Alaska Summer Solstice Cruise - Homer, Alaska

Cruise Day 20

Friday, June 28, 2024

Today we are in Homer, Alaska.  This is our first visit here and when we arrived it was overcast and foggy.  The weather forecast doesn’t include any clearing so it looks like this will be our weather for the day.  The good news is that it is not too cold with the highs being in the 50’s.

Homer is the red marker in the center left of the map.

It was foggy and overcast as we sailed into Homer.

Homer is a small town of only 5900 and is located on the Kenai Peninsula on Kachemak Bay at the mouth of the Cook Inlet.  It is known as the "Halibut Capital of the World" and also the City of Peonies.  A focal point of the town is the Homer Spit, a long strip of land that reaches four and a half miles out into the bay with shops, art galleries, seafood restaurants and beaches.  The Homer spit is also where the town's harbor is located.

A closer look at Homer.  You can see the Spit reaching out into the bay with the boat harbor near the end.  The ship's tenders docked in the harbor.

We are tendering again today, but hopefully this will be the last time on this cruise.  The tenders will take us into the boat harbor that is near the end of the spit.  If you are on a ship excursion you take a tender into one side of the harbor where you meet the buses and if you’re on your own, you tender into the other side of the harbor where you have access to restaurants, shops and other tourist-related businesses.

Val and I are on a ship tour today called “Homer Highlights: Town and Country”, so we were up at seven again as we had to meet in the World Stage just after eight.  Our tour group was the first one called, so we were quickly in the tender and on our way to shore where we found our bus waiting.  Homer is a relatively small town, so our tour bus was a school bus, but it worked out fine.  We met our tour guide Michael and bus driver Bill, and we were on our way.

Our first stop was quite a ways out of town at the Norman Lowell Gallery.  We weren’t familiar with Norman Lowell, but he is a well-known artist who has been painting the wild Alaskan scenery for over 50 years.  The gallery was at his residence, and we got to see the log cabin he (he is blind now) and his wife live in, his studio as well as the gallery itself.  It was a beautiful area which must have been inspiring in itself to him.

The Norman Lowell Gallery is located quite a ways out of town (the yellow marker), but it was a very scenic drive.

The entrance to the Norman Lowell Gallery.  Besides the gallery his home (where he and his wife still lives) and his studio are there also.

 

 

The log cabin where Norman Powell and his wife still live.

This is his studio.

The entrance to his studio.

A look inside his studio.

The entrance to the gallery.

On the way back into town we stopped at a lookout where we had beautiful views of the bay and the mountains across it and could see back into town and our ship anchored way off in the distance. 

Our ship and the Homer Spit off in the distance.

From there, it was back into town where we stopped at the Islands & Oceans Visitor Center where we looked at the exhibit on the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.  There were also great views from the outside deck.

After that, we had one more stop to make at the Pratt Museum, a local museum highlighting Homer and the surrounding area.  After that it was time to head back to the ship, but just after we started someone yelled moose and there was a very large moose in a field along the road. Bill (our driver) did a quick U-turn, but the moose was pretty far away and we couldn’t get out of the bus, so we didn’t get much of a view of it.

Val with one of the local inhabitants.

We drove out on the spit and were given the opportunity to get off the bus where all the restaurants and shops were and about half the bus did.  Val and I were tempted, but it would require quite a bit of walking and we didn’t really feel like it today especially since I had taken my heavy pack with our photo equipment in it.  That was a mistake as this wasn’t much of a tour for photos, but I was stuck with it and didn’t want to lug it around.

The Homer Harbor, lots of fishing boats.

The bus took us on to the tender dock and we were soon back on the ship.  We hadn’t eaten since our early breakfast, so we were hungry and headed off to lunch as soon as we had dropped our things back in our room.

After lunch, we pretty much relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, and all I did was write up the blog for yesterday in Anchorage and downloaded our pictures for the day.  We also went to the Neptune Lounge and changed the ship excursion we had booked in Haines from another boat trip to a photo tour.  Another advantage of having the Neptune Lounge concierge available to make these changes for us.

