Huffin’ and Puffin’ in Homer

---

Huffin’ and Puffin’ in Homer

John got adventurous and had the Dutch Breakfast, eggs sunny side up over Gouda cheese, a slice of ham and a thick slice of toast, but sausage and hashed browns were added to that. Sharon had French toast.

We disembarked in Homer at 9:45AM, assembled ashore, and later walked to the pier where our boat The Discovery was berthed. All other tours were bussed by school busses. And then we saw “the ramp” down to the tour boat. We had received a letter with pictures warning people about the ramp so they could cancel the tour if they didn’t think they could navigate it. But they didn’t do what we saw justice. The ramp was a steep iron mesh walkway, with the right side with triangular bars added to prevent slipping. It was a slow, long, tiring descent to the water level. And this was low tide where we had disembarked from the lower promenade; three decks above the normal disembark point on A-Deck. Then we had a long walk to the floating pier to the end of the boardwalk to board The Discovery.

We came across quite a number of common mergansers (mergus merganser) in the water, a type of seaduck. We also saw some glaucous-winged gulls (larus glaucescen). This tour, Gull Island and Seldovia, is billed as primarily a bird sighting exhibition with a visit to Seldovia, an Alaskan village featuring chain saw carving competitions every Memorial Day weekend and unspoiled by the commercial onslaught prevalent at many of the larger more popular port destinations of cruise ships; however, by this time of year well into September, many of the birds have already migrated. They had also warned us about this several days earlier so it was no surprise. Fortunately for us, we were to discover, our tour would become primarily an incredible whale sighting opportunity on both legs of our journey to and from Seldovia. We journeyed by Cohen Island, and then past Yukon Island. The shoreline was incredibly beautiful, and we were again blessed with fantastic weather. Along one portion of shore we saw extensive mule tail kelp floating on the surface. Shortly we approached Gull Island. Earlier in the summer, there would have been 20,000 birds covering this outcropping of rocks topped with some grass and mossy covering. Still, there were between 500 to 1,000 birds still in residence, including black-legged kittiwakes. Near the top of the rocks, in a layer of soil and beneath a grassy roof were numerous puffin (sorry, no Latin name available) burrows, but not a puffin in sight. The captain said we would probably see some later in the water (and we did). We also spotted two immature bald eagles, often mistaken for golden eagles. They were perched on the highest rocks of the island. Because of the dearth of birds we circled three-quarters of the island, and continued on towards our Seldovia destination with plans to spend time on the return watching whales who began appearing two weeks ago in this crossing.

Along the shore, we spotted another immature bald eagle in the tree. The captain pointed out a small half-basketball shaped grassy knoll of an island which he informed us was conveniently named Small Grassy Island. And then he said for us to observe an elephant shaped rocky outcrop, that looked like an elephant from the side with the trunk down towards the sea. Daylight could be seen between the trunk and the sea, and the rock that formed the elephant’s front leg. He said that as we watched the elephant, it would raise its trunk, and indeed, as our vessel continued forward, our changing perspective of the rock did indeed to look as if the elephant raised its rocky trunk out of the sea, and eventually it pointed over its head. This of course was an optical phenomenon of the rock formations behind our elephant rock that combined with our perspective and caused this fantastic illusion. In the distance, the captain pointed out Anchor Point, where Captain Cook lost an anchor. This appeared to be a long thin stretch of rocky shore extending into the sea. And of course, if anyone finds an anchor, we now know who it belongs to.

