Friday, April 29

Called home early this morning at 12:30 AM and woke my parents up to let them know I would be leaving tomorrow to go herring fishing.  I have packed all my gear and transferred it from the boat I had been living on to the fishing boat.  Wallace Fields and I will be leaving sometime tomorrow for the herring fishing grounds which I believe are some distance away.  I anticipate being out for about one week and then being dropped at Bear Island where I will spend the rest of the season which should last into October.  Bear Island is 10-12 hours by boat from Kodiak harbor.  You can find it in one of the maps at the top of the blog.  I don't think that I will be able to contact anyone with my cell phone from now until October but if anything changes I will call.  I will be sending back video recordings when I can along with pictures.  If you have questions, just leave them as comments and I will respond when I receive them.

Wednesday, April 27

Finishing up repair work at the ranch.  Then new tenants move in on May 1 so all the building remodel work needs to be finished.  Plumbing and electric needed to be redone along with drywall and paint.  Leaving tomorrow morning for herring fishing.  Not sure what that will be like, but the new experience should be fun and its nice to get away from the construction work for a bit and back out on the sea.  Received a CARE package from home which I will enjoy.  The abundance of animals here is amazing.  I have seen hundreds of bald eagles over the last two weeks and lots of sea lions which at times gather around the boat I live on and bark half the night.

Sunday, April 24

Went to church this morning for Easter service.  Had a great dinner with Wallace Field's family.  Lot's of great seafood for appertizers along with ham for dinner.  No work today.  Found out that the Rev Moon from the Unification Church has a big presence on the island.  He comes up to Kodiak to fish.  He also owns 2 fish canneries on Kodiak and comes to Kodiak from time to time to perform mass marriage ceremonies.

Nate Vanderwal, who was my roommate at Calvin during my freshman year, will be joining me for salmon fishing around May 20 on Bear Island.

I may leave for Bear and Harvester Island earlier than anticipated to get the fishing camps ready.  I was supposed to leave May 2 but may leave earlier than that.

Friday, April 15

Pulled into Kodiak harbor to offload our cod.  We are third in line.  I was able to call home since there is cell phone coverage in Kodiak.  We offloaded about 7000 pounds of cod.  Cod season is over.  The remainder of the time before I leave for fish camp on bear island will be spent cleaning up a small ranch owned by the Field family and getting the boat scraped and painted for fishing season.

Thursday, April 14

Since we are at sea, we started fishing at 6:00 AM.  This is the last day of cod fishing season.  Lots of new stuff to learn.  We fished straight through until midnight to finish the season.  It was a long day.  We pulled into a bay and slept overnight on the boat.  Tomorrow we return to Kodiak.  Seeing lots of bald eagles - at least a hundred of them.  Lots of sea lions also.

Wednesday, April 13

Breakfast on the boat.  The Cornelia Marie from The Deadliest Catch is moored in the harbor this morning.  Wallace picked me up this morning to get my commercial fishing license.  We left on his boat to the fishing grounds.  Fished all day on Wednesday for cod.  Slept on the boat overnight in a bay.

Tuesday, April 12

Left early for the airport.  Said goodbye to Mom and Dad.  My plane left O'hare at 9:40 AM.  It is a 6 hour and 45 minute trip straight to Anchorage on Alaskan Airlines.  After a brief layover in Anchorage, I catch the 737 to Kodiak which is about a 45 minute flight.  Landed in Kodiak at 4:05 PM.  Mountains are still capped with snow, it looks beautiful.  Time difference between Kodiak and Demotte is 3 hours.  Wallace Fields picked me up from the airport and took me to the boat which I will be living on until May 2.  It is a 75 foot boat located in Kodiak harbor.  Had dinner at Wallace's house and met the family.  Quite a day!

Monday, April 11

Packing day!  Got everything organized.  Finished packing up in the evening.  2 suitcases and a backpack holds everything. Friends came over to say goodbye.

Sunday, April 10

Jonathan and Rachel, David and Marena, and Amanda all came in on Saturday and Sunday to spend some time together before I leave since I won't be seeing anyone until at least October.

Saturday, April 9, 2011 - 3 days before leaving

Planning to leave for Alaska on April 16 but received a call from my boss Duncan Fields asking if I can come up earlier to finish cod fishing season.  I received the call while shopping for the remainder of my gear.  Really need to hurry up and get everything finished.  This is the list of gear I need to take along:
Personal toiletry articles for 150 days
150 day supply of medicine
Sunglasses
Dramamine
2 rolls of surgical/athletic tape and 2 rolls of surgical gauze
Stamps, pens, stationary
2 flashlights with 4 sets of batteries
3 zip front insulated hooded sweat shirts
4 pairs of jeans
4 pairs of sweat pants
4 heavy shirts
2 light shirts
2 sets of painting clothes
1 pair leather work shoes
1 pair tennis shoes
1 heavy jacket
1 light jacket
2 sweaters
1 belt
1 warm hat
1 hat for sun
2 pair leather working gloves
1 sleeping bag rated to 10 degrees
1 pillow case and any sheets desired
2 bath towels
2 wash clothes
1 laundry bag
Bible and any books you may want to read
non electric alarm clock
pocket knife
portable radio
150 day of batteries for all appliances
water resistant pocket watch

Thursday, April 21

Been spending my days on general maintenance at the ranch and cleaning the boat.  We cook breakfast on the boat, pack a lunch, and have dinner on the boat or at one of the family's homes.  There is no shower on the boat so we take one at one of the family's homes.  Went hiking out in the woods.  Everything is covered with moss because of all the rainfall we have.  I have had rain or snow almost everyday since I have been here.  No bear sitings yet since they are just now starting to come out of hibernation.  Kodiak has a mild climate with average temperature for the year being 40 degrees.  Average high in August is 61 degrees.  Because of the snow melt, there is lots of flowing water everywhere.  We pass 12 waterfalls on our drive to the ranch each day.  The sun comes up around 6:30 AM and sets at 10:30 right now.  In about three months, we will have 20 1/2 hours of daylight each day.

Tuesday, April 19

Working on the boat.  We need to scrape off the old barnacles.  Since the water temp in the harbor is 34 degrees, getting into the water is out of the question.  The tide rises and falls between 10-12 feet in the harbor.  There is a device under the boat which keeps it off the sea bottom when the tide goes out, so when the tide goes out, we climb over the side of the boat and start cleaning and sanding while standing on the sea bottom.

Monday, April 18

Off to the ranch to clean up some buildings.  Beautiful scenery.  The valleys are free of snow but the mountains are still topped with snow.  Its about a 40 minute drive to the ranch.  Most of the roads on Kodiak are unpaved so its pretty slow going.  My work in Demotte for Belstra Milling helped me prepare for this type of work.