Into the AK

It is the morning of the 30th of August, and these are my last hours in Anchorage. A cab is coming to pick me up at 9:30 to take me to the airport. I have my boat assignment, and by 8pm Pacific, I'll be on a boat.

I'm the first one of the group to leave. Everyone else got their first boats also, but some of them aren't leaving until Tuesday. And even then, their boat doesn't get into to port of a couple of days after that. I wish I had some extra time and money in Anchorage to go see more of the outlining areas to this city, but that is the nature of this job. I am pretty much on call 24-7 for the next 90 days.

I am not flying into Dutch Harbor any more. Plans changed and I'm getting on a boat at St. Paul Island in the middle of the Bering Sea. When I say in the middle of the Bering Sea, I don't mean that it's part of the Aleutian Islands. This island is out by it's self with St. George Island about a day and a half by fishing boat north of Dutch Harbor and the Aleutian Islands. This island is only inhabited because the the Russian fur trade. The Russians kidnapped a lot of natives from Alaska and put them on this island to kill Alaskan Fur Seals and ship them back to Russia. This island is a big breeding ground for the Alaskan Fur Seal. After the US put a stop to the slaughtering of the fur seals, no one bothered to take the natives home from the island. So they remained there and set up home and now they just considered it their little island. There are only around 500 people who live on St. Paul, 130 of which are students. The island is flat with no trees what so ever. Where Dutch Harbor has a lot of great hiking trails and beautiful scenery, and is a major fishing port, St. Paul is full of natives who got left on a island full of Fur Seals that they can't hurt with no mountains, no trees, and whipping winds.

Needless to say, this island is not a huge desstination point for the tourists of Alaska. I am expecting there to be some where in the neighborhood of 1 to 10 people to be on my 4 hour flight. The airport in St. Paul is right next to the port. I will walk off my little prop airplane right over to the dock with my army surplus duffel bag, backpack, and NMFS issued sampling gear. I am going to stick out like a sore thumb. There I'll be, sitting at the dock with my feet dangling in the water, waving my hand wildly, with my ear to ear welcoming grin, thrown across my face as the boat comes into to port to pick up their biologist, (I officaly can use the title biologist now, it feels awesome).

The boat I'll be on is an old crab boat, about 30 feet larger than the Northwestern, the one seen on the Deadliest Catch. They'll be using the same crab pots you see on that show, only I'll be on their while they're fishing Pacific Cod. It's going to be little compared the 300 foot floating factories most of the other people in my company are getting deployed to. I am happy I'm not get on one of those boats. On those you are just standing in front of a conveyor belt in the heated, dry factory, during a 12 hour work period, pulling off anything that isn't Pollock, (which isn't much). I get to be on the deck the entire time with the crew, sampling at sea. I'll have my own little station away from them so I don't get in their way. The catch is usually pretty clean, so I wont have to sort through a bunch of fish other than Pacific Cod, but there is a good chance that I am going to have to sort through a bunch of crab. They are not allowed to keep the crab until crab season. This is an old boat that doesn't fish for anything but crab unless they need the cash. The crew doesn't make near the money they do catching fish instead of crab, so I'm not expecting a jubilant crew to work with.

I am really excited, and extremely nervous as the minutes tick down until the cabby gets here. I wont be able to have access to internet for a while, maybe a month or more. The boat will be out for around 2 weeks at a time maybe longer, maybe shorter, and if we unload at St. Paul, then I won't have access their either, and then it's right back on the same boat for another 2 weeks or so depending. So this will be my last message for awhile. I would like to say I apprecate all the support and comments from all of you that have been reading this. It makes me feel less isolated from the from the people that I care most about. This blog gives me a chance to tell long winded stories about mundane things, or about the little things that get me excited like the planet walk. Please keep leaving me comments and writing me emails while I am away at sea. I wont get to read them for awhile, but it will make me feel like the world didn't forget about me for the last month to two months. I am humbled by the amount of truly good people have surrounded me in my life. I didn't fully realize this until I chose to make the journey into the AK, how many there were and how well you all support and care about me. I have gained a lot from this experience already, but I want you all to know that I miss being in Spokane surrounded by the people who made smile and made all the little things in life joyous. I do not know when I will make it back there next, but when I do, I will make sure that it is known to all.

I sit here in Anchorage, blessed and honored to have been apart of all the lives of the people I have come across. You have given me the confidence in my self to know that I am strong enough to take on a challenge such as being on a boat full of crazy old fishermen. Strong enough to know that I'll be able to keep my integrity in any situation that presents its self, because I am secure with who I am. And I attribute that to all the people I have surrounded myself with and who have presented themselves to me over the last 25 years. I look forward to hearing about your lives when I get back to dry land so please feel free to write to me about anything and everything.

Always leave one hand free for the boat.

Here I go, into the AK.



- Casey

PS. I will sleep cuddled up with my emergency suit mom. You can sleep well.