Homer

From Juneau we flew to Anchorage and drove to Homer. Homer is located on Kachemak Bay on the Kenai Peninsula. It’s a beautiful drive, first passing along the Turnagin Arm of Cook Inlet and then through the mountains. The snow-covered mountains in Alaska seemed never-ending. It rained a good part of the way but now and then the clouds would part and there would another incredible vista of glaciers and volcanoes.

The Kenai River was impressive and had lots of little towns along it but they were mostly deserted since fishing season had not started. Once we got to Homer, we were treated to more mountain views across Kachemak Bay. The best weather days of our stay were the day we arrived and the day we left! Otherwise, it was intermittently rainy and/or windy. One day it was very rainy and windy and a planned boat trip was cancelled. Because of the weather, I never seemed to have a camera when I needed it so there are few photos of the birds that we saw while attending the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival.

Someone told us there are 10,000 sea otters in Kachemak Bay and they have consumed just about all of the sea urchins. This is good for the kelp beds. We took a boat trip across the bay where we were told 10,000 Black-legged Kittiwakes (a type of gull) and 5,000 Common Murres nest on Gull Island. Tufted Puffins nest there too but they hadn’t arrived in big numbers yet. We also kayaked there.