Kachemak Bay and across from the glaciers of the Harding Ice Field, but... well, maybe we're a little jaded at this point of the trip but by now we've seen a lot of pretty little Alaska towns and Homer is just the latest in a series - not the pick of the bunch.

It styles itself as the Halibut Fishing Capital of America...or the world...or the galaxy...or something like that, and it's reason for being here seems to be its proximity to some of the most fruitful fishing grounds in the State. Back when I was a fisherman in my younger years I'd be happy to land a halibut the size of a dinner plate. Here they're the size of garage doors - really huge. Same with the King Salmon that work their way up the bay every year. So, most of the activity seems to be centered around charter fishing - from half day trips to excursions of several days.



We booked a self-catering house up on the hill above the town with a nice view of Homer Spit...a 7 mile stretch of sand and gravel dumped here during the last ice age by retreating glaciers, and which today sticks out like a thumb into Kachemak Bay beyond.




Another view from our house of one of the glaciers spilling out from the Harding Ice Field across the bay.




The view down the Spit...everything built up on stilts as a safeguard against the occasional high surf (or Tsunami I guess). Some of the fishing boats featured in the series "Deadliest Catch" are home ported here during the off-season.




Lots of watering holes for the guys working the fishing boats.

Our big excursion of the week was a day trip across the bay to the little town of Seldovia - from the Russian word for herring - another one of those remote villages that can only be accessed by air or water...no roads leading in or out.




The boat trip doubled as a wildlife cruise thru a local Marine Sanctuary. Lots of birds on several of the islets, and several interesting rock formations like this one at the tip of one of them. Apparently, there are a number of private homesteads that pre-date the establishment of the sanctuary and so were grandfathered in when it was established. Saw several remote fishing cabins, plus a few that enterprising owners have fixed up and now offer as vacation rentals for hardy Alaskan types who include remoteness and inaccessibility in their vacation plans - these places can only be accessed by boat or, as is the case most often, by sea kayak.



About halfway thru the trip to Seldovia we passed thru a pod of about 6 Humpback Whales, all of whom were feeding in preparation for their November migration to the warm waters of Hawaii & Mexico to calve. This one stayed within several yards of the boat, diving down and then swooping up thru a school of herring. They scoop up hundreds of gallons of water, then strain it thru the baleen in their mouths to separate the fish from the water. You can see that this one has just filled his gullet and is preparing to eject the water.




Also saw several sea otters - including this mother with a pup on her tummy who looked up and posed for a photo as we passed by. These little guys are what lured Russian traders to Alaska in the first place about 220 years ago, working their way from the Aleutians thru Kodiak (their original Capital) and finally to Sitka. The ramrod of their operations was a man named Baranov (the guy the island that Sitka sits on is named for), who cut a pretty wide swath thru these parts a couple of hundred years ago. He's also the guy who made the initial contact with King Kamehameha in Hawaii. Luckily for everyone involved his influence either waned or the Russian government failed to follow up on his inroads, else the Hawaiian Islands likely would have been gobbled up by the Czar.


The picturesque town of Seldovia sits up inside a small inlet, sheltered from the rougher waters of Cook Inlet. It too relies mostly on its fishing fleet for its livelihood. We were there for about three hours - which turned out to be plenty long enough to see all of the sights the township had to offer.





A pretty little place. The Salmon were running here too, although I didn't inquire which type they were. It was a bit later in the run apparently - saw a number of carcasses and bones along the shore being picked over by the ravens. Fortunately the current carries most of the dead ones out to sea after they finish spawning and die, otherwise the smell would no doubt be pretty bad about this time of year.




Rita in Central Park.




Another one of the old Russian Orthodox churches. This one was originally built on the beach in 1820 and was later relocated up the hill where it stands today.

A bit later in the week the skies cleared enough for us to try one of the local hikes - this one tracing a portion of the old wagon road that once connected the Port of Homer with the interior of the Kenai Peninsula...where the gold fields were. It was still muddy from the recent rains, and parts of it were overgrown with tall grass and fireweed, but luckily we thought to wear our waterproof pants and boots and so managed to make it to the top of the bluff in a relatively dry state. It was called the "Homestead Trail", so named for the old cabin that you pass by about half way along.




The original Homestead along the Homestead Trail



Heading up the trail. Found a nice little bench at the top of this pass, with a terrific view overlooking Homer and Kachemak Bay, where we had lunch before starting back down. Saw some Moose tracks but no animals.

Although we've enjoyed our time here I must admit that we're ready to move on to our next stop...the town of Seward on the other side of the Kenai peninsula. We'll be there for 3 nights, and then will be returning to Anchorage where we'll ship the car back down to the Port of Tacoma.