Homer, Alaska, Part two,

Still continuing our Homer area expeditions:  After the exploration of the East End Road we decided to look around Homer a little more.  The beach in front of the RV was nice and the tide really came in and out very fast and very far.  One minute there was water, and the next a very large sand bar.  Well, it seemed that quick.  It was a long beach so we went for a walk.  

Come walk with me, My Dear.

This was the view from the front of our RV.  Most of the boats from the small boat harbor paraded right in front of us.

When the tide was in there was very little visible sand, just the rocky beach.  My Dear Bride wanted a truckload to take home, but we ended up with a trunk load instead.  (Well  .  .  .  the rocks are what I term 'Pancake Rocks', as they are flattish and round; perfect.  We collected 3 grocery bags full!)  There is a lot in the Honda.  They will be a part of her garden. 

This young gentleman was one of the locals fishing from the shore and as you can see, catching too.  Guess what he had is quite a treat.  I saw a lot of rock bass also caught.

He was not the only one fishing and catching.  No one would lend me a pole, not even for a  for a little bit.

We watched fishing boats heading out.

Have fun!!!

They were all different sizes and shapes.

Along the beach there were a few starfish and other things washed in from the bay.

As we walked around the point we came to the gift shops again and saw more interesting items. Such as this Alaskan Quilt and this pretty lamp. 

They are called Gift Shops, but no gifts.  It all costs so much

There was no shortage of Eagles.  They were everywhere.  Think they were looking for the Sandhill Cranes?

There were at least two Coast Guard ships in port.  This is a Buoy Tender and a cutter.

Driving around to the Homer Museum we saw this bench.  My Dear Bride seems to like benches.  I wonder why.

There was a garden in front of the Museum.

The next morning we got a full view of the Portlock Glacier right across the bay.

We are planning a visit to Seldovia, a little town right across the bay.  It is a trip across one of Alaska's richest and most accessible ocean zones.  We were planning on using one of our 2 for one tickets and take the Ferry, but it just goes there and back--quickly.

We wanted a little more than that, so we got on a wildlife cruise that takes a lot longer to get there, stopping to observe wildlife, and a bit of exploring.  So we Discovered the "Discovery"

It will take us to see sights that we would never see on the ferry, taking most of a day to do it.  So off we went. However, one slight challenge:  In the morning, the tide is out, so the ramp to the docks is steeply down, very steep--and no elevator.

But we managed, just barely.  Getting on the boat from the dock was a snap after that.

This is the boat controls.  Lot of screens and comm with other boats for reports on wild life.

This is the Coast Guard cutter I mentioned earlier.

This is where all the small boats leave and enter the harbor.   When the tide is out it gets a little narrower.  That included the cutter and the buoy tender.  But they all seemed to know what they were doing.  And it was crowded in the harbor.

Nice view of Grewingk Glacier on the way out.

This is a pair of Common Murre.  We will see a few of them on the trip.

No--I take that back-- we will see a lot of them on this trip.

A whole lot of them.

And one lone puffin going away fast.

This is our first place to check out.  Gull Island.  I have no idea why they named it that.  Of course no one can walk on it, but I haven't the faintest idea why anyone would want to.  There were several different kinds of birds there and if you look close you might ever see the only eagle on the island.  Sorry to say all the pictures of it turned out blurry and we can't show you them.  I could show you all 18 pictures of the island we took but My Dear Bride would scream and yell, etc.   (She really doesn't--but it's fun to say so.)

 

 So much for Gull Island.  A few other boats showed up while we were there.  It was noisy (from the birds) and we bought a load of flies who wanted to get to the mainland.

We dressed warm so we stayed outdoors on the top deck for the beautiful views in all directions.  Just how warm were we dressed?  Take a look.

She looks warm.  (you can't see the thermal underwear.)

We saw a couple of Sea Otters including this one carrying a baby on it's belly.

It started getting a little choppy in the bay so we were happy when he went into the Eldred Passage, between  Yukon Island and the Kenai Mountains.

Some pretty good sized hills, the Kenai Mountains.

On the island we saw an empty house and the pilot said "every time he comes by here that eagle is sitting on that rock"  


 Could he be looking for those cranes?

