Wednesday, May 18, 2011
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.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
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.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
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.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
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.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Thursday, May 5
Since returning from herring fishing on Larsen Bay, I have been cleaning the boat which is covered in fish scales. The hold of the boat, where the fish are stored while we are fishing is divided into 8 compartments. Each compartment is separate from every other compartment which allows us to fill one with fish before starting on the next one. We clean these compartments in two steps. In the first step, I use a pressure washer to clean all the scales of the inside of the compartment. After all the compartments are pressure washed, I then wash each department with bleach and water. You better like cold water if you are going to do this job. Finished cleaning the boat. Now working on the Cowboy which is the boat I normally live on while in Kodiak. It is used for ice making while during salmon fishing season. I am scraping paint and painting the boat to get it ready for the salmon fishing season.
Plans for now are to work the rest of the week in Kodiak and then fly out to Larsen Bay on a small plane. The plane trip to Larsen Bay costs around $500 which is divided up between the number of people on the plane. The number of people on the plane is determined by weight of the people and the weight of the gear.
Plans for now are to work the rest of the week in Kodiak and then fly out to Larsen Bay on a small plane. The plane trip to Larsen Bay costs around $500 which is divided up between the number of people on the plane. The number of people on the plane is determined by weight of the people and the weight of the gear.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 3
Change of plans. The herring catch was slow so Wallace and I returned to Kodiak from Larsen Bay yesterday. I was able to call home about midnight on Wednesday morning. 10 hour return trip from Larsen Bay but it is beautiful travelling on the ocean. I was able to drive the boat for four hours on the return trip. While in Larsen Bay, we did travel out to Bear Island where I will be spending the summer salmon fishing season. Herring fishing involves setting gil nets out in the ocean. The nets have buoys on them to indicate their location and to allow you to retrieve them. After letting the nets soak for a while, Wallace steers the boat toward the buoy and I throw a big hook out at the buoy to snag the line attached to the net. We can then retrieve the net with the fish. I saw a number of whales on the way back from Larsen Bay to Kodiak which was a great experience. It is hard to keep track of the day when you are out on the ocean since they seem to run together. I only got a few hours of sleep in the last 48 hours so looking forward to some rest. My clothes is covered with fish scales so some clothes washing is also necessary. Weather is still about the same. It snowed yesterday while we were fishing. Since I am back in Kodiak, I think I will be taking a float plane back to Larsen Bay and then a boat to Bear Island in a few days.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Icicle Seafoods
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| Icicle Bay Seafood Cannery in Larsen Bay |
The previous post mentioned Icicle Bay Seafoods where we stopped to offload our herring catch. This facility is about 8 miles by water from Bear Island where I will be working until October. I do not work at this plant, we just stopped to offload our herring catch. If you would like to see some more pictures of Larsen Bay and learn more about the cannery follow the link below and click on the photos link on the left of the web site. The video also shows how they process fish at this cannery and others owned by Icicle Bay Seafoods.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Monday, May 2
Just received this email from Daniel,
Hey, I'm at Wallace's house on Kodiak near Larson Bay. We have satellite internet, and he said I could check my email quick so I figured I would write u guys a message. Herring fishing isn't going to well. There isn't a lot but that was kind of expected we only got like 12,000 pounds and we think were the only people on Kodiak gil netting.We are docking near this cannery called Icicle Cannery in Larson Bay and it is awesome. Its like a fish town(Leeland, Michigan) on steroids. We are so far out from anywhere we can't even get radio stations of any kind. I need to get going because we are heading out fishing again. Life is great, I hope you get my sd card soon with the pictures. Very excited for Nate to get here. Hope everything is going great back home. Hope to hear from you guys soon. Don't bother emailing back because I won't be able to check it but I love you guys and take care, oh and tell the family and everyone I said hey!
Hey, I'm at Wallace's house on Kodiak near Larson Bay. We have satellite internet, and he said I could check my email quick so I figured I would write u guys a message. Herring fishing isn't going to well. There isn't a lot but that was kind of expected we only got like 12,000 pounds and we think were the only people on Kodiak gil netting.We are docking near this cannery called Icicle Cannery in Larson Bay and it is awesome. Its like a fish town(Leeland, Michigan) on steroids. We are so far out from anywhere we can't even get radio stations of any kind. I need to get going because we are heading out fishing again. Life is great, I hope you get my sd card soon with the pictures. Very excited for Nate to get here. Hope everything is going great back home. Hope to hear from you guys soon. Don't bother emailing back because I won't be able to check it but I love you guys and take care, oh and tell the family and everyone I said hey!
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