Day 33 Seldovia

We spent a leisurely day with our friends the Savoys and Fausts today on a cruise to nearby Seldovia that started with a walk along the spit this morning in quiet solitude.Our friends the eagles were back as were horseback riders enjoying the minus low tide. Our walk took us by icons of the mariner way of life that exists here in Homer as well as the beautiful landscape surrounding Kachemak Bay.

The cruise to Seldovia on the Discovery left from the spit and included a slow trip around several small islands full of wildlife and seas full of sea otters. With all the stops we made the trip to Seldovia took three hours while the nonstop return was an hour and 12 minutes

We had never seen such a concentration of birds including Puffins, Common Murres, Red Headed Cormorants, and various members of the seagull family. We also met a several large groups of sea otters, many who were carrying pups on their bellies.

Seldovia was settled by Russian fur traders in the late 1800s who established trading posts to trade for the abundant sea otters living in the surrounding waters. After the near extinction of the otter population Seldovia continued as a shipping hub for the gold and coal mining of the area in the early 1900’s. Today it is a tourist destination accessible only by sea and air.

The big swings in tide of over 20 feet showed up well as we left and returned to the small boat harbor at Homer.

Here is one example of the many homemade RVs we have seen in Alaska. They seem to be well made and insulated for the winters up here.After our return to Homer everyone met at the local Elks club to say goodbye for awhile. Since we are all planning on taking the same general route back through Alaska and Canada we are sure to meet up again in the next few weeks.