Homer

Homer is a special town located near the southwest corner of the Kenai Peninsula. They pride themselves on the halibut fishing in the area.

The official weigh station for the halibut derby was empty when we walked by.

Halibut charters typically hang the boat's catch so the customers can get a photo. In this case, it was other tourists who decided to get a photo without taking the charter.

The vast majority of the halibut we saw while we were in town for a few days were small, locally known as "chickens."

In addition to halibut, the town seems to thrive on puns.

This one is tough to read - O'fishal Charters.

There are several full hook up RV parks in town and they seemed to think that $65 was an appropriate base price. We stayed at the Fishing Hole Campground operated by the city. It's just a place to park and is not particularly quiet, especially when the halibut fisherman leave with their boats in the early morning, BUT

it's only a couple hundred feet from the campground to the western end of the marina.

The marina didn't have many large boats this time (last time I was here I spotted a couple boats from Deadliest Catch) but there was an interesting assortment of commercial fishing boats, charter boats, personal boats set up for fishing, and private cruising boats.

Some of the personal fishing boats were pretty classy!

Our Fitbits appreciated our wandering around the area, checking out few stores and eateries. It was a bit of a contest between steps and calories - I think the calories won on this stop!

I loved the waiting bench provided at one shop, but ended up shopping instead of sitting.

The locals tell me they're scheduled for 48 cruises ships this year which they appreciate.

I think it's the high percentage of working boats in the marina that catches my interest. Homer remains one of my favorite Alaska towns.