Another Try

Looks like Blogspot is cooperating today, so here are some photos of that beached whale. It turns out it is a full grown female humpback and she actually beached at Broad Bay nearby and was towed to Captain's Bay so it was more accessible to the public for educational purposes. Broad Bay is the spot where we watch the whales play from Ballyhoo sometimes. There are a couple articles on the local radio/TV news channel about the whale here. Apparently they originally hoped to fly in a specialist from Seward to perform a necropsy but the whale may be too badly decomposed for that at this point.

Stranded

Blogger is giving me a hard time tonight when I try to upload photos so I'll try adding photos to this post tommorow. Today was a strange one - this morning there was a full scale gale blowing; some of our boats had come in to the harbor to avoid the heavy seas in the Bering Sea. Based on this, we were going to have an indoor movie night tonight and enjoy the storm raging outside.

By the time I got out of work however the skies were sunny and the storm was just a memory so we headed over to Little South America to look at a beached humpback whale we had heard about (pictures to follow!).

Dreams

You can see in the corner by my living room window I have a new addition - a kayak paddle. I got this in the mail yesterday from my youngest son Trevor as a birthday gift. I've always tried to support Trevor in pursuit of his dreams and ambitions and I am so very proud of the young man he has become - and now it appears he is supporting me in mine. I mentioned to him that I wanted to get an ocean kayak because this place is the perfect place for one - most days Dutch Harbor is flat calm, and it offers the opportunity to see seals, sea lions, whales, puffins and other sea life on a daily basis. I've always wanted to kayak in the ocean, since I was a teenager, so thank you Trevor for listening and giving me a nudge . . . . within a year the paddle won't just be sitting by the living room window . . . .

Cod Season Begins

Cod season started September 1st and after the normal price negotiations our boats are out on the grounds and making cod deliveries. The photo is of one of our boats, F/V Arctic Mariner, after it had loaded up it's pots prior to leaving. All of the boats that fish cod for us fish crab as well, and the gear is very similar. This is exactly what the Arctic Mariner will look like when it heads out for crabbing in October. We are a little short handed at work with cod processing in addition to pollock.

Well . . . .

Maybe one more day of tugboat photos, what do you say? The top picture shows the view of the container ship we towed off the dock on our approach, the middle picture shows Captain Rob talking to the other tugboat on the other end of the container vessel, and the bottom picture shows the deckhand attaching the towline to the small messenger line dropped down from the deck of the container ship. You can see we lost a lot of daylight between the top photo at around 9:40 PM and the bottom photo at probably 10:30 PM.

Summit of Ballyhoo

I had yesterday off and I used the opportunity to call my Dad and hike to the summit of Ballyhoo. I had hiked around on Ballyhoo (that is where I watch whales from) but never to the top so I was pretty excited. You can see from the picture of Chico it was extremely windy near the summit - I'm guessing gusts to 30 or 40 knots. In the top photo I am about two thirds of the way to the top ducked behind a rock outcrop to get out of the wind for a bit. The bottom picture looks along the summit ridge towards the open Bering Sea. On the summit I lay on my belly and watched the whales for awhile before hiking back down. I'm just sorry I took so long to make this hike because it is definitely do-able in the evening after work and the view is spectacular.

Goldfish made the hike today on her day off and there was almost no wind so she hiked in a t-shirt the whole way - what a difference a day makes! She has bettter pictures from the summit than I do - better camera, better weather and a better eye for the shot - but I only use my pictures on this blog, so you're stuck with my view . . . . .cheers and goodnight!

A Different View

I'm always posting pictures on here of the view out my living room window and of the Russian Orthodox Church down the street - well here is the view OF my living room window (top picture, just to the left of the big satellite dish) and of the church (bottom picture) as seen from the water, specifically the wheelhouse of the James Dunlap as we motored out the channel. You can see Haystack Hill rising in the background on the other side of the creek.

James Dunlap

In the top picture you can see the James Dunlap behind the much smaller Saratoga. James Dunlap carries a crew of 3 that live on-board for their entire 75 day work rotation. It is 101 feet long powered by two 2000 horse diesels with Z-Drives that allow it to turn in any direction and basically spin circles in place if it wants to - it also has an auto pilot system that keeps the vessel stationary with no operator input. When actively towing, it burns over 200 gallons per hour - at one point when we were pulling the freighter away from the dock at full throttle we were burning 4 gallons a minute.

The lower picture shows one half of the engine room showing one of the main engines and part of the auxiliary power generators. The engine room, like the entire vessel, was spotless. The captain had us wash our feet off immediately after boarding to keep from tracking anything. In the top photo, left hand side, you can see Haystack Hill and part of the Alyeska dock across the channel. With it parked within view all the time, is it any wonder I had become fond of this tug?

The James Dunlap was on scene when the Selendang Ayu freighter ran aground on Unalaska Island and broke in half back in 2004 but was unable to attach a tow rope due to the extreme conditions and no way to fire a messenger line to the freighter to attach a tow rope, a feature that has since been added. You can read about National Transportation Safety Board's description of the grounding - which included a crashed rescue helicopter and the loss of six lives - here . There are 79 photos from the Daily News showing scenes from the grounding, including the crew of the James Dunlap here . And finally, there is a good description of the mechanical systems and a photo on the Dunlap Towing website here.

