Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Kayaking in Katchemak Bay State Park

I woke up this morning and it was so light in the MH I panicked! I thought I’d overslept and it was 10:00 or something! I looked at my clock and it was 4:59. I did a serious double take – couldn’t believe it was that light that early!

The kayak trip was great! We took a boat ride across the bay to Yukon Island where our outfitter had a base camp with all the kayaks, life jackets and other gear we’d need. Just as we were getting ready to get in the kayaks, a strong wind whipped up! Out on the water it was sooooo windy! That made it very hard to steer the kayak and paddle the kayak. We paddled to Elephant Rock – a large rock island shaped exactly like an elephant! We saw a seal pop his head out of the water right in front of us! Also saw an immature bald eagle and a river otter.

After the trip we came back and got cleaned up and went to the Homestead Resteraunt for dinner. After dinner we drove out East End Road – it sits on the bluff above Homer and the Homer Spit and has amazing views of the bay, the mountains, and the glaciers!

Cool thing about Homer: it has 20 ft tides! This is huge, it’s the 2nd highest tide in North America (the Bay of Fundy being the 1st). When we went to the water taxi this morning, almost exactly at low tide, the ramp to get to the boat dock was at nearly a 45 degree angle! When we returned, at almost exactly high tide, the ramp was almost level! Very little slant to it. The entire dock in the Homer Harbor is floating and rises and falls with the tide.

Better get my pictures uploaded and then get myself to bed! Tomorrow we are doing a lunch cruise to Halibut Cove and then spending some time there.

1 comment:

Kate/Susan said...

I'm so jealous--your trip sounds AMAZING. :-) Can't wait till you get home and I can see all the pictures!