Kachemak Bay ( Dena'ina: ''Tika Kaq’'') is a 40-mi-long (64 km) arm of

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its so ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, located on the southwest side of the

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan trib ...

. The communities of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, Halibut Cove,

Seldovia Seldovia (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Angidahtnu''; russian: Селдовия) is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. Its population was 255 at the 2010 census, down from 286 in 2000. It is located along Kachemak Bay southw ...

, Nanwalek,

Port Graham Port Graham, also known as Paluwik (pah-LU-wig) in the Alutiiq language, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 162. Geography Port Graham and Nanwalek are lo ...

, and Kachemak City are on the bay as well as three

Old Believer Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow be ...

settlements in the Fox River area,

Voznesenka Voznesenka (Russian: ''Вознесенка'', ) is a small unincorporated community in the Kenai Peninsula Borough 23 miles northeast of Homer, Alaska, United States. Brief overlook Located on the Kenai Peninsula, about east of Homer, Voznesenka ...

Kachemak Selo Kachemak Selo (Russian: Качемак Село) is a small unincorporated community in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. Located on the Kenai Peninsula, it lies roughly 30 miles east of Homer. The community is one of several settlem ...

, and

Razdolna Razdolna (Russian: Раздольна, ) is a small unincorporated community in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. Located on the Kenai Peninsula, it lies roughly 30 miles east of Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēro ...

. One interpretation of the word "Kachemak" is "Smokey Bay" which supposedly is from an Alutiiq word describing the smoldering coal seams that used to fill the bay with smoke.

Features

Kachemak Bay is home to Alaska's only state wilderness park,

Kachemak Bay State Park Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is a park in and around Kachemak Bay, Alaska, United States. Kachemak Bay State Park was the first legislatively designated state park in the Alaska State Parks system. Kachemak Ba ...

. Kachemak Bay State park was the first state park in Alaska. There is no road access to most of the park; visitors must arrive by airplane or boat. left, visitors on board a tour boat observing seabirds on Gull Island, one of many small islands in the bay Kachemak Bay is also home to the

Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, on the western coast of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, is part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and is managed jointly by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration an ...

, the largest

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

in the

National Estuarine Research Reserve System The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 29 protected areas established by partnerships between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and coastal states. The reserves represent different biogeographic re ...

. It is a very active site of research and education. The bay hosts a remarkably high level of biological activity, due in part to water circulation patterns which keep shellfish

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e and

nutrients A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excre ...

in the bay. While surface waters push nutrients out into the bay, ocean currents push them back into the bay, creating a very fertile environment. Both

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

and shellfish are abundant in the bay, year-round.

Waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

and shorebirds occupy the bay during all but the winter season, while

waterbirds A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

and

marine mammals Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their re ...

including otters,

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

s, porpoise, and

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s remain in the bay all year. The bay provides winter homes for 90% of the

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

and waterfowl populations of Lower Cook Inlet. Land mammals are frequently seen during the warmer seasons.

Moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

, coyote, and bears are frequently seen. The tides at Kachemak Bay are extreme, with an average vertical difference (also called mean range) of over fifteen feet (15.53 ft, 4.73m), and recorded extremes of over thirty-one feet (31.72 ft, 9.67m) as measured at the Seldovia Tide Station. The highest tide on record is over twenty-five feet (25.25 ft, 7.7m) above

MLLW A chart datum is the water level surface serving as origin of depths displayed on a nautical chart. A chart datum is generally derived from some tidal phase, in which case it is also known as a tidal datum. Common chart datums are ''lowest ast ...

and occurred on November 15, 1966. The lowest tide on record is almost minus six and a half feet (-6.47 ft, -1.97m) from MLLW and occurred on April 27, 2002.

References

{{Authority control Bays of Alaska Bodies of water of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska

Features

See also

References