We spotted several whale spouts, and slowed to briefly watch several groups. We also spotted our first tufted puffin in the water, a black bird with a bright orange beak. We also saw a few small rafts of otters. We came into Seldovia around 12:30 PM and had 2 ½ hours ashore to find lunch. We were planning to have fish and chips, and maybe some chowder, at The Mad Fish; but, ours were the last cruise visitors of the season and this eatery had already closed for the season. The remaining sit-down restaurant mentioned by the captain, was The Tidepool Café. Sharon and I were among the last to arrive, and table space was already occupied. We had a slight wait, but finally got a seat in corner at a nice table with a glass top, and an assortment of black sand and sea shells beneath it. We ordered the two specials, Fish and Chips ($16) for Sharon, and Fish Tacos with blackened halibut ($17) for John. Hamburgers were also available for $11. Our food was delicious, and my fish tacos would be approved by Ron, a fish taco aficionado and the Best Man at our wedding, though he might balk at the price (we used to get $1 fish tacos on fish-taco-Tuesdays at a local fast food chain). John also had a bowl of the seafood chowder which was a very tasty homemade blend of many types of seafood, abundantly present, and a bargain at $5.

We made the hike up a very steep driveway to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, a light blue and white wooden structure, heavily weathered with a church bell tower (with shiny brass bell). We found another way back to the pier, and re-boarded The Discovery.

On the way back we had a very close encounter with the humpback whales. The captain brought our craft to a complete stop, turning our engines off, and we drifted in the waters where numerous whales were congregating. We sighted numerous whales surfacing, spouting, and then descending for feeding with the impressive fluke display. Then we sighted two, spouting, and approaching our craft broadside. At the last second, they descended beneath the vessel, and the tail of one actually brushed against the side of the vessel. The captain said that was the first time this had happened to him. Sharon and I were outside on the rear of the craft when another large humpback and a companion surface within feet of our vessel, spouting water that wafted our way, spraying us and those out on deck, the stench of dead fish quite apparent. Sharon took many pictures of flukes, and near flukes. Because of the extensive whale watching on this bird-sighting cruise, we were one hour late getting back to Homer, and the captain said he might have some ‘splainin’ to do. Still, we did make it in time before the scheduled 5:30PM all aboard. Still, if we hadn’t have been on an HA tour, we’d have both been worried.

We went to dinner, and were quite hungry. John started with a pastry-meat appetizer and Sharon’s Greek meatball soup, and then had a hearty lamb soup whose name that begins with a “T” which was superb, and ordered the sauerbraten, which was magnificently tender and beefy tasting. Sauerbraten is one of his mother’s favorite dishes which we both missed since a local German restaurant closed when the owner retired. Sharon had to resort to “The Everyday Steak” on the everyday menu, which again was good, but there was nothing in the nine entrees offered on the daily menu that looked appetizing to her. John had the caramel chocolate truffle crisp and Sharon had a hot fudge sundae (again from the everyday menu). John had reservations but he ordered the daily cordial, the slippery nipple, a concoction of grenadine, ouzo and Irish cream.

We finished dinner early and decided to hit the casino. John enjoyed some success, getting more than his share of good hands, but still only one blackjack. There were three to four other players, who were mostly playing fine, but one was the lady who often plays very erratic (someone needs to tell her not to hit 16 when dealer holds a six). But my feeling, is just let people play their cards… sometime what they do will hurt everyone, sometimes it will help everyone, but in the end all it really does is hurt them. Sharon went down to the room early, and was going to prepare some pictures for posting and use the 2-for-1 time offer for internet use this evening. I got to $85 up, and ended up pushing a double-down with 20 that I was sure I was going to win, and cashed in. When I went down to the cabin, it had been made up, but Sharon was nowhere to be found. I went back to the blackjack table to wait until our 7:45PM meeting time. When she didn’t show up, I stumbled on her in the lounge… she had come up to use her bonus internet minutes, when the cabin was being readied for the night by the cabin boy.

We went to the show. We were late arriving and found seats along the side wall upstairs. John ordered a Coke, being thirsty after looking all over for Sharon. The show featured Brad Cummings and Rex, a ventriloquist with a hilarious dinosaur that hatches from an egg right in front of you. He recently appeared on David Letterman. The other show highlight was an audience participation segment… if you see the show, you may not want to sit in the first two rows. Someone there is going to be the target of an awful lot of ribbing. Everyone seemed to enjoy the show. Another great day.

---