July 27

This was the day to explore the Kenai Peninsula from Soldotna south to Homer and across Kachemak Bay to Halibut Cove. There are too many neat pictures to post but here are a few. We first visited the quaint little fishing village and clamming beach of Ninilchik. There we first visited an old Russian Orthodox Church with its accompanying graveyard filled with unique crosses at each grave site. We then went to Anchor Point and had lunch on the beach as we watched huge tractors retrieved incoming charter fishing boats. The tide was considerably low. While there we also visited the westernmost point that can be reached by road in North America. Following that we drove to Homer where there is a beautiful view of the town below and at least six glaciers in the mountains to the southeast across Kachemak Bay. Across Cook Inlet to the West on a clear day you can see five active volcanoes, Mount Douglas, Mount Spurr, Mount Redoubt that recently erupted, Mount Iliamna and Mount Augustine but due to clouds we could not see any of them. At near the end of the “Spit” which is a narrow peninsula that juts out into Cook Inlet south of Homer we boarded the quaint little Danny J and cruised at about eight knots for the five miles across Kachemak Bay to the beautiful Halibut Cove. Here private homes, art galleries and a few businesses are located on and around the rocky islands in the Cove. Nearly all have boardwalks built on pilings in the water for access due to the sheer cliffs of most islands where they meet the water. We had a delicious Halibut dinner at the Saltry Restaurant and strolled around the island on which it was located, taking lots of pictures along with visiting the art galleries. On the way over we watched a Sea Otter and on the way back we cruised past Gull Island where thousands of sea birds nest. We spotted several Puffins and also saw at least three Bald Eagles along the way. We returned home by midnight.