More Kenai!

 We have really been enjoying our time around Ninilchik. The weather has been great so that really helps, it’s getting dark at night so sleep has been improved and we caught a colorful sunset Saturday night.  

During the day on Saturday we went into Homer, which we had visited in the beginning of August last year.  We hit up the farmers market and scored some sourdough, English muffins, vegetables and fresh jams.  It’s a nice market and we sourced some good items.  After the market, we rolled out to “The Spit” to tourist it up.  We found some parking, picked up a coffee and walked along the harbor side.

 

We then crossed over to the “ocean” side and picked up a sweatshirt for Katy at the AK Starfish Co.  When we were here last year, The Salty Dawg Saloon was packed…standing room only and shoulder to shoulder.  That wasn’t the case on this visit so we popped in and spent some time.  It was nice chatting with the locals and tourists alike.  The drinks were reasonably priced and we had the place to ourselves for a bit.  This place is definitely worth a stop.  Our bartender, Lu, was a real hoot.  She’s been in Homer for 50 years and had a quick wit and some good one liners.  She asked a patron how old she was and the reply was “48” and Lu shot back, “wow…good for you.”  That got some laughs…maybe you had to be there.  I think it was a compliment If you are curious if the saloon is open, it’s easy to tell.  If the light is on in the lighthouse, they are in fact open.  

After a few tasty libations, we went out for a late lunch.  Swell Taco was on the menu based off of recommendations from some YouTubers we watch.  Well, we weren’t impressed.  Maybe it’s late in the season or…who knows.  Would we go back…nah.  We picked up a few supplies at Safeway and then headed back to the rig.  It was a great day, capped off with the first beautiful sunset in a long while.  

Sunday morning we watched some shows and I headed to town for diesel, a water pickup and a garbage drop.  We cleaned our fridge and defrosted it, made some chicken broth, cleaned our faucets/fixtures and then hung out in the sun for the afternoon.  It’s going to be hard to leave the Kenai with weather like this…

The weather has remained pretty damn nice down here.  We extended at our Boondockers spot for one more day and spent our time walking at three different beaches.  Deep Creek Beach was beautiful, but there were a ton of carcasses and it smelled like the outhouse door of a tuna boat.  Ninilchik Beach was way better and Anchor Point was probably the favorite.  All of them have great views.  

Tuesday we moved down to Ninilchik SP and flushed our tanks.  We then noticed that the Cliffside spot was open and decided to stay down here with the amazing weather forecast.  We had some Thai food, walked the beach and hung out by the cliff.  It was a good day…I also had a phone interview for a work opportunity.  More on that later.  

We hung out in Ninilchik and Homer the past few days.  The weather has been great the last three weeks.  We ended up having to go to Homer for laundry as the place in Anchor Point was closed.  While in Anchor Point, I mailed our busted brakes back to eTrailer.  

Friday I caught a discounted (end of season) charter out of Ninilchik for Halibut.  We left the office at 0800 from Afishunt Charters in the back of a paddy wagon to the beach.  They dropped the trailer and it was almost immediately hooked up to a log skidder for our launch.  

The launch was smooth and we motored out about 18 miles into Cook Inlet to the fishing grounds.  It was still outgoing tide with a 23’ tidal swing which was a -2.7.  The outgoing current was approximately 5mph when we anchored up.  

Within 2.5 hours of anchoring, we had our 16 halibut and were on our way back in.  There was a guy on the boat with his younger son and daughter.  I was a little nervous about how they’d handle the trip, but they were great.  Seeing their smiles after reeling in halibut almost as big as they were, really brightened my day.  On the ride back in, we saw a Beluga Whale!  4 trips on the ocean this summer and whales every time!  Jackpot!  

Once back to shore, we repeated the launching process…in reverse and headed back to the office.  Captain James and Deckhand Eli got some pictures of our fish and then processed them.  I paid for them to vac pac them and ended with 16.25lbs of halibut.  When they handed the bag off, I thought it was quite a bit heavier than 16 and the lady at the till thought the same…I was okay with not re-weighing it.  

Saturday and Sunday were spent around the campground, preparing to hit the road for the next month or so.  The Kenai is quite possibly our favorite part of AK.  Cooper Landing to Homer is a special place.  I may have taken 2,999 photos of the ocean,

Iliamna and Redoubt in the past week.  It’s hard to believe we’ve been down here for almost 3 weeks.  If you come to AK, don’t miss the Kenai Peninsula.  We are definitely leaving a piece of our hearts down here.