In 2013 I spent 6 weeks working at a crab processing plant in the Aleutian Islands. These are journal entries and photos from that time. *** "What a burden longing was-- to stand on the continent's soft edge, waves always and endlessly arriving, the surf breathing for you, and that old, old dream of paradise… Continue reading Birthplace of the Winds
I'm currently reading The Hidden Lives of Owls by Leigh Calvez. It's a good read. I recommend. I was reminded of a trip my mother and I took in 2014 to The Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka, AK. I took a ton of photos and never did anything with them, so here they are. Also… Continue reading Owls and Animals
The season is over and I’m home now… or what passes for home when what you have left of physical possessions is in boxes under a carport at your parents’ place, next to the half-finished shell of what will eventually be your tiny house. I’m overwhelmed with an exhaustion borne of 71 days of work… Continue reading Find What You Love and Let It Kill You
It has been a slow start again to the season. 2013 the fish came early and in abundance and the last two seasons we've geared up early, just in case... all for naught. It's nice for us in the office. We get a slower start and more time to acclimate and get things ready. The forecast… Continue reading Bristol Bay pre-season, in pictures
It’s mid-afternoon Mug-Up* on the 6th day of my tenth salmon season in Bristol Bay, Alaska. This morning we had partial blue skies and the cold sunny light of early June, but now the grey shrouded sky blends into the floodtide waters of the Naknek River and rain streams down the windows of the office.… Continue reading Back in Bristol Bay
It is dusk in Stephen's Passage, and I am on wheelwatch as the boat travels north from Petersburg, back to the fishing grounds near Juneau. We are into fall weather now... the sky is a leaden grey and the sea is choppy, breaking into white topped curls, the wind blowing the spray off the waves… Continue reading Even Glaciers Get Boring
Anchored in Slocum Inlet. Nasty weather today- rain, heavy wind. We are spinning in fairly rapid circles around the anchor. The gillnetters in their tiny boats are being thrown all about in the chop - makes me nervous for fall fishing in Puget Sound. Peaceful day - we left Gastineau at 3:30 a.m. and went… Continue reading The Rainbow
Last week, everyone was all aflutter that Fish and Game was going to open up the back end of Port Snettisham. A hatchery sits back there and the biologists believed half a million pounds of salmon were there in the water, waiting to go up the rivers to spawn. ADFG announced Friday that they would open the… Continue reading Snettisham
From the bow of the boat, I can see the lights of Petersburg sparkling red and yellow in the distance. We slide by Sukoi Island, a black silouette in the middle of Frederick Sound. My cell phone lights up- reception. Contact. I stand at the bow and check text messages as the cold wind slides… Continue reading The First Two Weeks
I'm writing this from the wheelhouse of the F/V Carole B. We're running north up Chatham Straight - Baranof Island is 2 miles off the port side and Kuiu Island maybe 8 miles off starboard. On both islands the mountains are dark silhouettes, mist-wreathed and disappearing into low clouds. I see an occasional ship but… Continue reading Adventures on the Carole B
Wilde Wylde Rose 