Truly a beautiful place to visit. We came in and went out on a water taxi. Enjoyed hiking the…read moreGrewingk Glacier trail too

I took a 20-minute boat ride from downtown Homer Spit, AK over to here at Kachemak Bay State Park…read morefor a few hours of exploring. Well, the most popular activity at Kachemak Bay is to hike the Glacier Lake Trail to spend time looking at Grewingk Glacier! Yes, lol, I spelled that right - Grew-Ink...and the "g" is left silent. Let me tell ya...I had a lot of trouble pronouncing this name, it must have taken me quite a number of times for it to finally stick in my head! Grewingk = "GrewInk" I departed downtown Homer with 49North Alaskan Adventures. The roundtrip cost was $92 with taxes. I guess that price was okay for ultimately just riding with a water taxi. But, if I wanted to spend some time at Kachemak Bay and see Grewingk Glacier, this was the price I had to pay. A family and I of 5 for a total of 6 of us left Homer at 1pm and arrived at the shores of Kachemak Bay at 1:30pm. We then had 4 hours' worth of hiking at our own accord, getting to visit the glacier and lake and then return to the shores for a 5:30pm departure with arrival back in downtown Homer Spit at 6pm. And btw, the Spit of Homer is the 5-mile extension for where the "land meets the ocean." That's what Homer is famous for, this Spit of land, if anyone's interested in knowing, lol. For the 4 hours at Kachemak Bay, you start out by hiking on the Glacier Lake Trail, which goes for 3.2-miles along flat land with no elevation. On this 3.2 miles, I must say...I really ventured through some charming and picturesque settings. The hike had a pleasant essence about it. It felt as if I was casually walking through some rain forest aspects with plush trees and bushes, all while the dirt path trail was clear and defined. I was simply enjoying strolling about. The 3.2-miles went by extremely fast. The 3.2-miles took me about 1.5-hours. I then connected for just a 1/2-mile walk to Grewingk Glacier. It's that easy. Grewingk Glacier is set in the backdrop of a quiet and pristine lake. For me being very particular...I wish the glacier could have been closer and within reach because I did have to zoom in on my phone a lot. When that happens, the closer I zoom in, the fuzzier the appearances are. Still, the lake had glacial icebergs floating in the waters which made for photogenic aspects. The tourists/hikers there were sitting down relaxing and having lunch. I walked the edge of the lake doing my usual thing, trying to capture the best perspectives of Grewingk Glacier. I took a bunch of pictures before leaving after roughly 1-hour. But 1-hour is more than enough time to view the glacier and get a real feel for the surroundings of the lake and glacier. Then I walked back the 1/2-mile to the posted sign where I connected with the Saddle Trail for the remaining 1.5-miles to a different part of Kachemak Bay shore to eventually be picked up by the boat. In total, the trail was an efficient 5.7-mile path and along the way I got to appreciate the calming setting of the outdoors with time at "The Toe" of another Alaskan Glacier. It took me 1-hour to hike the Saddle Trail back to the beach shores which left me with a casual 30-minutes before the return boat arrived. I used this time to just wander the sandy beach and take some last remaining photos. In the end, spending a half day/5 hours' time getting to discover Kachemak Bay State Park and Grewingk Glacier was as worthwhile of an experience as I could have asked for. I just could have used closer access to the glacier for more prominent views. But...if you are interested in going on a little adventure taking a short boat ride from Homer Spit for hiking and exploring, then this Kachemak Bay is for you.

Colby is a great Captain! Weather conditions weren't perfect (ok they were actually horrible) but…read morewe felt safe going out with Colby. He was honest about the situation, said we were in and out and we were. The boat was awesome. We were on fish and heading back in within 2 hours. Colby worked all 6 poles like there were 3 deck hands. A+! All 6 anglers limited and got us out of there safe and sound. We'll definitely be going back out with Colby in the future! PS: he's a filet master!

Excellent experience! Captain Jordan was funny and knowledgeable. We got to see so many things…read more Highly recommend. Ps. I had many awesome pics, but yelp.says they are the wrong format

The location on the lake is excellent. The rooms are good. The showers are dinky and dark…read more Overall It's fine.

I am so glad we found this place! Floatplane Lodge is located centrally in Homer, on the Beluga…read moreLake. It hosts 7/8 individual cabins, some stand alone and some that share walls. The grounds are small enough to walk to the water quickly and is situated on a hill so all cabins offer a beautiful view of the lake. It is very quiet, without being far off the beaten path. Cabins have a small kitchen, mini-fridge, microwave, toaster, sink, coffee maker with accruements. King sized bed (upstairs), bathroom with soap and shampoo from Alaskan local makers. We stayed in cabin 7 (Chenik) that was closer to the road than lake. Cabins 1, 2 are located in a the block and face the water (closest to the water). Staff is friendly and helpful, attending to needs quickly. If you're looking for the Alaska experience sans corporate hotel, this is the way to go.

