The weather is definitely on the turn - it was grey and overcast when we woke then raining by the time we left Seward, just after 8am for Homer.
First stop was for petrol then when were on our way for our 4 hour journey.
As we started to go west the weather brightened and we had no more rain until late evening.
We thought we would stop for coffee after Soldotna as we would have been driving for over 2 hours but we found nowhere until we reached an Espresso cabin just outside Ninilchik - we bought 2 coffees and headed on to see if we could find a shop as they didn't have any cakes we fancied - we stopped at the general store on the off chance - as I entered you could smell baking - they lovely warm fresh cinnamon buns - as they were enormous I bought one and took several serviettes so we could share it in the car without getting too messy ...mmmm - a real find and worth waiting for!
We made our way to Homer, the halibut fishing capital of the world and made our way to the long spit with its eclectic mix of shops restaurants and independent tour operators - selling fishing or bear viewing trips.
We weighed in for our bald mountain air trip on Sunday - which is in the balance due to the weather forecast - rain - so the could could be too low! We then went for a late lunch at Captain Patties - and had halibut - well we had to really - mine was baked in a sauce and lovely - John had fish and chips - and determined it was not as a succulent as cod - meatier and drier. As we wandered back to car we saw an enormous halibut being weighed - the largest this season @ 348.6lbs! It was massive and far bigger than the young man who landed it.......we heard them say it took 3 hours to land and was the last fish of the trip.
We then headed back to town and visited the Alsaka islands and oceans visitor centre where we got information about trails for tomorrow, listened to a talk on their seabird research - an indicator of the health of the oceans and saw a moose and her two calves grazing outside on our entry and exit to the centre - we gave her a wide berth but luckily I remembered, on our way out that I had my iPad so I got a quick photo (today's photo) - along with many other visitors! We headed off to our B&B - The bear studio @ Cozy Cove Inn and settled in - fantastic views over Kachemak Bay and the Kenai mountains beyond.
Allan from Wildlife Trails popped in with a bottle of wine - the first time we have met him - but good to catch up - he is leading a group and doing reccies but did go to Brooks Falls today so gave us some tips if hopefully we go on Sunday.