We met Dan, our guide for this morning in the rain. The forecast wasn’t looking so good but any day on the water… or something like that. Ha! LJ had been corresponding with Dan and his wife Sonia in preparation for this half day charter trip Drill Team Six Fishing Excursions for Arctic Char in Big Lake. They are both retired Air Force Veterans who have chosen Alaska as home.

Despite the rain, we were excited to get out on the lake and after a quick few minutes up the lake, we were set up and had our lines in the water. We were trolling for char in about 50-60 ft of water. We enjoyed chatting with Dan about the area there in Alaska, about his time in the military and the adventures he and Sonia have had over the years. I ended up with three different char, a female first that was the smallest, then two males with the last one being the largest (26.5″) and the fall “pumpkin” color, just a beautiful fish. LJ had one that got away but was a great sport about me “out fishing” him, which really was just me getting the lucky side of the boat and saying “Here, Fishy, Fishy” more than he does!

Dan spent some extra time with us beyond our charter, he really wanted to get LJ a fish, and we enjoyed him so very much. We hope to return to do some lake trout or even ice fishing with him again in the future!

Upon Dan’s suggestion, we went to The Last Frontier Brewing Company for lunch. LJ chose the potato skins and a pizza, I got the mushrooms and some crab artichoke dip. We both should have just opted for apps only, they were the tastiest and we quickly filled up.

It was after 3:00 PM and we headed back to the VRBO to get packed out and head on our way to Seward. We decided it was going to help tomorrow be a shorter day and ensure we didn’t run into any hiccups in our early morning commute as it was going to take about three hours so we would have needed to leave by 7:00 AM tomorrow. We got packed out and on our way south towards Seward. The traffic coming north from Anchorage was pretty crazy so we were thankful we were headed the other direction.

Just south of Anchorage is Turnagain Arm, which has an large tidal fluctuation of up to 40 feet. It’s crazy to see when it comes in. Almost immediately as we were driving down, LJ spotted a black bear up on the mountain side. We’ve seen dall sheep in this area previously so we were on the lookout. It also has an endangered population of Beluga Whales that can sometimes be seen traversing the waterway with rising and falling tides which we’ve never been blessed to see on any previous trips… until today!

L.J. had the first sighting and we ended up seeing several groups and a couple of solos, up to twelve of them total. We would find them, pull off into a side parking area and then move down the road some more, at one point, we went for fuel and a bathroom break and turned back around again. It was so amazing to have found them! We did an encounter at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta in June and now to have seen them in the wild just was the icing on the cake!

So after beluga delays… which were AMAZING… we finished up the drive to Seward, arriving around 8:40 or so. We didn’t have a reservation for tonight but ended up at the Breeze Inn. Hotels are pricey in Seward as they are still in their “summer months” pricing but this will be fine for the night.

For dinner, we tried to go to Ray’s, which we’ve been to and enjoyed before. Online their hours said they closed at 10 PM, on their door it said they closed at 10 PM but going inside we were informed they closed at 9 PM and we “maybe could get some food at the bar if we ordered quickly”. So… we walked back across the street to The Breeze Inn Restaurant and Lounge. We had also eaten here on a previous trip and LJ got some French Onion Soup (best of the trip so far) and meatloaf which he said was probably top three he’d ever had and I got the crab cakes.

Tomorrow we have our Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise so fingers crossed for great wildlife viewing and then we go to Soldotna, where we’ll be staying for the remainder of the trip.