Day 2 - Seldovia Trip

Today we woke up in Homer and after breakfast we went to the Alaska Island and Ocean Visitor Center by Bishop's Beach in Homer. When we first arrived the center wasn't open so we hiked down the Beluga Slough Trail:

My dad was a bit worried because there was fog covering Kachemak Bay. You can see it in this photo. We were going to fly across the bay later to get to Seldovia. Here is Grandma and Emily and Clark and Blake on the beach.

After exploring the center we headed to the airport to ride Smokey Bay Air over to Seldovia. The only way to get to Seldovia is to fly or take a boat - there are no roads to the village. It is only a 10-15 minute flight. Clark and Emily and Grandpa took the first flight:

Here is a picture of their little plane after take off:

Jeff and Grandma and I and Blake and Kate and Lauren were on the next flight. Blake sat in the back with Grandma:

Here is Blake by our plane after it had landed in Seldovia:

The cabin is not right in the village of Seldovia. Off of the Pacific Ocean, is Kachemak Bay. On one side of the bay is Homer and on another side of the bay is Seldovia bay. On one side of Seldovia bay is the village and on the other side of the bay is my parent's cabin. So after landing at the airport we loaded into a car, drove to the harbor (5 minutes max - tiny town), loaded into the boat, drove across the bay, loaded out of the boat and hauled the stuff up the beach to the cabin. It's quite a process. And remember that all this comes after the 5 hour drive to Homer. It was fabulous to finally get to the cabin. Katie needed lunch ASAP:

We had no more eaten lunch when Grandma and Grandpa decided to take Clark and Emily and Blake up to the head of Seldovia Bay, to Seldovia Creek and fish for Trout and hopefully Pink Salmon.

Jeff and I stayed back with Katie, who discovered dandilions:

Here is Grandma and Grandpa getting the kids into the boat. You can see Seldovia in the background of the photo, across the bay. I think this may be one of my all time favorite photos. How many kids have grandparents who wear hipboots. Awesome!

Timing is everything when going to the head of the bay to fish the creek. The tides in Kachemak Bay are about 30 feet in difference. So that means that there are two high tides and two low tides every day - one every six hours - and the water hieght difference between the high tide and the low tide is about 30 feet. That is huge. So if you want to go to the head of the bay you have to arrive before high tide and hike in and then return to the boat before the water has gone back down enough to beach the boat. If you misjudge the timing you are either stuck there for 12 hours or you walk all the way back to the cabin - about 3 hours along the rocky beach - in hipboots.

Here is Grandma and the kids hiking into the creek:

The grass is as tall as Blake:

As soon as they arrived at "the hole," Clark cast his line in and before Grandpa could get the other kids' rods ready, Clark had caught a trout:

Grandma says it's in his blood. With one grandpa who is a fly fishing guide and one who flies into remote Alaska to fish, there will be no stopping Clark.

In all they caught three trout which made for a fine dinner:

After dinner we built a fire on the beach and made S'mores. This photo is looking up towards the head of the bay. Seldovia would be to the left and the cabin to the right.

More adventure awaits tomorrow!