July 1

I have been on Bear Island for about 6 weeks now and it  is beautiful and amazing.  When I came here I had to learn a lot of new things such as net mending, tying knots(I had to learn how to tie knots behind my back so I would be able to tie them in the dark), learning how to drive the skiffs(an open boat that we fish from), and how the whole operation works.  It is very intense and you have to be careful to avoid injury
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I live with Nate (my friend from Demotte), Luther(college housemate), and one other guy.  We all get along great.  There are a total of 11 guys on our crew this summer

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Our cook makes all our meals and does our laundry.  The food is very good and we have plenty to eat.

Fishing is going great and we had two thirty hour days.  Our schedule during these days is:  noon - put the nets out and go in for lunch after all the nets are set.  This work is very intense because the DNR will only let us have our nets in the water for a thirty hour period starting at noon so the emphasis is to get them out as fast as possible.  After a few hours, we return to the nets to pick the fish which involves pulling the net up to the surface and removing the fish by hand and returning the net to the sea.  After the first pick, we motor to the tender to offload our catch.  We then return to land (sometime between 10:30 PM and midnight for dinner and some sleep.  We start picking again at 8:00 AM and get an additional pick in before having to remove the nets from the ocean.  The fishing days are very intense and I love them.  As the season progresses, we will be permitted to leave the nets out for much longer periods of time.  The amount of time the nets can be in the water is tightly controlled to make sure the salmon population is sustainable.

Our boss said that we could take a break and go camping for 2 nights.  We slept under the starts both nights and were eaten alive by the mosquitoes.  We saw eagles, otters, fox, bear and other creatures.  Nature is incredibly beautiful out here.  

If you want to write, your letter will go to Anchorage, then to Kodiak Island, then to Larsen Bay by float plane, and then by boat to Bear Island.

Here is my address: Daniel Bykerk

                                     c/o Fields and Sons

                                     P.O. Box 88

                                     Larsen Bay, Alaska 99624

May 17 Off to Bear Island

I left Kodiak for Bear Island this afternoon.  I have been in Alaska for exactly 5 weeks today.  I have enjoyed staying in Kodiak and getting used to living in Alaska but its time to move on to fishing camp.  I flew out this afternoon from Kodiak airport in an 8 seat prop plane for Larsen Bay.  I will need to get down to the harbor in Larsen Bay and then catch the boat to Bear Island.  My updates will be much less frequent now since there is no cell phone coverage on Bear Island.  I can contact home in case of an emergency by satellite phone.   I hope they got the banya (a steam room used in place of a shower) on Bear Island fixed since it hasn't been working for the past ten days.  The washing machine on Bear Island is broken also so clothes is being washed by hand currently.  I have sent another group of pictures back home so you can look for them in about a week.  Bye for now.

May 14

Working on final preparations for leaving Kodiak for Bear Island.  On Thursday we finished painting the engine room on the Cowboy and am now changing engine oil.  Its been a busy day in Kodiak with a cruise ship arriving in port.  Lots of new people in town all commenting on how beautiful Alaska is.  For those of you who watch Deadliest Catch, I have seen the Cornelia Marie and Time Bandit in St Herman harbor.  The Cowboy is parked right next to another crab boat which is not on Deadliest Catch.  There are about 60 of these crab fishing boats in Alaska.  I have been having some interesting talks with the captain of that boat about what it is really like fishing for crab on the Bering Sea which is a little bit different than the TV series portrays.  After crab fishing season, these boats are used as tenders which means they carry supplies out to the salmon fishing fleet and carry the salmon catch back to the processing plants.  Weather continues to be in the 40's and since I am working in the harbor where you get a lot of sea breeze, I need to wear a sweater to stay warm.  Tomorrow Nate Vanderwall, one of my friends from De Motte will be joining me in Kodiak.  Both of us leave on Monday for Bear Island.

May 10 The Cowboy 2

Finishing work on the Cowboy, my home away from home for the past month.  I arrived in Kodiak 4 weeks ago today.  I have 3 new shipmates on the boat.  We are finishing scraping and painting the boat in preparation for the move to fishing camp on Bear Island.  Wallace will take the Cowboy to Bear Island and anchor it off the island for the summer fishing season where it will be used as a big ice making machine to help preserve the salmon we catch.  Shawn, my shipmate for the past month is returning home to Arkansas tomorrow because of a medical condition which prevents him from going to Bear Island.  Its always good to make new friends and tough to see them go.  Wallace and I took the Cowboy away from the dock today to fill up with fuel and fresh water.  Right now I plan on leaving Kodiak for Bear Island on Sunday or Monday.

May 6 The Cowboy

This is the Cowboy.  I live on this boat when I am in St Herman harbor in Kodiak.  Currently scraping off rust from the decks and getting ready for repainting.  I also loaded equipment onto a plane today as the Fields family gets ready to move to Bear and Harvester islands in preparation for the fishing season.  The Cowboy is used during the fishing season is to make ice to preserve the salmon.  Wallace Fields will drive the Cowboy from St Herman harbor in Kodiak to Bear Island.  Below is a video of the inside of the Cowboy.

Flying over Alaska on my way into Anchorage

This is St Herman's harbor in Kodiak. This is where I live while in Kodiak.