August 8, 2008

A Day in Beautiful Seldovia....

It was a clear sunny morning as we rode our bikes down the Homer Spit to catch a fast shuttle over to Seldovia, and old Russian fishing village across Kachemak Bay.
We load our bikes & hop aboard the Rainbow Connection, putz out of the Harbor, and shoot across to the entry to Soldovia Harbor. Once again we are greeted along the way by a raft of seals, playing merrily in the welcome sunshine....which we haven't seen for days!


As we round the final point we see a mixture of old & new. Soldovia still bears the markings of an old fishing village, along with modern aspects of a tourist town....
Departing the docks, we notice that it takes just as many supervisors to direct a single backhoe operator here as it does in Louisiana! (funny how that works).... But just a little ways up the road, we cross the river where salmon are staging in large numbers also for their journey to spawning grounds in tiny creeks and pools a few miles above.
We had heard that visiting the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church was a must. Up a long hill, around a few tricky corners and we find this jewel perched high over the town in it's well deserved place of honor. I struggle to photograph the beautiful inside through a small window, finally settling on shooting six images that are stitched together here in this strange composite.

The Church serves not only as an active religious facility in the community, but is noted as a major landmark throughout the Kenai Peninsula and is one of the major tourist attractions for Seldovia.

The Church has an illustrious history that began around 1820.



Down the backside of the hill, southward towards a small cove the townsfolk call "the beach" we peddle past some more of those wonderful Indian Paintbrush, this time lining the side of one of the spawning pools...
Through some dark woods, down a rough & tumble excuse for a road and WOW!
.....our eyes are suddenly treated to this view of a pristene, isolated cove tucked neatly below the high bluffs on which the town is built.

Kim takes time to relax and just enjoy the serenity and beauty of this place. A stroll down the beach reveals many small tide pools dotting the rough rocks.

Upon closer inspection we find a unique world of small creatures living in this constantly changing environment....


I thought we'd seen every color imaginable today, but we discover this unique piece of local stained glass in the Visitor's Center as we wait for the return of our ride back to the Spit.