Beach Stew, who knew? Homer, AK

Homer, AK

Last night Kathy (owner of the Rangeview B&B) told us to be sure and look for a momma moose and two babies just two blocks down from their house the next time we went out, so of course, mission #1 of the morning was to find them! We both woke up prior to the alarm again and were out the door a few minutes earlier than planned. To our very good fortune, we started to turn the corner of the street she said and there they were – moose’n’babies part deux! (please refer to 2009 for part 1). Of course, I was beyond excited! LJ pulled out the camera and started shooting, I started videoing and they were perect subjects! Mom even let the babies nurse for a little while before kicking them in the head (literally). Ahhh… why can’t every day start out with moose’n’babies instead of Poplar Tent construction?

We went to Spit Sisters Bakery for box lunches because we knew the lunch provided on our excursion today was salmon, which neither of us are big fans of. We decided not to go with their breakfasts though and went back to the Boardwalk Bakery from yesterday. Provisions acquired and we headed back to Ashore Water Taxi to check-in and wait to head over to A Seaside Adventure in Little Tutka Bay.

We soon met Linda, Linda and Charlie from Connecticut that were to join us on our kayak adventure for the day. Of course, the northerners had much to discuss and they also were photographers so after they talked lenses and bodies, filters, etc. I brought out MY point and shoot – and of course, a hush went over the group as they admired my sophisticated set-up! Okay, maybe not really but I was glad LJ had someone that spoke his language , two were from the other camp of Nikon, but one of the Linda’s had a 7D like LJ so we had equal representation.

We boarded the water taxi and even had his dog, Pica, onboard with us. Pica immediately became my best friend, sensing that I was a dog whisperer (and that I had breakfast sandwiches in my pocket). The water taxi ride was about half an hour and then we arrived to Little Kayak Island and met Rick, Dorle and Jodi. Rick and Dorle are the couple that own the business and have lived there over 40 years. Jodi is a school counselor from Oregon that had been up with them for two weeks, volunteering and working with them in exchange for room and board. Rick and Dorle have a great home, with most modern conveniences with the exception of indoor plumbing so off to the outhouse we went for the ladies, men to the great outdoors.

We got our boots for the day (not as exciting as the waders but they kept us nice and dry), got our gear sorted and put into dry bags, life jackets acquired and then our safety briefing. We were excited to see five eagles right above his home before we even got on the water! Rick had a great sense of humor and was quite a ‘character’. He is in his early 60’s and truly amazing. One of the Linda’s paired up with him, he nicknamed her “PP” his paddling partner, not to be confused with his request that we let him know at the first inkling of a need to go pp, as it would take us a few minutes to get to shore if someone needed a rest stop. We had seven of us, Rick/Linda, Linda/Charlie, Jodi in a single and then LJ and I. Dorle, his wife, had actually gone back over to Homer for the day on the water taxi to do some work and shopping. Rick, also an avid photograher, was a Canon guy, tipping the scales clearly to the Canon camp and all was right with the world. Cameras were secured to the kayaks, as well as my waterproof point and shoot and off we went!

We saw an otter while we were waiting for everyone to get settled, then saw a seal as we were headed over to an island. I love otters and LJ had promised I could hold one, but that wasn’t to be the case. We were able to watch a few different ones during the day and he did get some photos for me at least, but sadly, we will not be able to return with one in our luggage. We made our way around an island; it was almost low tide and the sea stars, sea anemones, and even a sunflower starfish that has between 14-18 legs, he let us take photos of it in the water first then he picked it up to teach us more about it. They will ‘release’ or lose their legs at different times and then another one will grow in and replace it, they were quite phenomenal.

We also stopped at a kelp bulb and he took a few stalks off for our lunch… (insert unsure Beverly here), as well as ‘sea lettuce’ and a couple of other seaweed type things from the water. We continued exploring and made our way around to a protected cove for lunch after paddling about two hours or so. It would sunshine and then rain, sunshine then rain so we donned our rain jackets for the trip to ‘gather’ the remainder of the items needed for our four course meal, but not before having our first two courses – course one, trail mix and course two, apple slices. Bathroom break to the left of the old cabin in the woods and food gathering to the right… well, that makes sense!

Rick talked to us about the different things the natives would use in their daily lives and we ended up picking and tasting four to five different things. He had such amazing stories and we were able to get several on video.

We went back to the beach where Jodi had been prepping the ‘beach stew’ with the salmon already on a propane heater. Rick got the different plants chopped up as well as the different ingredients from the sea and we all gathered around as he put them together into the stew. LJ and I both were quite adventurous and tried some; honestly besides the salmon it was quite good!

So Beach Stew was course three and was served with some homemade German bread, courtesy of Dorle. We finished up with course four, a type of German cookie which was yummy. LJ and I supplemented our lunch with bananas. After our more lesson on sea stars, we prepared for departure. In just that small amount of time, it was amazing to see how much the tide level had changed. Most of the creatures we had seen on the trip over were now safely back underwater. A few more otters graced us with their presence on the trip back as well! Rick told us about their ‘post office’ which was a small dock area where mail was dropped by the postman twice a week.

Here we were kayaking in three layers of clothing and we passed a home where there were two children swimming out in the water, mom waved to us from shore. I know it is summer there but brrrr! We made our way back and chatted about what a wonderful and interesting day it had been. We unloaded and got everything ready and too soon the water taxi was back. The water was much more rough but it was almost like two excursions in one, I love being on a boat so much. The driver asked us if we minded to take a detour as he had gotten a call about a dead otter that someone wanted him to check out. He said it would probably be 25-30 minutes extra but we were all on a flexible timeframe so we said sure. What I didn’t understand was that he was actually going to transport the otter back to the Spit for research. My heart (and stomach) sank. Ugh. We made our way to the beach where it had been spotted and sure enough, washed up on the beach was the otter. Sadly for the research (and the otter) it was too decomposed and the seas too rough to warrant chancing a beach landing and pick-up but thankfully for me as LJ said the view and smell would not have been pleasant. So back to Homer we went, pounding through the water but loving every minute!

We stayed on the Spit and ate dinner at Finn’s, which was highly recommended by TripAdvisor. It lived up to its reputation, we had some great pizza and then LJ took photos, we did a little shopping, and finished the evening with a visit to the Salty Dawg Saloon.

 

As we were leaving the Spit, Eagle Eye LJ spotted something in the fishing hole.  We turned around and parked, walked down and saw a harbor seal swimming in the little cove. He swam back and forth and we sat down and watched him for a while, what a great way to end the day.

We headed back to the B&B and of course, the sunlight was calling to LJ so he dropped me off (it was now after 10) and headed out to take some photos, he’s a crazy man!

Tomorrow we depart Homer and go see more bears! The week is flying by.