Monday, June 25, 2007

Got up and talked w/ Barb and Frank...had planned to stay here 2 nites, but we had been doing some reading and decided to drive down to the spit as there is a campground there and we wanted to check it out. It is right on the water. Went down on the beach here at low tide and it was great! Of course water too cold to swim, but the scenery is breathtaking. Across the water are snow covered mountains, etc. The dogs went nuts running on the beach, but couldn't quite understand why the water tasted so different! Gabby even got in the water up to her stomach and that is deep for her....She was chasing rocks and getting scared by waves...it was fun to watch.

Homer is a town at the end of the road on the Kenai Peninsula. There is a sand spit that goes out from the town into the water and it is maybe 20 ft. high....there is development on it (some condos at the very end, some restaurants and lots of tourist stuff and LOTS of fishing charters!!!!) Try finding it with Google Earth - type in Homer Spit, AK and see what comes up. If you see a campground towards the end of the spit that is where we are. Since it is right on the water, we decided to move down here for a night. The beach here is lots of small smooth rocks with some dark gray sand and it kind of alternates...tides will push up some gravel, then some sand, etc. There are some large tides here and when the tide is low, you have lots of beach to walk on. There are several sand bars that completely disappear at high tide.

We unhooked from OceanView and moved down to the spit about lunchtime. Only have electric hookups here so we are on our own for water and sewage. Barb and I got the car and went back into town and left the guys to finish getting set up and walking the dogs. We were on a quest - decided to get some fresh seafood for dinner...salmon or halibut whatever we could find. Had to get some staples at Safeway like bread and milk, etc. but then back to fish store. We got some salmon at the first store we tried, but it was frozen. Then we went to one that was actually right across the street from the RV park and got a halibut filet.

Could not find the guys when we got back to RV and then we saw them across the street. When they came back they took us over and we watched the commercial fishing boats come in with their catch. They are catching halibut, rockfish and rock cod. It was interesting to watch. There are buyers bidding on the catch - one boat came in with 35,000 lbs. of halibut. The fish are gutted and have ice thrown in the cavity as soon as they are brought on board and stowed in the hold on ice. The boats we saw had been out about 3 days. When they unload they use these huge nets that are on davits that they swing over and lower into the hold of the boats and the guys inside fill them up with fish. They bring them up and weigh them, then immediately put them in these large super insulated plastic boxes. They stack those up and then the forklifts come and pick them up and load them into refrigerated 18 wheeler trailers and they are on their way.

Jerry and Frank talked to one guy who has a commercial boat and he invited them to go out fishing with him in the morning. They are really pumped. After that, we walked the town. The guy's new best friend with the commercial fishing boat called and said there was a 300 lb. halibut on display in town. Unfortunately we did not ever see that one, but we did see a 247 lb. halibut that officially weighed in on the derby scales at 210 lbs. I got pictures of course. That was one big fish. Halibut are like flounder on steroids!!! Serious steroids!! They are bottom fish and have both eyes on top of their heads. They are also flat....unless you weigh 200 lbs! However, it is still pretty flat.

After all the fish excitement we wandered the shops poking in most of them, but did not buy anything. There were a couple of art galleries and I enjoyed looking in them and saw some lovely watercolors, but again, did not purchase anything today. Barb and I have big plans when the guys are gone tomorrow. The fish captain was supposed to call at 6 to let them know for sure if they could go. Six came and went and Jerry tried to call him at 7 but his voice mail was full.

Barb cooked the halibut - kind of skillet steamed it with lemon pepper and it was delicious! Had salad and sourdough bread with it. On the off chance that Alex (the boat captain) might call at 6 a.m. we decided on kind of an early night. Jerry and I took the dogs for a long walk on the beach around the end of the spit. Watched guys fishing from the bank by the ferry landing and watched it kind of clear up a bit. It really is a pretty spot. Back to the RV and bed. I did not get on internet tonite....so will do it tomorrow....