Came to Alaska in 2014 and took my best friend halibut fishing. This place gave us the best time…read morefor our buck. You buy your fishing tags at the office and it lets you catch 2 halibuts and 1 king Salmon. We went out about 25 miles out to do our fishing. The capitan was a great host he lets us drink beers and we all had a great time. Be sure to pack a lunch since all there required is to get ya on the fish. After fishing for 4 hrs we cruised up the inlet to try our luck on salmon. Out of 10 of us on the boat I was the only one to catch a 24lb king salmon. After we got back to the dock they filet the fish for ya. If your looking to ship back your fish they will take care of all shipping for ya. I highly recommend this captain he definitely puts us on lots of halibut. Great times for sure

Absolutely fantastic time. Was a little nervous after reading some of the reviews but very very…read morehappy that we went with them. Old captain that seemed to rub people the wrong way is gone and retired. Fools gold was our ship, and was in fine enough condition, head was clean, plenty of room for the people in and out. We had the pleasure of being with Capitan Dave C. and Deckhand/first mate Ash. The two of them really made the trip incredible. We went with a group size of 7 plus a baby, and they were both insanely accommodating to the little one, let us setup a pack and play in the berth, even checked in on her when we were out fishing and she was sleeping. Tons, and I mean tons, of great conversations, hysterics laughter, and learning a boat load about the area, the fish types, everything under the moon, honestly. Both of them gave clean and consice rules, what to do, where to be in the boat, showed us how to bait, where to land the catch. Very patient folks, and made this excursion top notch. If you want to go halibut fishing, and want to have a good time, go with them. You'd be making a mistake to go with anyone else. Tl;dr: Awesome crew, awesome fish, very nice and would never fish with anyone else given the choice. All limited out, every one of us, with some impressive catches.

I did the Long Range Multi Species charter for halibut (plus whatever else you can hook) with my…read morewife and we loved it. Austin (our captain) was super knowledgeable and helped teach how to fish for specific fish as we went along. We ended up (between the both of us) 3 halibut, 4 black rockfish, and a nice lingcod! They also work with a local fish processor, which helps with us getting to fish home. We can't recommend this company enough for your Alaskan fishing dreams!

We went out for unlimited cod on a Tuesday. We had poor luck (~12 cod for 20 people). The captain…read moreand crew were nice and stayed out fishing extra to try to catch some more. It was clear jigging was the productive method that day and I wish they'd have switched more rods over to this, but they're somewhat handcuffed due to the large number of people on board which is the main reason I gave a 4 and not 5. The crew were great at trying to keep spirits up despite the poor luck. We still had fun thanks to good weather and that we got to see a few whales.

If I had realized that only four people out of six could fish for rockfish at the same time and…read moreonly two people out of six could fish for salmon at the same time, I would probably have skipped fishing. This may apply for all Homer charters, but it is probably worth checking. What was also frustrating is that about nine salmon were hooked but only three landed onto the boat, every time we were told what we had done incorrectly after the fish was lost rather than before the fish was hooked.

7 days in Alaska and struggling to get a fish. We even hired guides and still nothing. Was…read morestarting to think we were bad luck. My wife charters Captain Will on boat tuff stuff. On our way out Captain Will briefed us, I sat up there to ask questions to see how I can up our odds of catching. I really wanted my kids and wife to catch. Will was very confident we will have a great time. Well I'll just put it this way. He went way above and beyond. The first 10 minutes lines were in the water we were already bent. 100lb halibut, yellow eyes, more halibut and even big lingcod are coming in. All fricken day. What a great time. We will definitely be booking again. Thank you Captain Will.

What a fantastic and amazing experience fishing with Harters charters. Captain Ethan Harder really…read moretook us on an amazing journey fishing. I took my wife and three kids fishing for the first time deep-sea for halibut. He was accommodating from the very start all the way to the finish. He made sure everyone felt safe and confident. The most important part is we caught choke fish and had a lot of fun. We all left with a lasting experience that will be remembered. I look forward to fishing with them again.

We booked a full-day halibut fishing trip with Harder's Charters during our cruise ship port visit…read moreto Homer. I've been on a few fishing charters over the years, but this was by far the best fishing charter I've ever been on. It was just my wife and I on the charter that day, but the boat was big enough for a few more folks. I guess we got lucky. The owner and captain, Ethan, did an outstanding job of making our fishing trip a memorable experience. Not only is he a nice guy, but he knows how to find the fish. I felt like he went the "extra mile" to make sure we were satisfied with the catch. We caught about a dozen halibut between my wife and I, and Ethan knew which ones to keep and which ones to let go in order to maximize the two allowable halibut per person which the Alaskan fishing license allows. The boat was clean and comfortable, and all the equipment seemed to be relatively new and in good condition. The high level of customer service started even before we got on the boat. He was quick to respond to our many questions regarding the charter through emails and phone calls prior to our fishing trip. Harder's Charters is definitely worthy of the coveted Yelp Five Star rating.

The owner Bob and his co captain Nick were the best!…read more We had a fantastic day out halibut fishing. They were so helpful and a really fun team. I highly recommend booking with them, their personalized attention to our group went above and beyond. We all had a blast!

SAVE THE FRUSTRATION AND BOOK SOMEPLACE ELSE!! Horrible…read morebusiness and personal ethics. Bob knew a week ahead of time that he wasn't going to be able to take us out on our given day...but took our money and didn't notify us until late at night, the night before our trip. We had zero time to try to book someplace else. Extremely unprofessional!! Spent hoards of money to come to Alaska and fish this trip...and he doesn't have enough respect to tell us that we aren't able to fish with him until a few hours before, when he knew several days ahead. PATHETIC AND GREEDY...SHAME!!