We were in Homer for the Halibut...

The Homer Spit

Scenery in Homer

Let the fishing begin! We don't care about no stinkin rain!

I want to make sure you all know I am a LADY angler, notice the pinky!!! hehehehe

Chips first Halibut! The only picture I got of any of the Halibut's. Sorry about the blood!!!

Chip's Ray he caught. He caught one that was bigger than this. I caught on about the same size. We were the Ray King and Queen!!

The Salty Dawg Saloon

Our dollar in Homer for all eternity!!

Josh, this one is for you!!!! (Josh likes Johnny Cash)

Our Dollar mixed in with all the others! This bar is covered from floor to ceiling with dollars, hats and anything someone had a notion to stick up on the walls!


Our week in Homer has come to an end and we will be heading back down the highway tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, BUT we are not going very far. We are headed for Soldotna (50 miles away) where we are going on a "flightseeing" trip. I am not going to get into details about that now because if it is "everything" it should be I will be telling you all about it next! I am so excited!!!

Homer a: "Quaint Drinking Village With a Fishing Problem"
has been a fun stop. We have walked a lot, driven every road in town (the town is pretty small), ate at the best restaurant in town (yes there is more than one), met some locals and not so locals, went to a Russian Village across the inlet, went Halibut fishing and oh yes..... took pictures of Eagles, a baby Eagle, Tufted Puffins, Common Murre, Red Face Cormorant and Otters. When we arrived here last Wednesday we wondered what we would find to do for 2 weeks so we shortened our visit to 1 week and are now wondering why we didn't stay longer. THAT is just what we do! The weather has been a mixture of rain, cold & sunshine (can't say warm)! Yesterday (Monday) and the day before were beautiful. It is amazing that around here if the sun is shining the locals are all out in t-shirts, shorts and sandals, while we are still in our jeans and light coats. That's called acclimation, even after a month we are not quite acclimated. It doesn't feel that cold any longer but it is definately not warm! We have been watching an Eagles nest that is just off the main highway into Homer to see if we can get a glimpse of the baby. Sunday we finally did. As it moved around the nest it would make a little hop and then flap it's wings, while Mom sat in a tree a little way away and just watched. I have come to the conclusion that it is not ready to fly yet because it still has down feathers on its wings. For being such a beautiful bird the chick is not very attractive. But that is the way with most birds! On our boat tour yesterday to Seldovia, the Russian Village, we talked to a family from Pennsylvania who are staying at a Bed and Breakfast here and we exchanged stories of our baby Eagle sightings. There is a nest right below the B&B where they are staying that has 2 babies in it. And those babies are at the exact same stage, doing the same thing as the one we saw. I think I would like to be there when it takes its first flight, unless it just fell to the ground. Then I would feel helpless. So maybe that is not what I want to do! :-D
THE main reason we came to Homer was to go Halibut fishing and we did that today (Tuesday 7/13/10). Unfortunately it rained all night the night before and pretty much all day out on the water. Luckily we had some rain suits that my Mom and Dad had given us a few Christmas's ago. They sure have come in handy! We were supposed to go out fishing for Halibut, Ling Cod and Rock Fish but because of the weather, very high tide swing and high seas we could not go out for anything but Halibut. That is what we really wanted anyway so we were ok with it. We started out fishing an area the captain knows to offer big fish. We didn't catch anything there. Josh, the captain must have gotten some kind of message because he took us to a bay where there is always Halibut and if you are not catching them then you probably don't have bait on your hook. He called it the Chicken Ranch! Not ideal but we caught fish! Chip and I both hooked rays (man are they hard to bring up) and released them, of course halibut, and I caught a gray cod that was used for bait! All in all the trip was fun but not quite what we hoped for. On our boat were a Father and Son from Montana. Mark the Father was a Dr. and works the Ironman competitions, he was actually there last year when we were there. He son works in a hospital in New York, doing fire retardant stuff. Both were very nice! Another man from Berkley, Ca was on the boat because of the combo of fish we were supposed to go for and when he found out we could not he was not a happy fisherman that is for sure!!! Other than it being wet and cool the bay was calm and we had a good time. We went away with 28 lbs of Halibut, not bad!! And to end the day on a high note we went to the Salty Dawg Saloon, had a beer and put a dollar bill on the ceiling.