Homer Fishing

On Sunday we drove back down to Homer for our fishing trip.   

 We boarded the ‘Sizzler’ around noon and were on our way by 12:30.  There were fifteen of us.

A Coast Guard ship was in port.

Some scenery along the way.

On a half day trip it takes 1½ hours to get to the fishing spot and back so you only have about 3 hours of actual fish time.  And you don’t get out as far where the big fish are. 

Looking at the map above, we cruised southwesterly to an area near that point where you see the town of Nanwalek.  We found our spot and were given rods and reels that were already baited with cod. 

Notice those weights!!

We were fishing in water about 150 deep so the line had 2 lb weights to take the bait down.  (A sign in the cabin said a lost rod and reel would cost $200 and a broken one, $80!!).  They had a neat system for fishing – everyone lined up on each side and the back and started fishing.  If you caught a fish, or brought your line up to check your bait, you had to go to the front of the boat and start over.  That way everyone had a chance to fish off the back of the boat.

The water was quite calm and it was overcast so we didn’t have the sun to worry about.  You can only keep two halibut so when you catch one, they estimate its weight.  If it is 15+ plus pounds, you might want to keep it.  Otherwise, they will throw it back, and, you hope to catch a bigger one next time. 

Judy and I each caught 4 halibut and kept two.  They weighed from 14 to 17 lbs. so we had about 55 -60 lbs of fish.  We were lucky because it started raining but we were done fishing by then.

The crew lined up all the fish up along the back (stern for you sailors) of the boat.

These are ours:

By the time we got back to the dock, they had the fish cleaned and bagged for us. 

At the dock they took our fish to the shippers and we had our sent to Julie and Ken for safekeeping until we get home in November.

We had such a good time that we may have to do it again before we leave the Peninsula.  We will be in Seward in another week and will check out the fishing there.

There is also a lot of salmon fishing in this area.  The Kenai Russian Rivers are very popular for fishing.  Actually, when we first drove here, we saw a lot of people fishing in the rivers.  I think we will go over that way this week to check it out.  I do know that in Soldotna (about 8 miles away), they have 3700 feet of elevated fishing boardwalks. 

Will report back later when we do drive over there…

Peninsula Oilers

On Saturday (6/25) we went to a Peninsula Oilers baseball game.  When we were at the Visitor Center here in town, we got the schedule for the games.  We noticed that most of the games are free admission, and, sometimes, they have free hot dogs and drinks too.

The park is just a couple of blocks away from the school so we walked there. 

 Tonight would be a ‘free’ game.  At the ticket booth we decided to buy reserved seat tickets (normally $6, but tonight they were $3).  When we got into the stands and were looking for our seats, someone told us not to worry about that, just sit anywhere; so we did!!

The ball players are actually all college students playing in a summer league up here.  There are four teams in the area.  Most of the players were from California, but some were from Iowa, Washington, Louisiana, and Arizona.  It was a good game but cold (50 degrees) with some wind.  There wasn’t much scoring, and the other team scored one run in the 5^th.  The Oilers came back in the 8^th and scored so it was tied.  In the 13^th inning, we left because I was too cold and it was misting out, and we had to walk back to the school.  (Found out today that the game went 14 innings and the Oilers won 5 -3).

They are out of town this week but will be back for the weekend so we will be taking in at least one more game.

Homer, AK

Last Friday (6/17) we drove down to Homer (75 miles) for the day.  We had heard that it was an interesting town to visit and we weren't disappointed. 
We followed the coastline (Cook Inlet) all the way and had great views.  Near Homer the road took us up into a mountain (I guess).  Anyway, from up there you can overlook the city, the bay area, and the mountains on the other side.  We stopped at a viewing point and took pictures but they didn't turn out due to the haze.

We went to the Visitor Center and loaded up on brochures about the area.  We got a map of the city from them and they showed us the main roads to take.  The first road was up on the mountain and the views were great.  From there we drove down to the town itself and then out to the Homer Spit.  The spit is a 4.5-mile long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay.  The spit is also home to the Homer Boat Harbor. The harbor contains both deep and shallow water docks and serves up to 1,500 commercial and pleasure boats at its summer peak.

There were several campgrounds on the spit, ranging from tent sites to RV parks with no facilities and then some with facilities.

There were restaurants, shops, hotels, the Salty Dog Saloon, tour guide shops, etc. 

This is a view from Wikipedia.

