9-6-08

9-6-08

Happy Birthday. I told one of the deck hands in passing that it was my birthday come midnight. It had come up because he was saying how he was going to be out at sea on his birthday here soon. The guys on deck sang happy birthday to me during a little break on deck at midnight of the 6th. My gift to myself was a shower, shave, and brushing of my teeth. I've been so busy, I had forgotten to do these things. I am not on a set schedule, and the idea of morning, night, and a new day are all relative out here. I had some time for the first time on the boat, so I took some time to "clean" myself as much as I could. I felt like I was pampering myself.

I feel lucky that this crew is full of good hearted cats. They are still trying to figure me out a bit, and I'm seeing how professional I can keep things, while allowing parts of my personailty slip out. These guys work hard, well some do, but it is grueling work that they do with rough hours. They work a 16 on 8 off schedule. My schedule is variable. I kind of make my own schedule, but still need to make sure that the data I collect could come from any string of pots they bring on board, and could have come at anytime of the day. So I have been out on deck at all times of the day. The first couple of days, I didn't get much sleep. I spent most of my time making sure that I was doing everything right and stressing over whether or not I was sampling enough and doing what is expected of me. I'm out here on my own and haven't had any contact with my boss or NMFS, (the government agency that I am collecting the information for). So I am asked to apply the last three weeks of training as best as I can, and they are counting on my stats to determine the quota these fishermen will receive in two years time from now. I have been feeling a lot of pressure, and no reassurance to whether I'm doing an adequate job or not. So in leu of my uncertainty, I've decided to just work as hard as I can, as long as I can, so they have no platform to ask me why I could not do more.

I forget that the Bering Sea is just over the bow. Some times, especially at night, it looks like a green screen behind the deck hands. It feels like we are on a movie set that is rocking back and forth with a sea that doesn't fit our movements like an old 40's navy movie. I get taken aback by it every now when I have time on deck to sit and think about where I am. I start to miss being able to sit down and shoot the breeze with close friends over a beer. That'll be able to happen again here soon enough though. I also wonder what my new friends are thinking and how they are handling their boats. I have no contact with anyone not on the boat.

Although we spent 3 weeks of training 8 hours a day plus homework, I don't feel as though I was prepared enough hopping onto this boat. That is because they spent less than half a day on the type of boat that I am on. Everyone else got put on something easier, and less isolated. I guess I made the imprecation that I could handle it. This is the pot fishing boat that any of the new kids got. It's just like the boats on the Deadliest Catch, only older. This beauty of girl was originally built in the 40's for the navy. It was then turned into a crab boat in the 70's. The captain gave me a run down of her life story. In the 70's this girl was top of the line. She gets the job done, all be it on her own time. Because she is tough one to handle and wrangle, she allows the captain to cuss at something other than his crew from time to time.

- Casey