12 – Weekend in Homer, halibut and sea planes everywhere – Phil and Carolynn's travel adventures

The weather was perfect for a weekend at the coast – maybe not Greece/Italy type perfect, there was no chance of us kitting ourselves out in swim gear and going for a dip, but it was bright and sunny and calm.

There are any number of ways to part with large amounts of cash on the Homer Spit. Fishing charters promising large scale catches abound, seaplane and light aircraft day tours to the lakes and glaciers at either the Katmai National or Lake Clark parks to view guaranteed bear feeding in the streams are popular. Neither of these locations can be reached other than by plane in a day and so small aircraft charging eye watering prices for the experience are much in demand.

The idea of a man made “fishing hole” initially struck us as odd. This body of water which is probably ten acres in size is stocked with salmon fry directly from the hatchery. They go to sea and return two years later just like the ones in the rivers. We saw several youngsters fishing here.

A common site in Homer and for that matter much of Alaska

Saturday, after a well needed visit to the excellent supervised laundry room at the campground, we decided we could have as much fun with one of the other cheaper activities available and so headed for a water taxi to take us across the bay to Katchemak Bay State Park. There is a popular hike from the stony beach up over the saddle of the hill to a glacial lake formed at the base of the Grewingk glacier. This is just one of over 30 glaciers that flow off the Harding Icefield on the Kenai Peninsula.

Homer has a large harbour. The yacht in the foreground is an anomaly as most are fishing boats

We dropped off some passengers at Halibut Cove which was quite impressive for the number of high end houses

The transport – runs right up on the beach so no wet feet!

Stunning at the top and well worth the effort

The lake contains icebergs that have calved off the end of the glacier

The weather was a fantastic and it was warm enough to nap by the glacier

Alaska does a good trade in these cute, independent, small building coffee spots. All tend to have a drive through facility and all tend to open early to catch the morning trade. They are manned by only one or two people but they pop up any where and everywhere. Any unused hut, shed, garage forecourt building is a candidate for conversion. It is a great example of entrepneurial spirit. Sure Starbucks are about but in the big mall areas. These small shops are where they are convenient for customers, on the side of the road, in garage forecourts and next to workplaces.

Sunday, we decided to go take a closer look at the town of Homer itself. We found the one place in town that rented bikes and were impressed by the quality of their e-bikes.

We hired excellent e-bikes from the cleverly named Cycle Logical

We did not go out of our way to learn about the history of the town and visit museums as the intention was to enjoy the weather and get some exercise knowing we had two days of miles to do ahead of us on Monday and Tuesday. We did take a ride around old town Homer though.

We headed up into the hills behind the town and then rode along the ridgeline. Skyline Drive it is called – some thousands of miles from the other Skyline Drive we are familiar with in northern Virginia! Fabulous views out over the bay and down across the Homer Spit. It also provided a clearer perspective of the extent and size of the Grewingk glacier of Saturdays expedition.