After a short 6 week respite in sunny Southern California, I'm back up in Anchorage to train for another stint as an observer. Leaving home was harder this time, but now that I'm here I'm getting pretty excited. There's a great group of prior observers in the apartment and I'm having a lot of fun catching up on everyone's war stories. It's also cool to see the Anchorage that was hiding under the thick layer of snow and ice that I remember from February. The weather is beautiful, and I went on a hike at 10 pm yesterday which was fabulous! So far my sleeping hasn't been affected by the light, but it's certainly harder to make myself go to bed with so much fun stuff to do and broad daylight to enjoy it in.
Most of you know that this time I'll be working in the scallop fishery, which is managed by Alaska Department of Fish and Game. I start training on Monday here in Anchorage, and will probably leave for Homer, AK around the 30th so I can catch the start of the season on July 1st. That's if I pass my certification class of course : ). I'll be working on a smallish wooden boat called the Kilkenny, and it sounds like I'll have at least one day a week on land. From what I hear scallop observing is a lot harder than groundfish for a few different reasons. The scallops are collected by dredging the bottom, and a lot of teeny tiny invertebrates come up with the catch. It's my job to sort and ID these little guys, which can be pretty time consuming. But I'm very excited since all of my prior research and schooling has been with marine invertebrates. I personally think they are much cuter than fish or whales, both of which get way too much credit.
The other reason it's supposed to be harder is the physical aspect of the job. The sampling protocol is a bit more vigorous, and baskets are heavier. I'm looking forward to being superbuff by the time my contract is up.
I plan on doing A LOT more hiking, so I'll make sure to take pictures of the amazing views. No other big plans as of yet...I'm thinking of heading up to Fairbanks next weekend to float the Chena river. Yah it gets hot enough to get in the water!
The Endeavor is en route to Dutch Harbor to start fishing for Greenland Turbot. I talked to my buddy Marq on Wednesday and man am I gonna miss those guys. I know I'll keep meeting wonderful people wherever I go, but I still have such a hard time saying goodbye and moving on. And thinking that a new observer will come along and steal their hearts and they'll forget all about me...OHHH snap, the truth comes out!
And VERY exciting news from Kenya today. The children competed in a music festival and won in 2 categories, "sacred" and "folk". This is an amazing achievement. They have now qualified to move on to the next level of competition to be held in Kericho. If this speaks to anyone's heart, Carol and IHF is trying to raise money to get them new costumes and also get a recording of them up on the web. I'll keep you posted, it's so worth it, these kids can sing! I'm getting goosebumps remembering their voices.
Love to all,
Angela
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Great to see you posting. Looking forward to updates from Alaska. The fish monger at the Long Beach Farmer's Market is Pete his phone is (818) 406-5926. He doesn't know my name, but you can say you know the "couple from New Orleans that comes every Sunday." I think that might jog his memory. Good luck. He is a character, but I think you must be getting used to meeting characters in your travels. I think he is just looking to chat fish.
Good luck with your certification. I can't wait to hear about the scallops. Being from New Orleans you know we love our crustaceans, boil us up a few every chance we get. Have fun.
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