Contrary to my entry below (I didn't want to change content to protect my journalistic integrity ha), it looks like I get one more trip on the Kilkenny. Fishing this last trip was good enough to do it all over again; hopefully we'll get the same lovely weather but the forecast looks more like typical Gulf of Alaska winds and seas. Oh well. I'm just glad I get some more time in with this crew, all of whom I'm really growing to like. And just really enjoying my time reading, curled up on the bow of the boat in the sunshine. I finished the Kite Runner this week, BLECH not what I expected but still an ok read I guess (I'm right at the beginning here which is wht I look happy).
Random notes I made:
-I don't really like to eat scallops, which is ironic cuz they look exactly like my favorite food of all time, giagantic marshmallows.
-There was the most aesthetically pleasing balance of cotton-candy colors during the sunset the other night. The blue and pink/purple crests on the waves matched in perfect proportion the colors in the sky. Of course, I SHOULD have taken a picture to show you what I'm talking about...
-Caught the CUTEST durn snailfish in a tow. Should have taken a picture.
-I went to a really cool little film festival in Homer right before I left last trip. A short (or series of them, rather) definately worth checking out:
http://thepatternstrilogy.com/
8/6/08
As we near the end of what may be our final trip, I feel like I haven't documented all the extraordinary experiences I've had here on the Kilkenny. Nearly every tow has brought up an new and wonderful creature for me to ooh and ahh over...
"OOOH" 
"AHHH"Today we got a very large octopus on deck...I poked at him for a bit before tossing him back in the sea. It was cool to hear his suckers attach and reattach to the deck as he squirmed his way around.
The sheer magnitude of our catch overwhelms me when I stop to think about it...the amount of biomass out there in the ocean continually reminds me of what a big big world this is, and that I am only a small part. It helps me to alleviate fear I have about issues of LACK, that there won't be ENOUGH...enough gas, enough food, enough time...God's world is huge and there is plenty for all. The ocean is a constant reminder of abundance.
Today started off rather gloomy, and I didn't want much to do with observing at all. It was super hard for me to drag myself away from the bench in the galley where I had glued my feet to the stove (our only source of heat). After being on deck for a few minutes however, the SUN came out and life was good again. I really took for granted all the nice weather on our first few trips. All day yesterday was dreary and cold with a slight drizzle. Today was a definate improvement, but still damp as we were encased in fog all day. It was an interesting sensation, to have the sun shining on my face but besurrounded in mist...very ethereal. There was hardly any visibility because of the fog, so it felt like we were on a ghost ship, with nothing but the searoiling around us, the only thing in the universe. So romantic!
I'm reading an EXCELLENT book about fishing in Alaska, highly recommended for anyone who wants a taste of what it's like. It's a novel, but the fictionalchapters are interspersed with factual essays about various aspects of Alaskan history and fishing information. It's really well written. It's called "Highliners" and it's by William B. McCloskey, Jr:
http://www.amazon.com/Highliners-Classic-Commercial-Fishermen-Alaska/dp/1585740284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218421033&sr=1-1
I hear there's a sequel which I'm very excited to find. I also read a book on the boat called "Trawler" by a Scottish dude named Redmond O'Hanlon which was a funny if not somewhat exaggerated (and very British) read about life on a commmercial fishing vessel: http://www.amazon.com/Trawler-Redmond-OHanlon/dp/1400042755
This wholeworld is just so fascinating. I also got a book at the Homer bookstore about women who commercially fish in Alaska. Unbelievable! I am just so curiousand awestruck by people who live this lifestyle. It truly has to be the most difficult, exciting, dangerous, thrilling, satisfying, dirty, uncomfortable,amazing way to make a living. I am absolutely in love with life and feel so so blessed to be experiencing this with my eyes open.
My typical day is to wake up about 7 or 8 (I get to set my own schedule with this sampling protocol-NICE) and eat some oatmeal while I finish up mypaperwork from the day before. The crew bounds out of bed around 4 or 5 to start working-on empty stomachs. They are so tough. Not I. I sample my first haul around 9, and then come in and have a hot breakfast with everyone at 10. I have to sample a total of 5 hauls per day, and the boat does on average about 10; one every 1.5 hours or so. Now that I have the routine down, it seems extremely easy and I often have a lot of time in between sets toread or stare at the sea. I love all the solitude and time I have to just think and talk to myself; I've yet to had a day where I've been truly lonely.The district we're fishing in now has a sandy bottom, so there's no mud to deal with which is a really nice improvement and makes for a lot less clean-uptime. As far as the actual sampling, it's really basic. I wait until the crew has sorted through the pile of scallops that the dredge has brought up,and then collect the leftover scallops. Here's some shots Malcolm took of me hard at work:
These are then sorted into broken and unbroken baskets, weighed, counted, and measured. I also collect any crab bycatch and measure, sex, and age them as well. Once per day I do a haul composition where I weigh everything that comes up on deck. I talked to Fish & Game about counting starfish though since there can be up to 600 lbs/haul and I was breaking my ass trying to weigh them all. Yikes. This haul compis a lot of work, but also really neat, almost every one has been different. The diversity of animals here is just staggering. And hardly any dead fish,yay! I take a lunch break around 3, and try to get a jump on paperwork. We eat dinner around 9, and I clean up the dishes and the galley before my showerless cleanup routine (which involves baby wipes and cornstarch in my hair). I usually go to bed at 10 or 11. I'm so spoiled; the crew doesn't make it in until at least midnight, a lot of times later. They try and get 4 hours of sleep at night, and then go down for 2 hour naps during the day. These guys really are heads and tails above the rest, really truly genuinely nice men. All of them are married and totally respectful and cool and interesting.There are only 3 deckhands, the captain, and myself this trip, so it's a nice tight little team. I'm off to finish up my book and hit the hay.
