July 9th, 2024 - Bishop's Beach and Tidal Pools

This morning, we decided to head to Bishop's Beach for low tide to see what we could find in the tidal pools.

"This sand-and-mud beach, swept by Kachemak Bay’s 25-foot tides, extends from the end of a residential street in old Homer to the mouth of Beluga Slough. It can be thick with migrating shorebirds and waterfowl in early May. Herring gulls and northwestern crows pick through the flotsam stranded by tides. Bald eagles soar overhead and call from tall trees on the shore. As the tide recedes, watch for the squirting jets of water from clams clearing their siphons. Rocky outcrops trap pools of water and form anchors for beds of blue mussels and barnacles. You may find jellyfish trapped in these tidepools, along with plankton, crabs and tiny shrimp-like amphipods. Burrowing anemones pucker the sand in places, visible as half-dollar-size disks almost flush with the surface."

The tide is going out - Lots of folks checking out what the sea has left:

Love the reflections:

Dead fish and lots of kelp:

Lots of sea shells and a creature on the end of one shell:

Dead crab and when I moved him, there were many little creatures moving around.  I don't know if the crab was dinner or a shelter:

The beauty around us is breathtaking - the pictures do not do it justice:

Float plane heading to Beluga Lake:

Another crab:

We walked along the water's edge checking out the other tide pools and chatting with folks until we noticed the tide starting to come in.  Heading back to the truck:

??????

(I did bring back some rocks and shells - LOL!)

From there we headed to the Kachemak Bay/Homer Overlook:

Interesting tidbit:

Brave men!

The Homer Spit in the middle:

After a short stop at Safeway, we decided to just hang out and enjoy - especially since the sun came out. 

We watched the ships in the bay, and even saw a few otters and sea lions:

Small ship launching area - there were some nice boats launching and coming out of the water:

We finished the evening cooking our supper over the campfire and chatting with our neighbors.  What a wonderful day.

Enjoy today!

July 8th, 2024 - Travel to Homer

We got our act together this morning, said our "see you laters" and documented it with pictures:

Love this picture of us being silly!:

We filled with great water at P/L and then dumped at the local park and headed south.  Love this mailbox:

It was very foggy so not many pictures cause all we saw was Fog - LOL!:

We made our way to Homer, where the weather did clear up a bit:

Coming up over the pass to Homer - Look at that mountain:

Mountains and Glaciers and Sea - OH MY!:

That piece of land in the middle is known as the "Homer Spit" and that is where we are staying:

Going on the Homer (Downtown) By-Pass and this is the view:

This is the area between the mainland and the Spit - it is mostly a protected Wetland:

On to the Spit:

Where the tide is low:
 

The Homer Spit:

We made our way to the Fishing Hole Campground.  I really wanted a spot where we could face the Kachemak bay.  As we were unhooking the truck, a vehicle left and this is where we are.

Now - a few things..  it is narrow and it is pricy for what we get (but really cheap compared to the other campgrounds on the SPIT).   But the VIEW - OH MY!

There is an app where you can find out what ships are in the bay.  This is Dubai Diamond.  "It is a Crude Oil Tanker built in 2007 (17 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands."

That is all I could find out.  Very interesting.

The tide is out:

Andy is their newest Harbormaster - LOL!:

After enjoying our view and after lunch, we decided to do a road trip.  The Homer Spit has many hike/walk/bike trails and many of them are lined with blooming lupine:

We decided to drive the East End Road to see what we could:

The Grewingek Glacier:

Lupine Everywhere:

After 20 miles of paved road, it turned to dirt.  We went about a mile and the road went downhill - Really Downhill!

There was two pull offs with cars parked but we continued.  When the foliage got thick, we stopped and I took a walk.

 The picture does not show but it was STEEP and around the bend it was even STEEPER.  Andy stayed back and when I got back...told him "NO WAY!"!

So we went up the road to one of the lookouts.  Meet some great folks there and the views were AWESOME!

Heading back:

Back home, tide was in..  Two pictures.. One with the tide out and one with it in - AMAZING:

The wind picked up so we did not have a campfire...  Bummer, but maybe tomorrow.