Two days on Deep Creek Beach

After we left Homer on Saturday the 23rd, we stopped at the gallery of Norman Lowell.  Norman came here in the 50's as a homesteader and became a very well known painter. 

Me, Norman and Bill

In the old homestead cabin

In the gardens outside the cabin

Norman's current log house

Bill outside the gallery

The paintings were impressive. Mostly of local Alaskan scenes. 

It was sunny when we arrived at Deep Creek.  The tide was just coming in and I walked up and down the beach.  We had watched people hauling back their buckets of clams from another beach before we got here.  If people were clamming here, they were done by now.  A clamming tide has to be minus 1.5 feet at least.  Fishing boats are heading back to the beach to be picked up by tractors with their trailers.

speeding up

right on the mark

hook it on

off they go

The best boatmen were the charter boats. A couple of boats did not get on the trailer well and had to be refloated so they could get on better.  The helper boy has a tough job. Hook on the trailer, ride it into the waves, hop off into the water and be ready to hook the boat on.

We also walked along a narrow path along Deep Creek. The eagles young and old were just sitting by the edge hoping for the salmon to come, but no salmon yet.  The eagles eat the salmon as they are dying after spawning.

One young eagle joined the gulls hoping for a handout as some fishermen just down from us were cleaning and filleting their halibut catch.  He really looked pitiful reduced to begging with gulls.
Three young eagles were trying to hook a sea bird.  I saw them get a talon in and drag it a bit twice.  William said the bird was still afloat but didn't look too well.

I was watching one fishing bird dive.  It had lovely coloring, a black and white checked back, black head and beak, a white and black striped neck ring and a white breast. I bought a bird picture book at the Kenai Visitor Center. My lovely bird was a common loon in breeding plumage.

This morning our next door neighbors were back in their Zodiac raft after just a few hours.  They had caught their limit of halibut, just one fish after another.

It has been a steady rain all day and we are at Beluga Lookout in Kenai.  We will have to break out the umbrellas to explore the town tomorrow.