I didn’t get ashore in Anchorage and instead spent the day dealing with paperwork and personnel matters.  Many of the crew do go ashore here, one of the reasons being that one can buy cheaper electronic items, ‘cheaper’ because of the lack of tax.

Anchorage from the ship

Our dock

More dock

By the end of the day, our dull weather turned out quite sunny.  Being so far north, at this time of year it is still daylight until quite late and even then it never really gets ‘dark’, it’s more like twilight.

We left for Homer at 11:45 p.m., out into a strong current, which was against us.  We passed a dredger, for the area is constantly having to be dredged; the glacial silt which comes downriver is deposited in vast quantities.  Indeed, one of our pilots mentioned that where he used to fish as a boy is now so high and dry that he could build on it.

We pass under the final approach for Anchorage airport, it is a constant stream of aircraft and big ones too.  It, apparently, is the largest freight hub in the U.S., goods from the east being airfreighted here and then trans-shipped to their destinations throughout the U.S.

Time for a short sleep before arrival Homer and I am greeted, when I go to the Bridge, by a breaching Humpback whale; I of course don’t have my camera with me 😕  but I’m sure there will be other opportunities during my contract.

Homer lies on a spit of land, at least the dock and a proportion of the town does, the  remainder being on the mainland itself.  An RV park is situated on the southern side, always full at this time of year, they have all come to fish for salmon.  The small marina is full of small boats and the bay to the north is busy; a newly discovered gas field is being developed and ships are anchored, discharging sections of jack-up rigs.

Approaching Homer and the ‘spit’

Marina, RV park and shops.

Our dock, we use a mooring buoy for some of our sternlines

Again, no going ashore, frankly I have no wish to and it’s raining again.  There is a low pressure system in the Gulf of Alaska, nothing dreadful, however it is bringing the wet weather to us.  I write as we make our way south towards Kodiak for tomorrow, (Tuesday) morning.  This one is tricky and involves entering between reefs before getting to the (very) small harbour, definitely a 3-coffee job  😉 

I’m going o leave you with a photo of Violet, which Mum, Liz has just sent me.   🙂