Boondock–
How quickly you lose your anonymity when you boondock! We’ve been showing up every morning for the last few days at our great daytime viewing spot at the tip of the Homer, AK. spit. Well, we’re fairly friendly. When folks ask where we are camping we tell them about our boondocking and our boondock site in Homer. Last night at midnight when we got to our boondock site, we were the 4th boondockers there. Ha! Free catches on quickly for those who don’t want/need to hook-up to the grid and other services. We’d pretty much had the place to ourselves before but we were fine with company. Sharing information is a good thing.
The temp. was 47 degrees F. this morning at 7:00am and it was overcast with a very light rain. No wind and the rain is intermittent so maybe the sun will come out and the sea will be calm.
Seldovia, Alaska–
Took a cruise to Seldovia today. The ship left Homer at about 11:00 am and in less than an hour you arrive in Seldovia. For the return trip the ship leaves Seldovia at 4:30 pm to return to Homer, AK. We had a buy one/get one free coupon to Seldovia so the cost for both of us traveling round trip was $46.00 (just don’t tear the coupon out of the book until you buy the ticket). The boat we’re taking is a two year old Catamaran. Getting out on the water gives us a chance to see some of the wildlife of the seas and since we love wildlife viewing, this is perfect for us.
The catamaran is very fast (also fairly quiet) and I worried that if we did see any whales we would not stop because we were going so fast but the Captain (Captain Joe) stopped repeatedly for whales, repositioning the boat to stay near them.The weather was sunny and warm and the seas were very calm so it was a perfect day to go out on the water. A great day for us made even better by seeing lots of whales and sea otters!
The town of Seldovia was severely damaged by the huge 9.2 Alaskan earthquake/tsunami in 1964 changing their business fortunes for the worse to this day. It is a very nice, very small, former Russian town that now mainly depends on tourists for it’s income.
Went into the local grocery store. Food in Saldovia is very expensive, eggs are $8.75/dozen. Of course, everything comes into this town via boat or plane so that drives up the cost. Most of the Seldovians we met had lived in this town for a very long time. For example, I bought some earrings from a woman that made jewelry to sell and she had moved to Seldovia from Chicago twenty years ago so folks seem to stay when they move here.
Musings–
This morning, while waiting for the cruise to start, we parked the RV in the dock side parking area and Jerry immediately started working on his stock options trading. While we were dock side, we watched Golden and American Eagles fly overhead like the drones we’re always hearing about, silent and stealthy. What appears to be a casual decent to the water ends with the eagle grabbing a fish right out of the water and taking it somewhere to eat it or feed their young.
Last night, around 11:30 pm we left our “observation” spot at the tip of the Homer Spit and drove through some of the docking areas. We’d heard there was an eagle’s nest out there somewhere and we were on a mission to find it. We know there are some nests elsewhere but we wanted to find this near-by one. It took us about five minutes and we spotted it. It is large but appears abandoned. This didn’t surprise us as it is located near a busy area, though up on a stanchion surrounded by water. Still, it was interesting to take our time and see how big this nest was and some of the intricacies of the way it was built, knowing our being near the nest would not be a stressor for the birds.
Alas, traveling does not absolve you from the usual issues of life such as the need to watch your diet. We don’t want to get that “girth of contentment”, though in truth we are content with our lives. So, despite the fact that most every new place we visit has interesting foods to offer and wonderful “Mom and Pop” bakeries we try to resist in most places.
We just rolled into the Homer Spit today too. We would love to meet you guys. Please give us a call if you are still here on Saturday. 214-450-6324.
Oh, that would have been fun but we left Homer last night and are making our way back up the Kenai Pensulla. You will enjoy Homer. There are a number of things to see and do there in addition to just enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Be well and Safe travels, Ann and Jerry.
Nice eagle shots. Where is you special viewing spot on the spit?
Travel sometimes brings out a desire to connect with others along the way… finding kindred spirits in a discovery lifestyle. Sharing the “finds” is part of the fun.
The weather is crisp. We are toasting down here in the lower 48. Central NY is pushing the 90 mark each day — not so comfy.
Safe travels!
Hello Jane, Our favorite spot is at the end of the Homer Spit, right next to a motel/restaurant called “Lands End”. There is a large gravel/dirt parking lot between “Lands End” and the loading dock for the State Ferry. This is free parking and we think it must be owned by the city. Our Lazy Daze RV has surround widows in the “living room” in the back of the RV and it is a great place to watch the goings on and the eagles hunt. Stay cool and Be well, A and J.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what bacon costs to go with the eggs. I love your pics of the wildlife.
Uh, Jim, I don’t think we could afford the bacon! Safe travels