Homer’s a touristy, fishing town with lots of art galleries and pretty good restaurants. The Homer Spit is a long, skinny finger of land that juts out into Kachemak Bay. It’s lined with shops, restaurants, and charter companies that’ll take you out on a halibut fishing tour for about $500. We didn’t do it (we took a kayaking trip instead), but you’re almost assured of catching a 40-50 pound halibut.

The town itself sprawls a bit, and isn’t nearly as scenic as a place like Seward. Still, there’s lots to like about Homer, particularly in August, where you can sit along the spit and watch silver salmon leap out of the water every 10-15 seconds. I had no idea they jumped like that.

if you go, be sure to book a ride over to Halibut Cove, a tiny little village across the bay. It has less than 20 full-time residents, and was started by an artist many years ago as a refuge for her to work from. In fact, she leaves her gallery open for visitors, even when there’s no one there. Just take off your shoes, and be sure to turn out the lights when you leave. The village has one restaurant, two art galleries, and a lodge. You can only get there by boat. The restaurant was very good. It’s a really calm, peaceful little spot.

Click on the photo for a Homer/Halibut Cove slide show.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 10:46 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Photo Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.