Days 153 to 154: Salmon Madness on the Kenai Peninsula

In the morning, we visited a SeaLife Center in Seward that showcased a large variety of marine animals and bird species found here in Alaska. The highlight was the largest living creature on display: a sea lion. We were all amazed at how big they really are. Afterwards, we continued to the Exit Glacier, one of the most popular glaciers in Alaska, so it was very crowded. True to American fashion, we completed a 2-hour loop trail in 55 minutes and admired the glacier along the way. Then we continued down the Kenai Peninsula and stopped at a small artisan market in the town of Kenai. It was quite small, with only 8 stalls. For the night, we found a beautiful spot on a cliff with a wonderful view of four volcanoes on the other side of Cook Inlet (the large bay on one side of the peninsula, named after James Cook who explored it). Two more German camper vans arrived one by one, and we spent the evening together, exchanging stories. That's when we met Dwane, a local fisherman. He invited us, quite intoxicated, to join him in the morning to experience the typical net fishing here and catch as many salmon as we wanted. With some skepticism, we agreed on a time with him.

The next morning, to our surprise, he actually showed up, although half an hour late to pick us up. When we reached the river mouth, it was already a madhouse at 9 o'clock in the morning. There were an estimated 50 fishermen with their 2-meter-long dip nets in the water. Dwane also went into the water for us and caught the first salmon with the dip net after about 5 minutes. After this success, he treated himself to a beer. Then the fishing went a bit slower. After a good hour, he finally caught three salmon. We were more than satisfied with that. Afterwards, he showed me the best way to gut the fish. So, for the first time in my life, I gutted a fish. In the evening, we found another lovely spot on the Cook Inlet, a bit further south than last night. There, we smoked the salmon over the campfire.