Seward to Homer, Alaska – 7 August 2024

We spent three days staying on a beautiful spit in Homer, Alaska. The Spit is a 7.2 km long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. It was formed from the remains of an ancient glacial moraine and the surrounding beaches, ocean and mountains are just stunning.

One of the main attractions in this area is the Katchemak Bay State Park which is 400,000 acres of mountains, glaciers, forests and ocean and many great hikes. The Park is only accessible by water Taxi from the Spit. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate so we were unable to go there.

Homer Spit is known as the “end of the road.” It is a very popular gathering place for locals, fishermen, artists and campers with a number of campgrounds, small restaurants, gift shops and adventure/tour companies as well as a ferry terminal and a couple of fishing factories. The active harbour caters to over 1500 commercial and pleasure boats at its summer peak.

There is an artificial lagoon called the “Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon” is known as “The fishing hole.” Every spring it is stocked with salmon fry from the Trail Lakes hatchery who feed the fry so that they are imprinted and return every year as adults to the lagoon to mate and spawn.

Needless to say, Homer is a Fisherman’s paradise. More Halibut are caught here than any other port in the world, earning it the title “Halibut Capital of the World.” There are Fish and Chips shops everywhere but extremely pricey. Our plate of Halibut and Chips in a restaurant where you order from the counter in the front, was a pricey US$29!!

For our last day in Homer, we explored one of the local trails around Homer and also their historic Old Town. After the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, a lot of the bluff area slid into the Cook Inlet, and the area was abandoned. Then in the late 1980’s a group of artists opened an art gallery and breathed new life into the area. Within a couple of years it became an incubator for several small businesses who moved into the area. The renovation project is ongoing and hopes to convert the area into a Homer hot spot.

Weather was overcast, blustery and cold but it didn’t detract from the beautiful views from Bishops Beach, the salt marshes and vibrant wildflowers colours of the Beluga Slough – a nesting ground for several species of birds, as well as the distant mountains and glaciers visible across Katchemak bay. Lots of People out and about – all trying to make use of the (not so warm) Alaska summer!!