Sailing, Sailing

Woke up to sunshine and a little warmer weather. Ziggy and I walked around the campground and I got ready for the excursion to Halibut Cove. At 11:00am Jeff and I and another couple drove over to the Spit to board the Danny J. This small boat is a ferry service over to the remote community and we sat on benches in the front. Along the way we circled Gull Island where thousands of gulls, cormorants and murres inhabit the cliffs. There was a great commotion and we saw a juvenile eagle resting on a ledge. Then an adult bald eagle flew over and all hell broke loose. The birds started flying and soaring and screaming. It finally calmed down, but was quite a show.

We arrived at Halibut Cove and found a picturesque community that can only be reached by boat or float plane. We were impressed by the houses and gardens. A few artists have studios here and we visited their galleries. From the dock you can access most of the buildings by boardwalks. Other homes are on islands and residents have small skiffs to run around. There is a floating post office and a floating coffee house. All in all it was totally charming. Our excursion included lunch reservations at The Saltry, the lone restaurant and surprisely good. It used to be a processing center for the herring industry but now offers lunch and dinner. I had chowder and a nice salad while Jeff chose a buffalo burger. They had delicious sour dough bread too.

The ride back was windy and they issued rain parkas which we all wore to keep dry. We got back to terra firma and shopped a little and went back to the campground. Had dinner in and watched TV. Tomorrow we drive to Palmer passing through Anchorage on the way.