Four Days in the Banana Belt of Alaska

Homer is situated on the southwest corner of the Kenai Peninsula, only 87 miles west of Seward (as the Eagle flies), but 167 miles by road. Known as the Halibut capital of Alaska, fishing is its main industry.  Like all the other towns in the Kenai Peninsula, Homer was devastated by the 1964 earthquake.  But it recovered and is larger and more prosperous than it was before the earthquake. Large is relative of course, Homer’s population is about 5500.

It is called the “Banana Belt of Alaska” because the climate is more moderate than in the rest of the Kenai Peninsula.  We had 2 beautiful days of sunshine, 1 day of clouds and 1 day of rain, which is better than we had been experiencing up in the Denali area, so I would say that the title is fairly apt. The weather was in the 50s and 60s which is a tad warmer than what we had been experiencing further north. 

Homer includes a spit of land which extends out into the Gulf of Alaska and separates Kachemak Bay from the Gulf.  It is about 4.5 miles long and it has campgrounds, fishing charters, flightseeing charters, shops, restaurants and docks for cruise ships.  People are warned to stay off the mud flats on both sides of the spit during low tide because the water comes in very quickly.  We watched the water come in and it was pretty impressive. 

Abandoned ship along the  Homer Spit.

On the Spit looking across Kachemak Bay toward the Kenai Mountains.

During May and June, the waters around the spit are home to thousands and thousands of migrating birds.  Of course, true to our continuing experiences, we saw only white seagulls and that was pretty much it. Well, that is not exactly true. There is a pair of nesting eagles in a tree near our campground.  The tree is about 100 feet from an intersection that has the only traffic signal in 75 miles. They don’t seem to be bothered by the people that stop and take pictures.  There are the parents and two fledglings.  During our stay, we have seen all four.  

The two eagle fledglings at their nest, about 30 feet up.

Practicing his Seal of the U.S. pose.

On the sunny days, we checked out the spit (saw a few more eagles), took some drives into the surrounding country and soaked up the rays sitting outside our trailer.  We have the most amazing view from our campsite of the Kenai Mountains across the bay.

The look from our campsite.  The Kenai Mountains are across the bay. You can see the 13 mile long Grewingk glacier.

Looking down at Homer Spit from the hills above Homer.

This 4000 foot tall volanco is on St. Augustine island. 
On the day we saw it, a little steam was coming out. The last major eruption was in 2006. 

The eagles like to use the updrafts on the local sea bluffs. This one  flew directly over our heads.

Mt. Iliamna - one of several active volcanos in the Aleutian range that marches out through the Aleutian islands.

Here is one way to bring your boat in.  These tractor launchers wheel themselves right out into the water and the boat just drives into the trailer.  The whole process takes less than a couple of minutes.

We visited the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center which is sponsored by the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. They had a terrific video about the refuge and what is being done to preserve the marine life that lives there.  There are more seabirds in the refuge than in all the rest of North America! That is mind boggling to me.  The exhibits were very well done – just the right amount of information and interaction.  One of the exhibits you walk into to get a sense of what it is like to be out on one of the islands – it felt like you were on a cliff of rocks and all these birds were flying around you. They even had some of the island smells going on – like fresh ocean air. Really cool.

I was also impressed that the Center integrated art with the science exhibits.  It was one of the more beautiful centers I have seen. There was stained glass pictures of birds, even the elevators were surrounded with metal sculptures of kelp.

There was a paved path through the Beluga Slough, so we were able to get a closer look at the  mudflats surrounding the Spit.

On the one rainy day, we visited the Pratt Museum which is a historical, cultural and art museum. The building doesn’t look that large, but there are 2 and a half levels to it, so we spent a couple of hours there. There were several very nice quilts displayed which I particularly enjoyed.

Tomorrow we head out to explore more of the Kenai Peninsula.  It looks like it will be in rain though, so we have our rain jackets ready.