Day 3 - Seldovia Trip

This morning while we ate breakfast, Kate was checking out the sea gulls:

Today, Jeff and Clark and Grandpa went Halibut fishing out in Kachemak Bay and Grandma and Lauren and I stayed at the cabin to explore the low tide with the Emily, Blake, and Kate.

At first glance the beach is just kelp and rocks but if you lift the kelp and rocks up you will discover a zillion little creatures. Like this hermit crab that Emily is holding:

We put our treasures in a bucket to take back up to the cabin to create our very own aquarium:

We were also on the hunt for an octopus - to look at and to eat. Octopus live under large rocks and to locate a den you look for a large rock that has been dug out underneath and that has lots of clam and crab shells around the outside of it. We tried two abandoned dens before we finally got lucky. First you put a tube into the hold (very quietly) and then you pour a bit of bleach into the tube. This contaminates the home and makes the octopus come out on it's own. After you pour the bleach in you wait silently.

And if you are lucky, out comes an octopus:

Lauren and I took turns holding it:

Here is a little clip of me holding the octopus and then it moving along the beach:

Emily and Blake found this purple jelly fish:

After we were done collecting creatures we brought them back up the beach to the cabin and separated them into buckets. Katie enjoyed watching them crawl and swim around:

Meanwhile, Jeff and Clark and Grandpa were far out in the ocean catching halibut. They each caught two, their limit.

Upon their return they hauled the six halibut up the beach in this garbage can.

The proud fishermen:

After filleting them out, Grandpa and Clark threw the carcasses out onto the beach and we all gathered around for the Bald Eagle Show:

We packaged the halibut into bags and then we needed to head across the bay to Seldovia so we could give it to someone to freeze for us so that it would keep until we were ready to leave. Here is how we would get the boat in. It is on a pulley system:

Before heading to town we took a bit of a scenic boat ride:



Here is a sea otter we spotted:

Here is another sea otter in the Seldovia Slough. Notice the neat houses up on stilts:

Once in town we walked around and found this little garden that was kept by a very dedicated woman:

Grandma and Emily enjoying the boardwalk along the Slough:

More flowers tended by the wonderful gardener lady:

Tonight before dinner, Jeff and I participated in my very favorite activity at our cabin: kayaking. I love how close I feel to the ocean when I am out in the the kayak - it is so quiet. Here is Jeff and I headed out towards the mouth of the bay:

This is Jeff as we explored:

What a perfect, perfect day!