Day 13: Relaxing on the Homer Spit

When I visited the campground attendant this morning to ask for advice about things to do/see on Homer Spit, he told me to move my bike further away from his office and park it on the beach next to my tent. This request surprised me because the parking lot was empty and my bike was in no way impeding access to any building or the beach.

I explained to him that if I moved my bike onto the sand, it would sink in and get stuck (as once happened on Prince Edward Island in Canada). That didn’t persuade him and he threatened to have my bike towed if I didn’t move it. I repeated that if I moved the heavy machine to less firm ground, the back tire would dig itself a rut and I’d be trapped. This went on for much longer than I anticipated until he eventually relented.

Traffic piles up on the Homer Spit when ferries and cruise ships come to port. Here, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle rider makes his way down the main drag.
Traffic piles up on the Homer Spit when ferries and cruise ships come to port. Here, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle rider makes his way down the main drag
Filleting halibut on the Homer Spit in Alaska after a day at sea.
Filleting halibut on the Homer Spit in Alaska after a day at sea
Filleting the day's haul of halibut on the Homer Spit in Alaska.
Filleting the day’s haul of halibut on the Homer Spit in Alaska

To show there was no bad blood between us, he advised me not to leave valuables in my tent since thieves were prone to helping themselves to goodies from unattended campsites. He also suggested I weigh down my tent with rocks since the area’s strong winds could blow it away (if the thieves didn’t get to it first).

While I never got his thoughts on things to do, that ended up not being much of a problem. Homer Spit is only about 4 miles from end to end, and one can easily cover the entire thing in a few hours, replete with multiple stops. Main attractions include:

  • a “Deadliest Catch” merchandise shop;
  • halibut fishing charter tours (“It’s like hauling in a piece of plywood,” I was told of reeling in one of the wide, flat fish) and requisite fish-cleaning stations complete with lurking bald eagles(!) waiting for a snack;
  • a few seafood restaurants (to help eliminate the halibut glut);
  • the inner harbor and RV park;
  • a ferry terminal, which provides service to Seldovia (across the Kachemak Bay) and Port Lions (on Kodiak Island);
  • and last but certainly not least, the Salty Dawg Saloon, a watering hole housed in an 1897 cabin at the far end of the spit where one can grab a drink and the latest Palin family gossip. (One patron’s prediction came true: Bristol Palin would not marry her child’s father.)

Back at the campsite, I chatted with the father of a family from Pennsylvania that had settled in beside me. He was taking his two grade-school girls on a tour of the country in their pickup truck RV so they could learn how others lived… What an amazing way to spend the summer! He also revealed the secret of shower-less survival: baby wipes! I made a mental note to pick up a pack at the next grocery store.

The Salty Dawg Saloon, a place for locals and visitors to get together on the Homer Spit in Alaska.

At this point, the question really isn’t: How long can you go without food or water? But: How long can you go without showering?