Thursday, August 18, 2016

At Homer part 1. Boat Tour to Seldovia. June 22, 2016

At Homer part 1. Boat Tour to Seldovia  June 22, 2016

The first full day at Homer we had a beautiful sunny day. We took a 7hour boat tour to Gull Island and Seldovia. More info on the boat tour here.


Leaving the small boat harbor


Out in the bay

On the way to Gull Island we saw this poor young humpback whale tangled up in the rope from a buoy.

A couple of days later we found out he got untangled with help from the wildlife people. If he was unable to get free he would die.

Our first stop was viewing Gull Island, a sea gull rookery. There are a thousand or more birds on these two small islands. 

Right now there are serious problems with the gulls nesting. There are a couple of immature eagles living at the island. A few times an hour the eagles will make a pass by the cliffs scaring up gull. Makes it very difficult for the birds to stay on the nest while the eagles swoop by.

Approaching Gull Island. The little specs you see around the island are the gulls flying.  Click on the picture for a larger and clearer view.

Gulls on the rocks and common mures in the water.

A few of the gulls managed to lay eggs in these nests

I guess that since these nests are back in kind of protective overhang they feel safe from the eagles.

The eagle is sitting on the tip of the rock in the upper right corner in this photo

A closer view of the eagle

Near the island we saw these rafts of Common Mures (Common Murre). They fly out to feed in the evening and come back to rest here during the day.

A closer view of the Common Mures (Common Murre)


Detailed info about Common Mures (Common Murre) from the Audubon website.  

From Gull Island we slowly cruised along the coast line and a string of islands to Seldovia.

Some views along the way:

The rivers flowing into the bay here originate from glaciers and have huge amounts of glacial silt in their water. When the bay water is still the silty water creates a distinct border with the clearer water of the bay.


Sea otters floating

A couple of the otters sunning themselves on the rocks


A view of one of the islands with Iliamna Volcano in the back ground.

If you look closely in the above photo you will see some yellow kayaks just right of center. On several of these islands there are private cabins for rent. From Homer, water taxis will take you the cabin you have rented.

We arrived at Seldovia right at lunch time with about 3 hours to explore the town, or to take a hike on one of the local trails.

We opted for lunch at the Tide Pool Cafe with a view of the harbor.

Fish & Chips

Lunch was OK.  The fish had an extra heavy layer of batter and not a lot of fish. Pricey at $18 each.

After lunch we walked around town.

A bald eagle posed for us in this tree along the boardwalk.

A closer look

Back at the harbor we posed for a picture

More info about the town of Seldovia here and here.

On the ride back to Homer we saw a couple of whales at a distance. I was unable to get a picture though.

We did see these sea otters a few miles from shore in about 400-600' of water. I thought they stayed in shallower water. I guess not!

A view of the water & mountains

Back at camp we had some very nice views from the side window of our motorhome and/or our front yard.  Just another reason we dry camp rather than stay in an RV Park. 


That's all for now.








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