Visiting Halibut Cove

M/V Danny J

Halibut Cove makes a perfect day or evening excursion from Homer, Alaska – this gives you a chance to eat lunch or dinner, and still have time to stroll the boardwalk and check out the art galleries. 

To do this, you take the historic vessel the Danny J from Homer to Halibut Cove.  This boat has been ferrying passengers to the Cove since 1966.  It is a slow, but peaceful ride, with a detour to Gull Island for some bird watching.  The Captain and crew were super friendly, and made it an enjoyable trip.  Be prepared, most of the seating is above deck, and that is where you want to be anyway, so bring warm cloths and rain gear.  The have rain ponchos if you need one.

The Danny J makes two trips each day from Homer, one arriving in Halibut Cove about lunch time, the second at dinner.  Both trips stay at the Cove for about 2.5 hours, this gives you plenty of time to eat at the Saltry Restaurant (pictured below), and to walk the boardwalk for some art shopping.

The food and service at the Saltry was wonderful.  Not surprisingly, they emphasize sea food, but there where other dishes as well.  They have indoor seating, and a nice covered outdoor deck with fire pit for those who enjoy the fresh ocean breeze. 

This is probably the perfect trip for most people.  We choose to stay a couple of nights because I wanted to be there for nice light, and kayaking.  There are some very nice, all inclusive (read; expensive) lodges in the cove.  We opted for a less expensive, more rustic (read; outhouse) cabin at the Cove Country Cabins.  They were nice and clean with very friendly owners.  Be sure to ask for the cabin with the water view (# 3), it is worth the extra money.  By the way, from the cabins, it is an easy walk to the boardwalk and Saltry Restaurant.  We rented kayaks from Ismailof Kayak Rentals.  They were great and had the kayaks waiting when we arrived.

Reservations for the Saltry Restaurant are recommend as the place is very popular.  Reservation for the restaurant, and the Danny J are handled by a booking agency in Homer called Central Charters.com.  It is convenient having one entity taking care of all the reservations, but unfortunately they also gave us wrong information the three times we called with questions, so I would recommend double checking and following up with them.  And I would definitely recommend visiting Halibut Cove!

Here are more Halibut Cove, Alaska photos.