Alaska Day 8: Homer Wildlife Tour

Monday morning, I awoke refreshed for a great change, feeling far better than I did the day before. We were scheduled for a wildlife boat tour on Kachemak Bay from 10 to noon. If you look closely at the panorama below, a temperature inversion has the bay fogged in with a thin layer of clouds on the water's surgace, the air above being colder than the water. As beautiful as it was on shore, this was not auspicious weather for seeing much in the way of wildlife.

Temperature Inversion Has Kachemak Bay Fogged In

Sandhill Cranes Make Their Morning Appearance

We had coffee as usual outside on the patio while waiting for time to depart to the harbor to board a Coldwater Alaska water taxi for a cruise on Kachemak Bay to see what we could see. It being really foggy, there was not going to be too much opportunity to see anything at a distance, precluding any whales, if even there were any in the bay. We saw a few whales out in Cook Inlet later in the week; whales in the bay are rare. Ann really wanted to see whales, but this wasn't the time for them.

Walking down the ramp to the harbor docks, the harbor was socked in with low-level fog. After we had been standing around for three or four minutes, our pilot Patrick brought the boat around to one of the demarcated loading zones at the foot of the ramps. The vast ramps and floating docks are necessary because of the very large tide swing. We were the only two passengers on the boat, so it was a very intimate and personal tour. Patrick seemed as excited to show us his Alaska (he’s from Wisconsin) as we were to see it.

Immediately exiting the harbor, we saw a great many storm petrels skittering about, some doing their dance on the water. Close in as well were rafts of common murres and the water was dotted here and there with tufted puffins. I had hoped to see and photograph horned puffins on this trip, and while I think I saw one or two of the small birds flying by the boat, I never got close to taking a picture of one or even saying definitively that I saw one.

Storm Petrel Doing Water Dance

Common Murres

Tufted Puffin Taking Off

We made our way fairly quickly straight across the water to Gull Island where we spent a few minutes circling the fogged-in rocky island, home to nesting black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls, common murres, and tufted puffins.

Black-Legged Kittiwakes on the Nest

Murres Nest High up on the Rocks

Pigeon Guillemots

Glaucous-Winged Gull Attacks Kittiwake Chick

Pelagic Cormorant

Flap Between Murre and Puffin

From Gull Island, we moved over to China Poot Bay to see if we could see seals and sea lions hauled out on the rocky shore. The fog lying right on the water was a clear sign that the air was colder than the water and so the seals and sea lions were still in the water rather than out basking. I had hoped to see a Steller's sea lion on this trip, but it was not to be. We have a few on our coast in Oregon but I have yet to get lucky enough to see one. California sea lions yes, Steller's no.

Curious Harbor Seal

From the shelter of China Poot Bay, we moved a bit east to the exclusive enclave of Halibut Cove, one of the most picturesque places that I have ever seen and the place where we were to have dinner tomorrow night at the famed Saltry restaurant. Halibut Cove is reachable only by boat or by floatplane and the Saltry runs its own ferry service to and from Homer using an impeccably maintained wooden 1940s fishing boat called the Danny J. Our few minutes spent in Halibut Cove was the only time this morning that we would have sunshine. The fog closed back in around us as soon as we left the shelter of the cove.

Saltry Crew Quarters

The Danny J Ferry at Saltry Dock

The Saltry Complex

Stormbird Ferries Goods and Mail from Homer

This wildlife tour being the first time that we were on the water of Kachemak Bay was the first of many days for us to see sea otters whose presence is unmistakable. If you are on the water in the bay, it is a given that you will see otters. They seem to the original Alaska stoners, placidly floating away on the water oblivious to pretty much everything, sometimes miles from the shore. I have seen sea otters before in the kelp beds of California's central coast, but never up close like this. These were the first sea otters that Ann had ever seen. At 4-5 feet long, they are larger than you imagine and impossibly cuter as well.

Impossible to be in Kachemak Bay and Not See Otters

Highly Unusual: Sea Otter with Two Pups

Looking Into Kachemak Bay State Park

Sentinel at Opening to Halibut Cover

The Hillsides are Incredibly Steep

After idling through Halibut Cove checking out the scenery and otters, we puttered back out to the bay proper where Patrick revved the twin outboards in the thick fog and had us back at the dock in the harbor in about 20 minutes.