Our Homer Odyssey: Labor Day

I planned on doing a blog post for every month or every couple of months, but it seems like we've been packing in the activities lately. We've taken out the ship's morale boats a few times and our adventures never disappoint. Brian asked if we wanted to go explore China Poot Lagoon. It's just under 5 miles to cross Kachemak Bay directly from the Homer spit, but once you cross, the coastline is full of coves and lagoons to explore. It was a rainy day, but the seas were calm and there was no wind. We knew that "explore China Poot Lagoon" was code for "scope out duck hunting sites," but it seemed like a good idea anyway.

The kids are real troopers in the boat, especially Kate who loves to drive.

We saw the usual sea otters and giant jelly fish as well as a few seals and puffins. When we got into the lagoon it was very shallow and easy to see sea creatures in the clear water. There were flounder zooming everywhere. This seemed strange to me because I have never heard anyone mention flounder before. Halibut and salmon, yes. Cod and dolly varden, sure. But flounder? When we got home, a quick Google search revealed info on Kachemak Bay's arrowtooth flounder. A Homer News article titled, "Arrowtooth flounder: A fish so foul it's only good for bait," told me everything I needed to know.

After Brian scoped out his site for the opening day of duck hunting season that would start the next day, we went further into the lagoon. We know that there is a personal use dip net season in China Poot Lagoon for sockeye salmon. People hang out of their boats with enormous nets to catch the salmon heading upstream. We were out of town this year, but plan to dip with a vengeance next year. This stream is a terminal fishery stocked by Alaska Fish & Game. They put the salmon fry in China Poot Lake, where we rented the cabin a few weeks ago. The fish mature for a year or two before heading out to sea. It's another 2-3 years before they return, but a waterfall prevents the fish from returning to the lake to spawn. Long story short, dip net season ended August 7, so we did not expect to see anything since it's already Labor Day. Even without binoculars it looked like the water was boiling, so we beached the boat and continued the short walk upstream. It was crazy amazing. There were thousands of fish.

The banks were lined with dead and decaying fish and many of the fish swimming looked wrecked,

but many did not. We did not come prepared to fish, but this crew is not afraid to make homemade spears to get our fish on.

Then, I discovered the freshest bear scat I've seen to date

and hauled our cubs back to the boat.

Next year, we are coming for you. Salmon beware.

We beached the boat a second time because the kids spotted a beach that needed to be explored. They named the beach and cove and begged to come back and camp there. Since it would cost $6,000-$7,000 for the 4 of us to stay 2 nights at the nearby wilderness lodge (this is a different lodge from the one in our July post), even I might agree to camp at Jessie Dog Beach in Pirate Cove.

Our scouting work paid off as Brian brought home 6 ducks the next day. Jessie dog was in her element. It's been awhile since she's been able to show off her skills and make herself useful.

Brian was so fired up about our adventure yesterday and the successful hunt that he wanted to head out again. We joined him for another trip to Halibut Cove and brought along Kate's best friend from school. I've been dreaming about The Saltry restaurant and wanted to get in another visit before they closed for the season. Unbeknownst to us it was their last day.