This is another view from the mountains.

These buoys look alot larger out of the water.

These reminded us of the TV show "Deadliest Catch."  The boats actually use Homer as a base, but they were out now.

There were a couple of monuments remembering those lost at sea.

We parked and walked up and down the boardwalks and bought a couple of things.  This looked inviting but I decided against it.

We found a Fish & Chips restaurant and I had halibut for the first time – very good.  Judy had crab cakes which were exceptionally good.

We drove back into town and did some more shopping.  Later we drove back out on the spit and watched halibut being cleaned.

Some of those weigh over 40 lbs.

We got thirsty watching them, and, since the Salty Dog was right there, we went in for a beer. 

Extremely busy place but we found a picnic table and struck up a conversation with another couple there.  Seems they had just come in from an all day fishing trip.  They filled us in on their day, and, after that, we had the ‘fever.’

When we got back home, we searched the internet and found the fishing guides that they had gone on earlier in the day.  The full day trips were $240 each, plus tax.  A little steep for us, but then we noticed that they had half-day trips for $95 (senior rates) plus tax.  So we called them (at 9:30 PM) and got a reservation for Sunday afternoon!!  More on that later…

SUMMER SOLSTICE!!

Something a little out of the ordinary here!! 

We went to a Summer Solstice Party put on by a farmer near here.  They had several tents selling goods from jewelry to clothing to food (as in fried bread).  They also had a hamburger stand but the line was always so long that we just had the bread (twice!!).
Musicians were scheduled all day and night long to play on the stage.

They had a petting zoo, horses to ride, a llama, etc. and other games for the kids.

They also had a beer garden where they were selling the local brewery's beer.  So we had some with our bread, sat a picnic table, listened to the music, and talked with the people around us.  It was beautiful day.

 Right near our table was this gal who was using the hoola hoop.  You could tell that she had practiced alot because it came really easy for her.

We didn't stay late but got up at 1:30 AM to take this picture:

The picture was taken toward the west.  That's about as dark as it got.

Fortunately, we have some good shades in the bedroom because it hasn't been very dark for several weeks now.

Next - Homer.

6th Alaskan Stop - Kenai

We left Wasilla on Monday, the 20th, and drove down thru Anchorage and then around Cook Inlet to get to the Kenai (pronunciation:  Key-nye) Peninsula.  One of the benefits of moving to a new location is the scenery along the way.
We traveled the highway around the bay, saw some Dall sheep, and, of course, more mountains.  At first we could only see the Kenai Mountains in the far distance.

But, as we got around the bay, they were alot closer.

If you double-click on the map, you can see it more clearly starting from Anchorage, then around the Turnigan Arm of Cook Bay to Portage and then over and down to Moose Pass.  From there go accross to Cooper Landing, Soldotna and Kenai, which is where we are now.

We are set up at the Kenai Middle School for two weeks.  In case you haven't heard what we are doing, we met a couple from Allen, Tx a couple of weeks ago, and, in talking with them, found out that in the state of Alaska, the schools are looking for RV'ers to stay/camp out at their schools and be a security presence.  They provide electric and water.  During the day we can do whatever sightseeing we want to do, but at night they want us at the school to report anything unusual that we might see.
Anyway, here we are at the back of the school:

This is the football field behind us.

We had a little barbeque in our "backyard" a couple of days later.  Notice jackets - the temps here are usually in the low 60's during the day and around 50 at night.

We have done some sightseeing while here, including "old town Kenai."  This is the Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Church that has been the principal and most enduring representative of Russian culture in southcentral Alaska from 1841 to the present.  Alaska became a diocese in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1840, and the church's popularity in the  Kenai Peninsula region grew, particularly amongst the Kenaitze, the native people of the peininsula. 

We went inside and talked with the priest who told us alot about the church and its furnishings.  Built from 1895 to 1896, the church was the second Orthodox church at the site, replacing the 1849 structure. The church was built from logs in the Pskow style—in the shape of a ship. The bell tower was completed later in 1900. The interior contains an elaborate iconostasis.  (In  Eastern Christianistry an iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church).

The rectory was built in 1881, the oldest building on the Peninsula.

 This is the chapel but is no longer used.

Walking around proved to be quite tiring, so we stopped for lunch at this cafe in old town and had soup and a sandwich.

One thing we have noticed in our travels here and in Canada as well as the West Coast is the number of drive up coffee shops, like this one.

More later...