Homer Spit

After we picked up Mert we drove back out to Homer Spit to explore a little further. Homer Spit looks a little like a fishing community that has seen its better day but from March through October it’s a finely oiled machine.

The Homer Spit is a geographical landmark located in Homer, Alaska on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. The spit is a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. The spit is also home to the Homer Boat Harbor. The harbor contains both deep and shallow water docks and serves up to 1500 commercial and pleasure boats at its summer peak. Additional features and attractions include The Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon, which is an artificial “fishing hole”, campgrounds, hotels, and restaurants, and the Salty Dawg Saloon, which is constructed out of several historic buildings from Homer. Hundreds of eagles have gathered there in winter to be fed by Jean Keene, the “Eagle Lady”. The Spit features the longest road into ocean waters in the entire world, taking up 10–15 minutes to cover by car.

Spit, from the air

Two different theories postulate that the spit originates either from the tidal swells and currents of Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay over millennia of sand buildup or that it was pushed into place by now-retreated glaciers. In 1899, the Cook Inlet Coal Fields Company laid a railroad track along the spit, connecting the docks to the coal fields along Kachemak Bay. The resulting business led to the development of what eventually became Homer, Alaska. In the 1960s, several hippies, known as “spit rats”, traveled from all around to camp on the Homer Spit, many of them becoming successful commercial fishermen over time. The 1964 Alaska earthquake shrank it to 508 acres (2.06 km²), and killed most of the vegetation, making it today mostly gravel and sand.

“The Salty Dog”

Inside Salty

The Salty Dog Saloon was my favorite spot on the SPIT (for obvious reasons) and as you can imagine is a local favorite and a tourist must-see. Once inside you will see the entire landscape covered in dollar bills with each one telling the drunken tale from patrons past. Oh, if only those walls could talk!

After walking the full length of the boardwalk and finding some hidden gems we focused on getting some lunch. We ended up at Captain Patties, highly recommended by the locals.

Captain Patties

Captain Patties serves up copious amounts of fresh Halibut every day and it doesn’t get any fresher than this. I saw a delivery boy walk the fresh fish over from the filet table just 10 minutes earlier. Tomorrow it’s back to Anchorage for a day and then on to Denali and Mt. McKinley State Park!                          MM