This post is a continuation from this post. Sterling’s account of the Triumph Alaska fishing expedition.
In Sterling’s words:
“The next day we visited the sea life center, shopped through the souvenir shops of downtown Seward and then we gathered our fish which had been processed and frozen before traveling back to Ninilchik and meeting at Captain Ron’s and Anita’s once again for dinner. After eating dinner some of the boy’s went late night fishing in light (which seems lake mid day sunlight in Alaska), while others played rugby. That night we held an appreciation group where the boys shared what they appreciated most about Alaska and other things in their lives.
The next day was right back to fishing and exploring Alaska, some of the boy’s and their fathers went on a fly out (fishing with the bears) while others went on halibut charters out of Ninilchik and Anchor Point. The fishing was great! Those on the fly out caught limits of red salmon (sockeye salmon) and those on the halibut charters caught huge halibut, limits of black rockfish as well as yellow eye and they managed to catch a few salmon too. That night we cooked fresh red salmon with asparagus and grilled red potatoes. They boy’s ate until they couldn’t eat any more. We finished the night playing card games and some went late night fishing again on the Kasilof River.
Early to rise again and most were back on the boats fishing in the cooks inlet for halibut. The others that did not go fishing were given a tour of the Ninilchik fishing village, the Russian Orthodox church and more. We then went to watch one of our groups come in with their fish and what a sight it was, the deck hands just kept unloading fish after fish and our fishermen had big smiles on their faces especially one boy in particular that caught a 150 pound halibut and a huge king salmon too. After taking pictures of them with their catch we went to see how the other boat did and they were very successful too catching a respectable limit of halibut. That night we took the boy’s on a hike and they saw a lot of moose and many sets of bear tracks along the creek. Again we ended the night with a 12 step group and discussed plans for the next day.
Finally a day to sleep in. We all enjoyed sleeping in a little before taking the whole group to the town of Homer overlooking Kachemak Bay. In Homer we started at the end of the spit where the highway just comes to a dead end where we looked for star fish, sea shells and unique rocks. Many of the boy’s also went swimming beneath the pier and dove for oysters and muscles. After taking pictures and getting the swimmers in some warm dry clothes we began shopping and exploring the spit.
The spit of Homer is a narrow stretch of land with ocean on both sides from start to finish (like a very narrow and slightly windy peninsula), both sides of the spit are full of unique shops with goods and art mostly hand made by natives and locals. While shopping at all of the different gift shops we also enjoy topiss hopping where we order and share appetizers and entrées at several different restaurants and cafe’s.
Our favorite place to stop is Coal Point a fish market where you can also sit at a small bar and enjoy extremely fresh seafood. We go there for the fresh Kechemak Bay Oysters on the half shell (raw) we ordered six dozen and before we finished we ordered 3 more dozen and could have ordered even more. Many people in our group also ordered seafood chowder and king crab.
After filling our belly’s with yummy oysters and other seafood we finished with amazing homemade gelato. We spent the rest of the evening at the cabin watching the bald eagles soar above the cabin and often times land in the tree tops that surround us. Again we ended with a therapeutic group and discussed options for the next day.
Early bird gets the worm. Up early for 2 groups going on halibut charters and the rest going on a zip line and repelling corse (one of the largest in the country). The fishing was great as usual and the zip line crew came back still excited from their experience with a lot of stories to share. We spent the evening fishing on the local rivers (creeks) and playing cards and snacking before grouping up and calling it a night.
The next day most of the gout went halibut fishing and the rest went into town for more fishing supplies and while we were there we raced go-carts and ate reindeer hot dogs. After eating another great Alaskan dinner with Captain Ron and Anita, half of the group played football while the others went on a nature hike exploring the land around the cabin. We finished up the night with a group and all of the boy’s participated well and explained how wonderful it was to be in Alaska while the parents explained how thankful they were to be surrounded by constant beauty and being able to spend quality time with their son’s.
The second to last day in Alaska was much the same as the day’s before, 2 groups went halibut fishing while one group went sight seeing and some of the boy’s got brave and swam in the ocean. That evening we all met at Captain Ron and Anita’s for the Triumph annual all you can eat steak and crab feast. It was so fun to watch the group as they tore into gigantic king crab legs and big thick ribeye steaks. Then Anita surprised us with homemade ice cream and upside down german chocolate cake.
After dinner we hiked down to the beach where a large waterfall was in our backdrop as we held a group around a large campfire explaining our favorite part of the trip and goals/commitments for the future. It was a very uplifting and emotional group where all of the boy’s and their parents shared their appreciation and wonderful memories of the trip. After the group finished it was 12:00 AM and the sun was still high in the sky so most of the boy’s waded into the ocean and then climbed the icy cold waters of the waterfall. Back at the cabin, most of the boy’s and the staff stayed up until wee hours of the morning playing cards and talking about Alaska.
On our last day we spent most of the day cleaning the cabin and loading the vans preparing for the drive back to Anchorage where we would meet the 2nd Triumph group coming to Alaska and they would take the vans back to the Kenai Peninsula. The first Triumph group took home over 2,000 pounds of fish between them along with a lifetime of amazing memories and an instant desire to return someday soon.”