The sheer magnitude of our catch overwhelms me when I stop to think about it...the amount of biomass out there in the ocean continually reminds me of what a big big world this is, and that I am only a small part. It helps me to alleviate fear I have about issues of LACK, that there won't be ENOUGH...enough gas, enough food, enough time...God's world is huge and there is plenty for all. The ocean is a constant reminder of abundance.
Today started off rather gloomy, and I didn't want much to do with observing at all. It was super hard for me to drag myself away from the bench in the galley where I had glued my feet to the stove (our only source of heat). After being on deck for a few minutes however, the SUN came out and life was good again. I really took for granted all the nice weather on our first few trips. All day yesterday was dreary and cold with a slight drizzle. Today was a definate improvement, but still damp as we were encased in fog all day. It was an interesting sensation, to have the sun shining on my face but besurrounded in mist...very ethereal. There was hardly any visibility because of the fog, so it felt like we were on a ghost ship, with nothing but the searoiling around us, the only thing in the universe. So romantic!
I'm reading an EXCELLENT book about fishing in Alaska, highly recommended for anyone who wants a taste of what it's like. It's a novel, but the fictionalchapters are interspersed with factual essays about various aspects of Alaskan history and fishing information. It's really well written. It's called "Highliners" and it's by William B. McCloskey, Jr:
http://www.amazon.com/Highliners-Classic-Commercial-Fishermen-Alaska/dp/1585740284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218421033&sr=1-1
I hear there's a sequel which I'm very excited to find. I also read a book on the boat called "Trawler" by a Scottish dude named Redmond O'Hanlon which was a funny if not somewhat exaggerated (and very British) read about life on a commmercial fishing vessel: http://www.amazon.com/Trawler-Redmond-OHanlon/dp/1400042755
This wholeworld is just so fascinating. I also got a book at the Homer bookstore about women who commercially fish in Alaska. Unbelievable! I am just so curiousand awestruck by people who live this lifestyle. It truly has to be the most difficult, exciting, dangerous, thrilling, satisfying, dirty, uncomfortable,amazing way to make a living. I am absolutely in love with life and feel so so blessed to be experiencing this with my eyes open.
My typical day is to wake up about 7 or 8 (I get to set my own schedule with this sampling protocol-NICE) and eat some oatmeal while I finish up mypaperwork from the day before. The crew bounds out of bed around 4 or 5 to start working-on empty stomachs. They are so tough. Not I. I sample my first haul around 9, and then come in and have a hot breakfast with everyone at 10. I have to sample a total of 5 hauls per day, and the boat does on average about 10; one every 1.5 hours or so. Now that I have the routine down, it seems extremely easy and I often have a lot of time in between sets toread or stare at the sea. I love all the solitude and time I have to just think and talk to myself; I've yet to had a day where I've been truly lonely.The district we're fishing in now has a sandy bottom, so there's no mud to deal with which is a really nice improvement and makes for a lot less clean-uptime. As far as the actual sampling, it's really basic. I wait until the crew has sorted through the pile of scallops that the dredge has brought up,and then collect the leftover scallops. Here's some shots Malcolm took of me hard at work:
These are then sorted into broken and unbroken baskets, weighed, counted, and measured. I also collect any crab bycatch and measure, sex, and age them as well. Once per day I do a haul composition where I weigh everything that comes up on deck. I talked to Fish & Game about counting starfish though since there can be up to 600 lbs/haul and I was breaking my ass trying to weigh them all. Yikes. This haul compis a lot of work, but also really neat, almost every one has been different. The diversity of animals here is just staggering. And hardly any dead fish,yay! I take a lunch break around 3, and try to get a jump on paperwork. We eat dinner around 9, and I clean up the dishes and the galley before my showerless cleanup routine (which involves baby wipes and cornstarch in my hair). I usually go to bed at 10 or 11. I'm so spoiled; the crew doesn't make it in until at least midnight, a lot of times later. They try and get 4 hours of sleep at night, and then go down for 2 hour naps during the day. These guys really are heads and tails above the rest, really truly genuinely nice men. All of them are married and totally respectful and cool and interesting.There are only 3 deckhands, the captain, and myself this trip, so it's a nice tight little team. I'm off to finish up my book and hit the hay.
2 comments:
I love scallops, so I guess I'm glad I'm not working in the sausage factory.
I was drowsing through your last paragraph, relaxing my eyes, when the words "sex" and "ass," jumped out at me.
"What the heck kind of blog is she writing?!"
Busting ass handling starfish, sexing crabs. Got it. Awake now.
Hi. I found out about your blog from Scott Drury of World Hope International. Anyway, I'll be doing ground fish observing for saltwater.inc for the first time this January in Alaska. I was just wondering if you know what the conditions are like this time of year. BTW, i’m from So. Cal.
Wayne
wsmitty1@verizon.net
Post a Comment