I see no one answered your question. I am interested in this area myself. Hopefully someone local or knowledgeable will see it and respond!

Hi Enzian! I have talked to a local and have been told that The Saltry in Halibut Cove is the place to go over Rookery. Halibut Cove is a beautiful, artsy place and unique whereas the Rookery Restaurant in Otter Cove is fairly new and there is nothing else there to enjoy.

Thanks for the insight. I guess we'll aim for the Saltry. Just now I'm exploring options for a 2 or 3-night stay on that side of the bay (rather than in Homer).

Homer itself does have lots of great restaurants, especially when compared to other communities that size in the state . . . I like Capt. Patty's down on the Spit, Cafe Cups, Fat Olives, Cosmic Kitchen . . . and many I just haven't tried yet, but sound very good. Let us know how it works out for you! :)

And after reading "Since 71's" comments on Homer. . . I'm wondering if we should include it at all! But I'm really attracted to the Halibut Cove/Kachemak Bay State Park idea, so we'll see.

I hope the outdoortrippers enjoy their meal there and report back!

Halibut Cove is lovely- & deep into the cove(not at the mouth) is some of the most gentle, beautiful kayaking with sea otters, porpoises, eagles, loons, sea stars, etc.

I love Homer! The views to the ring of fire volcanoes are beautiful.

Just ate at the Rookery and it wasn't that great. Lots of mosquitoes indoor while we were trying to dine. Service was excellent. Food was average. There is not much else to do other than dine, and the location isn't particularly spectacular when compared to the rest of Homer and surrounding area. We took the Homer Charter, and it was okay. The boat was old, and Gull Island was boring for us. We're not that interested in seeing gulls (there's a whole bunch of them in San Diego), and the long time that we spent circling Gull Island was pretty boring. Probably would have preferred doing something else other than this tour today. Only saving grace was that it was low priced due to Alaska Toursaver coupon. Oh- for restaurant on the spit, go to the Spit-Fire!! We had a to-die for dinner and dessert that made up for the below average lunch at the Rookery.

We just got back from Homer and we did go over to Halibut Cove on the Danny J. We had fun. There is not a lot to do, but it is beautiful. I am not sure I would do it on a really rainy day as you go over on an open boat and then have lunch at the Saltry. The restaurant was very good.A bit pricey, but really cute and the food was good. It is the only restaurant there. You could take a lunch over and eat on the picnic tables if it is a really nice day and you want to hike a bit. You do stop at gull island on the way to see the rookery. We also took the trip over (a different day) to Peterson Bay to kayak and tide pool with the Kachemak Coastal Studies group. That was really great. We saw so many sea stars we had to watch where we walked! Saw a couple of octopus holes with the octopus protruding. We saw a lot of different crabs and urchins, etc. It is nice to go to the other side, not sure I would stay over there as Homer has some really great restaurants and views. Have a great trip!

We just got back. Did the Otter Cove- Rookery Restaurant- Gull Island boat tour from Alaskan Toursaver. I'm glad we got a discount, because we weren't too impressed with the trip itself. If you're not into birds, Gull Island was a bit boring. We have lots of birds where we're from, so maybe that's why we weren't sure what was so interesting about a rock with lots of birds on it. Rookery Restaurant had poor food, it was standard touristy fare (low quality with a decent view). We would not do this again, would probably try out Halibut Cove next time. Had a wonderful time in Homer though. Loved the B&B that we stayed out- Bear Paw Inn.

Thanks for taking the time to report back---all opinions are helpful!