Day 19-20 Homer, Soldotna, Ninilchik, Kenai

We gasped when we headed down a bluff into Homer spit.  The mountain view surrounding the fishing town was breathtaking.  We found a city park to stay at that has a great a view of the shore with the mountains for the night and visited with several nice couples. Talked to a tent camper who told us not to park on any shores / we asked about parking on the beach in Alaska.  He had a friend of his who lost his car once when the tide came in while he was sleeping.

We went halibut fishing the next day. Very strenuous sport. Not only do you reel in a huge fish by yourself but the weight on the hook is 3 lbs. so it would drop to the bottom.  I was the first to get a fish but it got away after I reeled it in. I was happy and exhausted to reel in one more and then I caught another that pretty much wore me out.  I did get a bit woozy on the up and down movement but managed to control it. Tom also caught his 2 fish which was the limit.  They cleaned them for us and we froze them and brought them home to enjoy.

We ate at Captain Patties (salmon, halibut and shrimp).

Next morning we headed for Soldotna to see the wall to wall salmon fishing at the Kenai boardwalk. Tons of fisherman on a swift powder blue river many wearing life vests and it seemed like miles of boardwalks along the river.  All the fishermen seemed to be catching fish.

We headed for Ninilchik and Kenai where we saw an old Russian Orthodox Church and a beautiful blue onion dome Russian Orthodox Church close to a bluff overlooking the shore.

Where we looked out over a bluff at the shore,  we saw multitudes of people in the water and cars  and rvs parked on the beach and wondered what was happening?  Dipnetting!  Resident Alaskans can catch large quantities of salmon fish which they can freeze or dry to help them get thru the winter months. Allowed 25 salmon per head of household limit and an additional 10 per family member.