We arrived in Anchorage a bit late (2am) and realized it was going to be a wet couple days ahead.  By mid morning we were rested enough to make the 3.5hr drive.  Being mid-day we didn’t see any moose or other wild mammals, birds were mostly gulls so far. 

It was pouring rain all Friday, but we refused to let that get us down.  We have come too far to let a little water deter us.  After checking in with the charters and getting our key to the cabin (a pretty nice cabin with two bedrooms and full kitchen), I talked Dad into a drive down to Homer.  Driving across Homer Spit, I quickly realized how much of a tourist trap it is.  I am not bothered by this since I did need some t-shirts for family and I always wanted to see the famous Salty Dawg saloon.  There was also a great little souvenir shop for the “Time Bandit” (a boat from Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch”).  I watch this show off and on so it was pretty cool to me.  For dinner I talked Dad into trying his first raw oyster.  It was funny and I will posted a video of it on my MobileMe site.  He was a trooper and ate it with about a teaspoon of tobasco sauce...lol

It stays in a twilight mode well after 10pm and starts getting light at 5am.  This makes it a little hard to sleep but we both managed some rest.

Waking up early and meeting for the halibut charter we discovered we would actually get a day without rain.  There were eight of us on the boat plus a captain and deckhand.  We launched and took about 45 minutes to arrive at the fishing grounds.  We started fishing immediately and I caught one of the first fish, a small shark called a dogfish.  I was excited but it was quickly thrown back in hopes of catching halibut.  The halibut started biting about the time I learned something about myself.  Alaska is wild, beautiful, scenic, and amazing as long I stay on land!  Yes, I got sick in those heavy swells and so did Dad.  Regardless, we toughed it out and ended up with 4 halibut total weight of 75lbs live and 36lbs filleted.  Not a bad haul for my our first trip!

Exhausted, we rested in the afternoon and went looking for moose in the evening.  Saw one cow moose at close range that I’ll post pictures of later.  I got a few life birds on the fishing trip today.  Since I have never lived near the ocean and I am now aware of my lack of sea-legs, I doubt I’ll be adding many more seabirds to my life-list anytime soon.

Life Birds-

Harlequin Duck

Black-legged Kittiwake

Common Murre

Horned Puffin

Fork-tailed Storm-petrel