When we were visiting Alaska and staying in Homer, we booked a small boat trip out on Kachemak Bay which is off the Kenai Peninsula. The beautiful part of this was that we were on a small boat with only the captain and one other lovely couple from England. It was the perfect way to enjoy a lovely afternoon out on the water exploring the area.

Our captain was a great source of information and really great at getting us to some places that we never would have had the chance to see. Sometimes tours like these can be kind of lame with a script that the captain drones on and on about but this wasn’t the case so that was very enjoyable.

So what did we see? All kinds of beautiful things including puffins and sea otters at play.

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First stop was Gull Island. It was COVERED with gulls and pretty amazing to see them all nesting.

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There was a lot to see on the trip and I loved seeing some of the landscape.

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The captain was able to get us fairly close to some puffins which was my goal while in Alaska. There is just something about those little guys that makes me smile.

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Next up – sea otters who float on their backs and entertained us for awhile with their cuteness. Did you know that they have a pouch under their armpit that they use to store a favorite rock that is used for cracking shellfish open?

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Such a beautiful area.

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The captain made sure to drive us past this cute “advertisement” for a local oyster farm. It was a creative way paying homage to our love of farm stands everywhere.

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It’s always good to have a nice experience like this at the beginning of your trip. Homer was such a lovely town and we really enjoyed our time both on the water and off the water.