Outdoor activities include world-class fishing, either in the surf or from your boat, or with our many wonderful charter companies. Our favorite is Nauti C's with captain Kristen Churchill, one of the few female captains running a halibut charter. There are miles of hiking trails in Homer, and a short water taxi ride will take you across the bay to the Glacier Lake trail and Halibut Cove, or you can take a little longer trip to Seldovia and see otters, sea birds, and maybe a whale or two on the trip over and back. If you like to ride horses, we recommend Trails End for an incredible ride to the head of the bay and back guided by a true Alaska cowboy. You can take windsurfing lessons from George Overpeck (contact us for George's info), or take guided nature tours with the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.
If you're inclined towards more sedate activities, Homer is known for being an artist colony, and we have four permanent art galleries town and more on the spit. The Pratt Museum provides wonderful, in depth history about Homer, its residents past and present, and the Alaskan lifestyle. Be sure to visit Islands and Oceans to learn about our sea life and life on the sea. The spit has locally owned shops, art galleries, world-class restaurants, local seafood markets, fishing charters, and the famous Salty Dog Saloon. The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies has a wonderful "Creatures of the Docks" tour that explores the many invertebrates that live at our local docks. Homer has some of the most extreme tides in the world, so just walking on the beach can turn up treasures, and our minus tides (extremely low tides) expose tidal pools with all sorts of creatures in them.
Homer has many excellent restaurants. Our favorite is the Little Mermaid on the spit. They serve lunch and dinner, but It's very small, so be sure to make reservations for dinner. If you go fishing and don't feel like cooking your catch, Captain Pattie's on the spit will cook it and serve it to you. In town, Fat Olive's offers seafood, Italian, and pizza (don't order a large unless you're feeding 20 people. No, really). Cosmic Kitchen offers sandwiches, breakfast, and delicious daily specials. Duncan house has diner/comfort food and served breakfast all day. All of our restaurants serve fresh, local seafood, so you don't even have to ask. Most serve locally grown vegetables in season.
With all that Homer has going on, and with all the beauty surrounding it, and all the goodwill and friendliness of its inhabitants, the lure is hard to resist. We welcome you to our cabin and will accommodate you as often as possible, but if the urge to be here overcomes you and you want to have your own little piece of Homer, I'm a licensed real estate agent and am happy to show you property that is more permanent.
