Sunday 14 June 2009

05/06/2009 - 14/06/2009 - Anchorage to Seward

05/06/2009 - On our way out of Anchorage heading to Homer we decided to stop at the Alaska Zoo. Whilst it was great to see the Bears i.e. Polar, Grizzly and Black up close, they were in what I considered to be a small enclosure, which was a little bit distressing. I much prefer to see them out in the wild. All of the animals are rescue animals which was a good thing. I really am in awe of these magnificent creatures. I could honestly watch them for hours and hours.
06/06/2009 - We arrived in Homer and just couldn't believe the number of people fishing. They were fishing for King Salmon. A couple of things we found out:

1. You have a maximum limit of 2 King Salmon a Day - a maximum of 5 per Season.

2. You need to not only have a Fishing license but you also need to have an additional King Salmon license.

3. Up until the end of June you are not allowed to Snag a King Salmon you must catch the fish via the hook in its mouth - if you do happen to snag a fish in the tail etc. you need to release it immediately. Dave did mention that I would go hungry, but I told the Big Fella that I landed him by the .....

4. And that the time of day does not predict when you fish only the tide. There seems to be just as many people out at 3:00pm as
there is at 3;00am. This photo was taken at midnight.

Dave and I are both having a bit of trouble sleeping, it never gets really dark as you can see from the photo above. This photo was taken from where we were Dry Camping, we looked straight into one of the inlets where the fishing just never stopped.

Another little interesting fact that we have found is that around most of the boat harbours they have a Life jacket Loaner Station (no fee) - for Life jackets for Children whilst out in the boats. The law is that children under the age of 13 must wear a Life jacket while boating - I think it's a great idea to have the Life jackets so handy and it is such a great honour system. We had a good time in Homer - it's a small fishing / tourist town.

07/06/2009 - 11/06/2009. After leaving Homer we headed straight for Seward. We spent our first night in a small RV part about 10 miles outside of Seward. At the back of the campground was a creek, where we actually got to see the Salmon Spawning - unfortunately or probably more fortunately there were no Bears in sight. Seward is another lovely little fishing / tourist town. Apparently the cruise ships dock in Seward 3-4 times a week. Seward has a great vibe, a really pretty Marina and a really cute little downtown area. Seward is situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is known as the 'Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park. On one of my walks along the shore front, I ran into 4 Americans from Mississippi. We had previously seen and had a quick chat with through out our travels around Alaska. I stopped and had a little chat with Jerry and Irma and then headed on back to Stubbie. After a short time Jerry and Ed both arrived at our motorhome and invited us back to their motorhomes (they both have huge and fantastic motorhomes - makes Stubbie look so small) for a drink and then out to dinner. We arrived at their motorhomes for a drink before we headed out for a lovely dinner. It was a really wonderful evening. They are such lovely people you could not help but enjoy yourself, whilst also learning a bit more about their country and I finally got to try the King Crab. It was nice but for me our Mud and/or Sand crabs win hands down. Dave tried the famous Halibut, which he enjoyed but also said that it doesn't have a lot of flavour. The next afternoon Dave and I went for a walk to see them all and to drop off some DVD's that we had already watched. Well their hospitality was just amazing. We ended up having a few Margarita's , a lovely Taco Salad for dinner and another great evening.

Dave and I have decided to lash out and have a splurge on one of the tours, it's a helicopter ride to Bear Lake where we will land and then Kayak for about 3 1/2 hours around Bear Glacier and the Ice Bergs before returning back to Seward via helicopter. Of course the morning of our tour, I'm awake at 5:00am we are not getting picked up until 8:15am, but I can't sleep in anymore, I'm like a big child at Christmas time. Up until this morning the weather had been sunny and and a nice warm 12 degrees- but not today it's overcast a nice cool 7 degrees and it looks like rain - oh well not to worry. We arrive out to the helicopter pad and the pilot is a bit worried about the weight, but after a couple more calculations - it looks like it's a goer. We are given a few quick instructions and then we are off. It was just awesome, we only flew about 200 feet above the ground and you could see the coastline so clearly. The coastline was a lot more breath taking than what I had expected, an added bonus was that I got to see another Black Bear wandering around just below the helicopter. After we landed and walked to our Cache to collect our Kayaks, a surprise was that Dave and I are in a double kayak. We are given a few minutes of instructions and away we go. The Lake is just like glass, there are hardly any ripples on the water - it really is magnificent. The ice bergs are just striking - they really are a lot like some art sculptures - only to me a lot more beautiful. The blue ice bergs are just absolutely gorgeous. It was just so peaceful and tranquil that sometime the only noise that you could hear was the great boom of either an ice berg breaking in two or part of the Glacier calving away. After about 3 hours of kayaking it is time to head back to the Cache - It's now that I realise that my right shoulder is really starting to ache and that tomorrow I might be in a bit of trouble. But all I can say is that it was totally worth it - it was just such a marvellous day, one that I will always remember. On the ride back I got to sit in the front of the helicopter, the view was just fantastic. All in all the day was over way to quick, even though I really don't think I could of kayaked for too much longer, luckily we were in a double and the Big Fella really dug deep at the end. Luckily because I did notice that in the beginning he was being a bit slack and that I had to paddle a lot more because he was "busy taking photos".


After our Big Day we stop in to see Ed and Falba (our friends from Mississippi) unfortunately Falba has developed laryngitis - so unfortunately we will miss out on their lovely company for dinner. Dave and I have a lovely meal at the Salmon Bake and start to make our way into Anchorage - Why are we going back to Anchorage, one might ask, well I might as well tell you - because if I don't I'm sure the Big Fella will dob me in. Okay so I left the Cell Phone at the Alaska Zoo - well at least I found it. So after another quick stop in Anchorage we are now on our way to Valdez.
Just in case you are interested Dave's team won the NHL Stanley Cup this year....The Penguins..Yep they beat the Flames and the Canucks..

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