Between the two islands is this rock called Elephant rock.  People do have active imaginations.  Kayakers were enjoying the protected waters between islands.

 The next island Hesketh Island was more active.  Here is where the resort Kayaks start on their trips. 

 Here were some more of the kayaks.

Here is a house on the island near the resort where the people come and stay in the wild. These places are "off the grid", only have generators for power.

Resort houses.

Then we came upon quite a few otters who had very little fear of the boat.  

Once again we had a lot of pictures of Sea Otters, 19 in fact.  But I don't want to bore you that much.

 Shortly after the Otters we came to the little town of Seldovia,  in the Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park.   Nice little quiet Alaskan town. 

This is the Harbor masters office.

And a wood carving to greet us as we got off the boat.

 This is one of the private homes in the town.  Used to be a board walk connecting most everything but a tidal wave that came after the earthquake of 1964 wiped it out.   We walked on the short remaining section of the boardwalk.

A nicely landscaped yard

Reboot.

 

A nursery was one of the places along the old boardwalk.

Rhubarb is ubiquitous in Alaska!

Tasteful garden decor

 Part of the Nursery, overlooking a picturesque river as it enters the bay.

The residential garden of a tea totaller

Face Rocks at the little bookstore

 These were on the side of a house.  Decoration or not?



 

There's the blue poppy, again.

They have woodcarving festivals every year here and I guess we missed it by about a month.  The map of town listed wood carvings in many locations--this one, for example.

Even the Grocery store fit into the theme of things.

As with Homer there were people fishing and catching from the shore                                                                    

After about three hours, that was about enough, we headed back aboard the Discovery, and back to Homer.  As we left Seldovia there were some nice things to see.     

        

The twisted rock on the shore shows the geologic stress that created the landscape.

This is Arch rock as we pull out of Seldovia Harbor.

There were a couple of boats behind us as we entered the harbor at Homer.  Note the snow topped Kenai Mountains in the background.

Here I am in my warm coat coming into Homer Harbor.  This is a flotation coat, sort of a built in life jacket, which I originally used for fishing in cold weather in Oregon.  Very nice.

The sailor was happy

Remember this ramp in the morning when the tide was out?  Well, the tide is much higher this afternoon, making for a nicer, more gradual climb back to shore.







We ate dinner at a very nice seafood restaurant--Halibut & Salmon; yum!  The sunset was at around 11:30 pm., and plenty of campers were still playing on the beach!

One of the advantages of pulling the Honda around is you can use it to go places you don't want to go to in the Big, delicate (comparatively) RV.  We often make notes, mental and otherwise, on spots we pass that we would like to see.  This trip was no exception.  Also we like to explore and with the Honda it is not so much of a problem to turn around when you come to the end of a road or a road you really don't want to drive over.  So, if it is within, say 50 miles, we may go back to look it over.  Anchor Point was such a place.  The RV could have made it fine, but why?  Compare 24 mpg to 7 mpg.  Another reason for the Honda.  So the next day we headed for Anchor Point and other points north.  It was worth the trip.
We stopped again at the Homer Overlook.  The clouds were not as low as when we were here earlier

Some things that I have noticed in passing.  Alaskans throw nothing away.  Every car, every boat,  and every RV they have owned, gets to stay in the yard.  Who knows?  Maybe they will need it again.

 Back up the Sterling Hwy. we got this view northward across the Bay to Iliamna Volcano, which is still active.

We came here to see wildlife:  Eagles, gulls and humans.  It was a wide, wide beach and there were a lot of fishermen, and even more fisher-birds!

As you can see it is a long way from the water to the road.  The eagles are about half way.

This is some of the ways they brought in their boats from the shallows across the sand flats.







Then there way the easy way.  The tractor hauls boats in, for a fee.

Besides the crazy humans there were a few Gulls and Eagle of all ages.  It takes up to five years for an eagle to get their black and white coloring.  So some of these may have been with Momma.

Here is Pauline going after a real close-up.

We took a bunch of picture of the birds but you don't want this post to last forever, so we will wander off now.

Here is an interesting Poster we saw showing the five volcanoes just across the Cooks inlet.  There is steam coming from 3 of them and rumbles from all of them.   
That's about "it" for our explorations in the vicinity of Homer.  I think it is time to go back north so we can go south.  See you later.......