Day 2: August 22, 2000
Boat trip to Seldovia

Today we were taking a boat tour to Seldovia that also included some sightseeing on the way. It left at 11:30am, so we had a little time in the morning. We slept in, which felt good, and then went to the post office to get postcard stamps, and then ate breakfast at the Cafe Cups, which the hotel office person had recommended. It has a nice atmosphere and the breakfast was pretty good (though I think I liked it more than Walendo). The outside had these huge cups on the front of the building painted in colorful patterns. There were also some lovely flowers in window boxes on the front. It seems like a lot of places have nice flower arrangements in front, which seems a little surprising seeing how short the growing season is. It's very nice, though.

Gull Island

We had chosen Central Charters based on some of the literature we'd picked up at the hotel. It was $35 per person round trip. We checked in at the place on the spit and they sent us over to the boat at the dock. It was about a 30 ft boat with about 6 rows of seats in the cabin with space to sit in the bow and stern. There were about 35 aboard by the time we left. The couple running the boat seemed very friendly, and the guy provided a lot of good information as we drove around. First we headed out to Gull Island, named because of the thousands of birds that were nesting there. It's a tiny island with a big rock jutting out, and the whole thing was covered with birds. They seemed like mostly sea gulls and something that looked like a goose (but probably wasn't) and they said there were puffins there, though I didn't see them. (Turns out they were mostly Kittiwakes and Cormorants.) The tour guide went very slowly around the island so we could all get a good look and pointed out things to look for. After a little while, we continued on, stopping once to see a sea otter floating along in the water, puffing up its fur and spinning around. They really are cute. He told us that otters have 1 millions hairs per square inch, which compares with about 40,000 on a thick-haired German Shepherd. That's how they stay so warm. They spend a bunch of time grooming their hair to get air into it, which helps them stay afloat, and then when they dive, the air is pressed out so they can get to 300 feet deep. On a sign we saw later, it said otters use their bellies as workbenches and picnic tables, an image I liked. At this stop, Walendo saw an eagle, which he'd been hoping we'd see. (I was busy shooting pictures of the otter and missed it.)

We stopped along a few other islands where there were otters and other points of interest, and then finally we headed over to Seldovia. On the way, we passed an island that had a few cottages for rent. Now that would be remote! About half way there, I started to feel kind of nauseous, partly because it was very choppy and the swells were pretty big and partly because of the strong diesel smell of the boat. It was cold standing outside, but it was stinky inside, so I stood half-way, in the protection of the back of the boat but popping my head out to get some air. Apparently, a few other people had been queasy too. By the end of the trip I had though I'd lose it a few times, and I was glad to finally get there. We were both pretty chilled. (Walendo had worn shorts, the crazy man, but he said he was mostly warm except for his hands.)

Seldovia Houses

I needed to sit for a bit and settle my stomach, so first we sat right by the dock and absorbed the sun, and then we walked down the main street to Buzz' coffee shop where we both had hot chocolate and Walendo had a cinnamon roll. After we'd both warmed up and my stomach had settled, we started off to explore the town. They had given out a cute map that was hand-drawn and pointed out the points of interest. I had seen a trail to the reservior that looked like it would give us a good view of the town, so we started off that way. We took a little detour along the small stretch of boardwalk that was still left from the earlier days when Seldovia was a much bigger port town (bigger than Homer). An earthquake had damaged most of it, so only a little was left. The water levels were very low, so the houses on stilts were way above the water, and there was a lot of mud in the river flowing under it. The houses were old and weathered, like most things in the town, but a few again had some lovely flowers in front, which makes such a difference. As we walked, we saw a few houses with lots of colorful junk decorating the house; there was a sign that had three boat engines hanging off it, it seemed like an oddball sort of town. After walking a ways along the back road, we got to the tiny aiport where we saw a plane taking off (loudly). In the parking area, there were all sorts of beat up cars, many of them rusting. I gather people leave their cars there and then fly out to other places. Anyway, we started to have our doubts about the trail up to the reservoir, since it didn't look like it would have a view, so we decided to go back toward the town again.

Ellen in Seldovia

The town was pretty tiny with not a whole lot to see. We'd already seen the one main strip and the boardwalk but we found a few shops to look in and then we just wandered around the streets. At the end of one street was a big yard with some old equipment. We tried to figure out what it was for, and some other people who came along figured it was for deboning fish. Odd contraption. After walking a while, we felt like we'd pretty much seen the town so we went back to the dock. There was still an hour to go till the boat left. I looked at the map again and saw we'd missed a little lake a few streets away so we decided to check it out. Turned out it was hidden behind some shacks. There was a boardwalk built above the swampy area that led to it, and a newspaper article at the beginning of the walk explained that some citizen, who happened to be a transvestite, decided to build the boardwalk so that people could come see the lake. There was a picture of a person who looked like a woman with a deep V neck shirt and heels working on the boardwalk. It made us smile. The lake was fine, nothing special. We walked back to the dock and waited for the boat. We both wondered why the guide books recommend going to Seldovia. There was very little to the town and it didn't have particularly good views or anything. We wouldn't recommend it to others.

On the boat ride back the captain said it should be less choppy so we shouldn't get splashed or seasick. Walendo and I sat up front away from the diesel smell, and within a short amount of time, some big wakes splashed on the other side of the front where others were sitting. They moved over to our side. I didn't feel as queasy on the way back, though we did get a little wet. Walendo was wearing shorts again, and even though his left leg was soaking he said he couldn't even feel it. I guess he goes strait from comfortable to numb, skipping the cold stage all together. We motored straight back, so it didn't take that long. Along the way, we saw groups of puffins floating on the water, and sometimes the Kittiwakes would fly along the boat with us. By the time we got back, we were both pretty chilled. We thanked the captain and departed back at the spit.

Instead of going right back, we decided to look in some of the stores on the spit. I bought some mittens at a little shack with knitted sweaters and such. I put them on immediately and they helped warm me right away. Walendo found a place that was having a 1/3 off sale, so he got a fleece vest. We also decided to get some Ulu knives, which are supposedly authentic knives used by natives. It's a large curved blade with a handle, so you can chop things like onions just by rocking the blade along the chopping block (which they came with). We got some for Jamie & Nicole, Russ & Judy, and for us (I couldn't resist). I also got an Alaska tshirt for my dad. By the time we left, we felt like we'd bought out the store, but it was nice getting everything for 2/3 the price.

Finally, we tore ourselves away from shopping and went back to the hotel. We decided to call ahead to one of the Seward tours to make sure we got reservations on the Kenai Fjords Tours, seeing that we'd be there over the weekend. We booked an all-day tour, and it sounded like there was plenty of room. I guess it's already late in the season. I'm looking forward to seeing the glaciers. We decided to eat cheap tonight, so we went to a pizza place we'd seen along the road. They had all-you-can-eat pizza, salad, and ice cream for $6, so we went for it, the cheapest thing we've had in Alaska. It was only okay, but that was fine. We both had our fill, and that was that. On the way back, we took a detour to Brunnell Drive where there's another art gallery and the Two Sisters Bakery that the tours all seem to get their lunches from, and we drove along a little road right along the coast. It's such a tiny town that this was just a block long, but it had a nice view. We drove back to the hotel and puttered. Walendo watched some TV and read while I was writing in the journal. Now he's snoozing away and I'm about to join him. Tomorrow we get up early for our kayaking adventure.

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