Some views from the ship, here a tender heads into the harbor.

A panoramic view of the Homer Spit.

The last tender heads back to the ship before we sail away.

Tonight was Orange Night on the ship honoring the Dutch heritage of the Holland America Cruise Line.  Everyone was supposed to wear something orange and there was a big party in the Rolling Stone Lounge.  Val and I had come prepared, and I had bought orange suspenders and an orange bow tie and Val had an orange scarf so we got in the spirit of the night.

Dinner was Dutch and Indonesian themed and very good.  Indonesia was a Dutch colony from 1816 to 1941 and since most of the dining room staff is Indonesian, there is a real connection there.  Anyway, it was a great dinner, and we had a good time.

After dinner, we went to the casino where I had another good night on the same slot machine I won at a few nights ago.  If it wasn’t for that machine, I’d be broke by now.  After the casino, we walked by the Rolling Stone Lounge and the party was in full swing with many of the ship’s officers present and lots of orange and the band was going strong.  It was just too crowded for Val and I as our partying days are pretty much behind us, but it was good to see so many people enjoying themselves and having such a good time.

We were pretty tired tonight, and we didn’t stay up very long as we were both looking forward to a good night’s sleep and a sea day tomorrow.

Alaska Summer Solstice Cruise - Anchorage Day 2

Cruise Day 19

Thursday, June 27, 2024

For our second day in Anchorage we had a ship’s tour scheduled.  We had to meet at 8:15 on the pier so we got up at seven to give ourselves plenty of time.  It was another beautiful day in Anchorage with some clouds, but temperatures were mild, and it looked like another good day.

Our photo tour today will take us from Anchorage (the red marker at the top left) to nearly the end of the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet (red marker at the bottom right).

Our tour is called “The Cook Inlet Photo Experience” which is a small group photo-oriented tour.  After breakfast in the Neptune Lounge, we got off the ship and met our group at the end of the pier.  There were 20 of us and we divided into two groups and were on our way.

Another beautiful day as we made our way from the ship to vans for our tour.

Our first stop was a seaplane airport where we watched several seaplanes landing and taking off.  From there we drove up the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet and stopped at several scenic viewpoints.  Both of the van drivers / guides were photographers, so they were giving out helpful advice along the way.  Our guide was using the same camera I use so we compared notes and had an interesting discussion on cameras.

 

We had taken this route on the train back in 2014, so it looked familiar to us, but this time we were seeing it from a van instead of a train.  We continued up to almost the end of the Turnagain Arm towards Whittier where we stopped at another scenic spot, this time on a river.  We spent some time there and they broke out some snacks and water for a break.

Val is taking a picture of a lady we had met on the tour.  She had taken several pictures of us and gave us her cabin number so we could get them, but unfortunately, we forgot to call her when we got back to the ship and then forgot our her room number later when we remembered the pictures.

After that we headed back towards Anchorage and made one more stop when we spotted some Dall sheep up in the rocks.  From there it was back into Anchorage and the ship.

Although we saw some beautiful scenery, this tour was a disappointment as far as a photo tour goes.  First off, we spent most of the day in the van and then the spots they chose to stop, although scenic, were really not that special.  Typically, on a photo tour, the guides who are locals, have some unique and out of the way spots they take us to where we can get some photos that are more interesting than turnouts along the highway.  Oh well, that said, we did have a good time and our two guides were very nice and knew their photography, but their choice of locations was pretty mundane.

We got back to the ship a little after one and immediately went to lunch as we were both hungry.  After lunch, we both rested and relaxed for a while.  I’m not sure why, but both of us felt tired and didn’t have much ambition.  I did download our pictures and although nothing spectacular stood out, we did get some good shots of the Dall sheep.

We sail away from Anchorage and on to our next port of Homer.

It was dinner as usual and after missing the casino last night we returned tonight with little luck.  We seem to be in the gambling doldrums again, after my big night, I have had very little luck.

We didn’t stay out too long as we have to get up early again tomorrow as we will be in Homer.