The 57th Parallel: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

A little late, I know. Excuse my lateness. It will never happen again, sir. Control freak.

So my week here was per usual, work. eat. sleep. repeat. But a night at the bar can change everything. I was with a fellow friend, Tor, and we were talking about fishing (REAL fishing, none of this one at a time, lets sit back and have a beer type of fishing) and it got me thinking. I have three weeks left here, I'm a sucker for taking chances, Clearly, and there was an opening on a weekend I happen to have off. My inner goddess is telling me to go. So, I took the bold step. I called up the skipper the next morning and asked to come along on their one day opening! And he said YES!! So less than a few hours later I end up on the boat with five guys with my book and ipod in hand, ready to see the world of commercial fishing.

Let me begin to introduce the marvelous boat I was on, the Marathon. The skipper is Maya's uncle and her cousin, Allan, is one of the fisherman. Tor, who I mentioned earlier is also a fisherman on this boat. Now that I'm all done with introductions, let me move onto my 9 hour ride northwest of where we were. Basically, it was a road trip on an RV....but 10X better because you have Alaska out your window, not I-5. During the ride up to Chaik Bay (near Sitka) I listened to music and read a book. I hope people know what book I'm talking about, how embarrassing. I sat up with the skipper in the top deck most of the time, as it had a panoramic view of everything, including whales!! It took a few hours, but throughout my whole trip I saw at least 5-6 whales. Exhilarating. Guys called it a early night, and by 10 we were all out. Oh yes, I haven't mentioned the bunks. Excuse my less than descriptive image of this, but don't worry, there will be pictures. It's 4 bunks that are located at the bow of the boat, so they curve and have absolutely no room to move. I was placed on the top bunk, with three of the guys along with me. Not comfortable.

The next morning I am woken by Tor shaking me, telling me they will this will be the best set of the day and I should get up if I want to see. Crap, I'm tired. I should have gone to bed when the guys did. I stumble out of bed and see Tor making everyone breakfast. What kind of universe did I just set foot in? I watch the skiff close in the net and the boys quickly get ready for the fish to arrive on deck. Don't worry, there will be video for all those who can't follow. That's everyone, Syd. The net is hooked on a skiff, and the seiner boat and skiff make a huge circle and after about 25 minutes meet back to make a full circle, finally closing in the fish. This repeats for as long as the skipper feels he can catch fish, or more specifically until the opening closes. This opening was from 7AM-7PM. Which is what we did. It was a sunny day so I moved around different parts of the boat all day, reading, listening to music, talking with everyone, and watching the guys repeat all this for 12 hours. Incredible. We come back with approximately 8,000 pounds of salmon and ride throughout the night back to PSG. Overall, it was an experience I do not know I'll ever have again. Truly once-in-a-lifetime type of adventure.

So this is my reason for being late on my blog this weekend. Please forgive me. Oh no, I mean....

Please forgive me, sir. Control freak.