Before I start, a joke, courtesy of my good mate Dick Gatley.
Man goes into a doctor and says “ I’ve got a fear of lapels”
Doctor says “ You’ve got cholera”
Weather horrible, stayed in the coach until lunchtime watching Michelle Pfeiffer do her thing in “I Am Sam”. Oh and a guy named Penn or something. Then weather got better and we went out.
After finding an internet café, we wandered off to the next place we are going to stay at, Scenic View RV Park, in a little place called Ninilchik.
On the way we passed through the biggish town of Soldotna, and the twenty miles or so either side of this town were probably the worst in terms of scenery, and general scuzziness since our travels began ( except for Salt Lake City)
However, we soon realized that all the locals are intertwined in some way with the fishing industry, which up here at this time of year is tied hand in hand with tourism. There are, as reported recently, lots of creeks and streams, but we also saw first hand today some of the work done for the off shore fishing type people.
We spent a long time talking to the owner of Scenic View, and very informative he was too. As well as tasting the freshly cooked, well still cooking actually, smoked salmon, he was preparing, we found out that he and his wife go clamming, for razor clams, during certain times of the month. They use a thing called a clam gun, which acts on the suction cup principle, sucking the little suckers out of the sand!!
He then told us all about a place to go, so we went.
It is called Deep Creek, and is where all the fishing charters leave to go offshore. What is really interesting is the way the boats get into the water. Big old John Deere earthmovers, rusty as hell, hitch up the boat trailers and run down the pebble beach straight into the waves. The boats rev up, slam into reverse and off they go. Brilliant! Though I don’t know how long the earthmovers last in all that salt water. On the return journey, the boats radio the men in the earthmovers, and their trailer is waiting in the sea, the boats come steaming in, virtually flat out until the last second, straight on to the trailers, up the beach, and bingo, dry fishermen!
Then, the fun begins.
Afterwards the fish are processed, and we are talking real fish here, not some half pound tiddler from your back yard pool.
One guy we spoke to told us his grandson had landed a small 160 pound halibut! That’s bigger than me!! Well, nearly.
The salmon are monsters as well, 3, 4 and sometimes 5 feet long.
After processing and the tourists having departed with their fillets, there remains some remains, which have to be disposed of. The processors take all the offal, bones and everything half a mile up the beach, and supposedly throw it all back into the sea at low tide. Of course, this usually does not happen at low tide so there are tons of stinking rotting fish guts and entrails and other gory stuff on the beach.
Not for long.
Down come literally thousands of seagulls, as well as hundreds of bald eagles, both mature and adolescent, who gorge themselves, leaving only the bones and heads,. We only saw a couple of dozen eagles, but apparently when the processors are in full swing, there are lots.
The bald eagle pix attached show an adult and a juvenile. It takes three years or so to mature, changing color, even the beaks. Fascinating, and they are very big, 3 feet tall with a wingspan over 6 feet.
Wildlife watch today was the above mentioned fish heads, seagulls, eagles and really sad, a dead moose.
And because they are used to humans being on the beach, they are not as skittish as others. This is actually very bad for the eagles, coz they should always be wary of us. I would be wary of me if I was a eagle!!
Anyway, a very interesting experience, and a smelly one!!
