The only reason I am in Homer is to take the Alaskan ferry. I've heard of Homer but not much. Now I wish I have more time here. There are a lot of things to do here after I picked up one of the tourist brochures and talking to people who have been here. It's a relatively large town, for this area. Of course, it depends on the time of the year. Like a lot of Alaskan towns, the population swells during the summer tourist season. Officially, it lists its population as about 5,500.
Homer bills itself as the "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World." They even have a Halibut Cove here. There is a lot of hiking, fishing (of course), bear viewing, art galleries and restaurants. It is located in a stunningly beautiful area called Kachemak Bay. Uniquely, it has the Homer Spit, a 4.5 mile stretch of land into the ocean. On the Spit are various activities: hotels, restaurants, camping, and the ferry terminal. This is where I will start my Alaska ferry journey for 3 1/2 days through the Aleutian Islands to Dutch Harbor.
The only negative I can think of Homer is the high price of accommodations here. I know it's tourist season now and they should be higher. Most of the rooms are over $200 a night. I opted to go through Airbnb and found a room at a private residence for about $99 a night. My hostess is a dog-sitter so she has about 15 dogs all over the house. When I got there all the dogs were barking like crazy. I am not a dog person but I am not averse to them either. After a while they calmed down and stayed quiet for the night.
In the morning she had a meeting in coffee shop in town so she dropped me off there. I've been trying to kill time at this coffee shop because I don't have a place to put my luggage. I called the ferry terminal and they told me they don't have a place to keep my luggage. I then found a resort near the ferry terminal that would allow me to store my stuff.
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| Lots of tourist come here to fish. |
I got to the Spit at about 3 pm in the afternoon. There are a lot of businesses here catering to the fishermen. I signed up for a 3/4 day halibut fishing trip towards the end of my Alaska trip. This means that I will be back in Homer in about 2 weeks. This was not originally planned. This should be fun. I am really looking forward to this.
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| Fishing boats along the Spit and mountains across Kachemak Bay |
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| An Aleut filleting salmon that he caught |
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| The popular Salt Dawg Salon |
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| Customers stick bills all over the bar, which are donated to charities once a year |
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| This bumper sticker sums it all |
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