Alaska Diary: Homer - Part XII

Day 18: Tuesday, Jun 27, 2000
Heading toward our destination southwest across the Kenai Peninsula we crossed the Russian River, where there are a number of giant National Forest Campgrounds with campsites all full and with people lined shoulder to shoulder along the river catching salmon. Not my idea of camping/flyfishing. So we move on.
And then there was Homer.  No, not he of the ancient Greeks and Trojan War, but of fishing - The Halibut Fishing Capitol of the World.  

Homer is on the shore of Kachemak Bay, part of Cook Inlet. Its most distinguishing feature is the Homer Spit, a narrow 4.5 mi  long gravel bar that extends into the bay, on which is located the Homer Harbor. Halibut and salmon sport fishing, along with tourism, commercial fishing, and logging are the dominant industries.  I checked out a Halibut Charter at $200 per person per day and you had to have four people to head out. My three land loving non fishing traveling companions didn't seem very enthusiastic ....  So much for catching the big one in Alaska.  I ordered Halibut for dinner that night in a very fine restaurant on the Spit...:)

 

That afternoon we had visited the home of friends of our friends Gary and Rosie. Gary had grown up in Winona, Minnesota and so had Jack.  Jack and his son Gary were commercial fisherman and as we sat along with Jacks wife Linda  in their gorgeous  log home the men  regaled us with stories of their work. It was all reminiscent of a later program on cable TV called Deadliest Catch. Jack built his own log home, did his own stained glass windows and much of the furniture.  My most fond  memory of the house was the bedroom view, thru a huge window, of the town, the bay and across the water of a series of mountain peaks

Later we head back to our campground and meander through Anchor Point Recreation Area - the most northwesterly point you can reach by car from the lower forty-eight.   We hike the beach and see countless eagles, and wildflowers, a smoking volcano in the distance knowing that this point was halfway on our journey.  Tomorrow on to Anchorage for four days  and then turning south to head for home....