26 July 2010

Yikes! Another cold wet day in Seward. It rained several times last night and several times today. Tomorrow is going to be the same. Wednesday we might get a little sun and then back to rain. I think we might leave on Friday when our week is up. Haven't decided yet.

This morning when we got up we discovered a diesel fuel slick running all over our space. The guy that was next door the night before lost a lot of diesel and his truck would not start. He finally got it going then left and there was lot of diesel on the ground. Well it has been raing a lot and the diesel traveled in streams to our space. The city came out this after noon and put sown some absorbing pads. I don't know if they help or not. They said they usually let the weather take care of anything less than 20 gallons spilled.

We moved to another site to get away from the mess. We went to the dump and also got fresh water in the moving process. Then it was a tour of the visitors centers and watched a couple of 20 minute movies. Then back to the 5th wheel and more rain. Yikes! It is hard to get a good charge with solar when it rains for several days straight. The Arizona desert will help that part out.

Seward Harbor

A new cruise ship comes every day.

Lots and Lots of Boats in every direction.

25 July 2010

The last two days and nights have been rain and clouds. Rain most of the time. Very wet around here. Some folks are heading back down to the lower 48 for better weather. It does test your endurance for wet RVing. It does give you a chance to catch up on reading.

I think it would be much easier if we had a propane ceramic heater we could leave on during the day as needed. They are very efficient , silent and does not use electric like the furnace. The furnace uses a lot of propane and electricity.

Tomorrow is predicted to be like the last two days. Very wet.

Seward Wet

Out The Back Window Again

How often have you looked out your living room window and see a huge cruise ship backing up and spin around in front of you and head out of sight. This Holland America Line ship backed out of it's berth near by and spun around right in front of us. Those white specks you see around the ship are a lot of sea gulls flying around the ship waiting for something to be thrown overboard. What a sight to. There will be another ship in port by the time we get up in the morning.

23 July 2010 Day 39

Seward, AK 23 July

We are signed up to stay in the Seward Water Front Park for 7 days. The park is right at the edge of the bay. Beautiful snow capped mountains surround the town and the bay. Cruise ships dock in the bay on a regular bases. Mt. Marathon is directly in front of us and a vie of the bay is out the back window. The campground has 441 sites. Tomorrow we have a lot of exploring to do.

Out The Back Window

Another Out The Back Window

Mt. Marathon Out The Front

On The Way To Seward

We stayed around Centennial City Park in Soldotna through the 18th of July and received out mail at the Soldotna Post Office general delivery. It took only three days to arrive from Colorado. We fished for Sockeye Salmon several days without any success. On the evening of the 17th we caught our limit of 6 fish on the Kenai River. The next morning on the 18th before we left for Ninilchik I caught 3 more fish in 20 minutes before we left. Wow those reds are fighters. So there is about 25 lbs of salmon in the RV freezer.

Sockeye Salmon

The morning of the 19th we headed out to Ninilchik and the Alaskan Angler RV Resort to catch my halibut charter for the next morning of the 20th.
In the afternoon after we arrived we drove out to the the Russian Orthodox Church near Ninilchik.

Ninilchik Russian Orthodox Church

View from the church front yard.

I caught my charter to go out halibut fishing at about 9:30 in the morning. With the A Fish Hunt charter service. Arthur and Erin were the crew members. The charter took eight of us out about 17 miles and anchored in about 150'-175' of water. The waters were very rough and took about 45 minutes to arrive at the anchor point. The ride out was not all that bad. But, once we got anchored I can tell you without a doubt that I do not have sea legs. Everyone on the boat got their limit of two fish. One halibut was 31 lbs and the rest were around 20 lbs. After getting back in I spoke with several people and all agreed the waters were very rough and other people on other boats had problems also. My advice is to visit your doctor and get something for sea sickness before you think about going out.

Hard Eight

On the 21st we drove down to Homer and drove out to the end of the Home Spit. The Spit had changed a lot since were there in 1997. Condos and other businesses were abundant all the way to the end of the Spit. The Eagle Lady had died in 2009. She was a fixture on the Spit for 30 years.

On the Homer Spit

The 22nd of July we drove back to Soldotna from Ninilchik to the Fred Meyer's parking lot for the night. It is amazing how much shopping you can do when you stay in a parking lot. I think Fred knows that.

Day 29

13 July 2010

It rained most of the night and all day. We mostly stayed in and rested up and caught on on a few things needing to be done. A couple of walks down to the river to check out fishing was also in order. The reds have not started to run yet.

We can see the Kenai river out the back window. The Kenai is a swift running river. The salmon run close to the shore which makes accessing them easier. The Kenai flop and twitch is the method used to catch the reds (Sockeye) since they do not bite the hook. It is a technique I will explain again. You flip a hook with some colorful yarn tied to it about 15'-20' in the water and let it drift a little ways and then give it a good yank. The line also had some lead shot weights about 3' up from the hook. The idea is to snag the fish in the mouth. If you miss the mouth and snag any other part of the fish you have to throw it back.

Most all of the fishing supplies you will need are available at Fred Meyer not far down the road. Oh, bring a small club, hip boots and maybe a net. Is is most useful to have hip boots or waders. I don't have boots. The club is to stun the fish or knock them out before you cut them up. I have been told it is best to cut the gills before sting them to bleed them out in the water. The meat will taste a lot better.

Day 28

12 July 2010

We have moved to the Centennial City Campground. The city of Soldotna runs the campground and it fills up by the evening time. There are about 166 plus site and an overflow area. We are in site 7 which is large and has good sun exposure for the solar. We have not had to use the generator at all on this trip.

I cleaned up the rig and my other half went fishing and took a hike around the campground. I told her to get supper and I would clean windows. Actually she told me to do the windows. I got the windows done and she did not bring home supper. So I had to grill.

Tomorrow I am going fishing. I need to wash the truck this evening. I'm glad it stays light most of the night.

Centennial Campground

Day 27

11 July 2010

Soldotna & Kenai

We went fishing again this morning and still did not catch anything and no one else were catching any. The reds just are not running right now.

After lunch we went to Kenai and visited the visitor center and watched the fisherman trying to net the reds down on the beach. They were not catching anything also and this was at the mouth of the Kenai River where the Salmon come in from the Cook Inlet. Maybe this week they will come.

Dip Netting at the mouth of the Kenai River

Then it was time to visit the Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai. The Russian Orthodox Priest was there and invited us into the church. This was my highlight of the visit to the Kenai. He was very interesting to talk with. He explained to us the reason for the slanted cross member of the Russian Orthodox cross. The icons of the church are now located in the visitors center because they are redoing the church. If you get a chance to go inside the church and talk with this man, do it he will be a highlight of your visit to Kenai.

Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Priest

Day 26

10 July

Soldotna,

Fred Meyer parking lot is a busy place. The free dump attracts a lot of people from the surrounding area. You can dump and get free water. There is a Fred Meyer man that comes around and keeps track of how many days you stay here. You can stay 3 days then leave for a couple and come back if you want. I would think after 3 days here you are ready for new scenery.

We went fishing today and met up with Butch a local who fishes the Kenai River behind the Visitors Center. He taught us how to fish for Reds (Sockeye Salmon). They don't really bite. So it is like snagging in a way. No luck today.

We scoped out a couple of campgrounds and will move to one on Monday. It is a city owned park campground with access to the river. The Swift Water CG charges $16.96 per night and $10.50 to use the dump. Fred Meyer is close by and free dump and water.