Birthday Continued

I saw a lot of cool things yesterday besides Dutch Harbor from the pilot house of my favorite tugboat - although that was the coolest. When I was at work I saw a sea lion with a brand new baby swimming up the channel by my "office window". It looked like it was fishing based on the frantic salmon jumping where ever it swam. Later that afternoon the winds kicked up and a flock of seagulls was flying down the channel against the wind, going absolutely no where for 10 minutes, apparently on purpose. It was the flying equivalent of running on a treadmill! And finally, after work but before I went on the James Dunlap, there was this beautiful rainbow with Mount Newhall as a backdrop ending at the outside channel marker.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I'm posting very late but for a great reason. I don't know if you can remember, but in an earlier post I mentioned my favorite boat on the island was the tugboat James Dunlop. Well, by some miracle Goldfish made arrangements for me to get a ride on the James Dunlop for a birthday surprise! We were on it for two hours while we moved a big cargo ship off the dock and got it pointed out to sea - what an experience! The captain has been doing it for 18 years up here, 75 days on/75 days off, and he was a super nice guy who patiently answered my million questions. I'll post more pictures tommorow. Additionally, Goldfish got me two sets of Frog Togs raingear and an Aluet Dictionary - but it was the tugboat ride that was the frosting on my birthday. Cheers everyone, it's late and we're getting our first cod delivery of the season tommorow.

Wow, Where Did August Go?

Seems like August snuck by pretty quick - here we are with a fresh new month sprawling ahead already. The beginning of September also marks the start of commercial cod season out here so there will be some changes in plant staffing and we flew in 27 additional employees to help with the cod processing.

I've got a bunch of goals for September - seems like the new month has me in a goal setting mood - but I won't share them here. Life is good! I'm not sure what the bird is in the photo - maybe one of you knows?

Day Off - Sort Of . . . .

I went to work at 5:30 this morning as usual but found this was a cleaning day but a boat would be arriving soon - 9 AM, noon or 3 PM, depending on who you talked to on the matter. Normally I would punch in under the refrigeration department and work there but it was such a beautiful day . . . . I kept an eye on the harbor in case F/V Great Pacific showed up and caught up on chores, some reading and enrolled in college at the University of Alaska Southeast starting in January to finish my Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree. All in all, a productive day! The boat never did make it in until just now as I was returning from the galley with a big plate of prawns and scallops - too late for my shift.

Goldfish is going to a birthday party tonight so I think I'll do a hike and enjoy the day because September is right around the corner! Cheers everyone!

Peaceful Day

I just got back from the museum where I attended a presentation on squid - their role in the ecosystem, the difficulties in conducting a census, the historical bycatch numbers, and then a dissection of several specimens showing the body parts and their function. It is a calm evening, it's been calm all day. At morning break I grabbed a cup of coffee and a piece of banana bread and sat on the dock watching the seagulls reflected in the flat calm water, still except for the ocassional jumping salmon. There is a rumor that the silvers are starting to show up in the creek but I don't see how you could find them with the thousands of milling pinks. I went for a walk earlier with Chico and couldn't see any sign of silvers, either in the creek or on a stringer.

The picture above is of the Grand Aleutian hotel, taken from the Museum of the Aleutians parking lot. The guy sitting in the foreground is watching all the salmon jumping. The Grand Aleutian has a nice little giftshop, a pub with live music most nights, and the Chartroom Restarant which has an all you can eat seafood buffet every Wednesday and a fantastic brunch buffet every Sunday.

Pie and Thai

I didn't post last night as it was my night to cook, and then we watched a movie. I cooked Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp and baked a salmonberry pie. Everything came out pretty good! I'm attending a lecture at the museum tonight but will try to post when I get home - cheers!

How Are These For Fresh?

These pictures are hot off the digital camera but are not what I hoped to post . . . let me explain. I had just gotten home from work after stopping by the galley for a bowl food. I grabbed a couple slices of pork roast, some mashed potatoes and some cottage cheese and then Goldfish had brought home leftovers from an office birthday party for her boss so I had a pretty good spread going. I was looking out the window while I ate and noticed two sea lions swimming by - I didn't want to stop eating right that minute but I've been wanting some sea lion photos for the blog so after eating I headed out with the camera to walk on the beach and see if I could catch up with the sea lions.

I didn't have any luck with the sea lions so I took some shots of shore birds and F/V Nordic Star which fishes for Unisea (the competition) but was delivering to our dock tonight for some reason. It is a quiet foggy evening and Goldfish could not see the whales due to the fog when she walked Chico. I'm signing off, we're watching a movie before bed - good to talk to you tonight Trevor!

Good Morning

Unlike the photo above, it looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day, huge full moon and a sky full of stars. I'm working refrigeration today so I'm punching in a bit later, hopefully I'll be outside. I got most of the items on my grocery list to cook tommorow night - getting groceries is sometimes a bit of an Easter egg hunt out here on the island. Don't get me wrong, the Eagle and the AC are both decent sized grocery stores, it's just you never quite know if they will have an item in stock. I couldn't find fresh cilantro anywhere yesterday and will try again tonight. Cheers everyone, enjoy the day!

Spiraling Ravens and Feeding Whales

I didn't get to blog last night because Goldfish and I were out late seeing the sights. We walked on Ballyhoo and watched the humpback whales feeding - too far away for pictures still but they will be in close to shore later in the fall. We also watched the big crane loading a cargo ship; I was fascinated and need to do some research on gantry cranes, how they hook to the containers so quickly, and how the reefer units are powered when the boat is underway. After loading a row of containers the whole crane rolls on rails to the next position to load - I could sit and watch the process all day if I had the time. We were getting ready to come down off Ballyhoo and noticed an amazing raven behavior - all the ravens in the Dutch Harbor area all congregated from all points of the compass and started this upward spiral. It was like they were getting sucked in and upwards by some giant force, and they kept going up until they pierced the cloud cover and disappeared - literally maybe 200 ravens, gone. We waited a bit for them to show up again but they apparently kept going up for awhile. I guess that should be no surprise - the raven is the one bird that has been spotted on the summit of Mount Mckinley at 20,320 feet. I have to say, the eagles are still my favorites but the ravens are winning me over with their vocalizations, their stunning aerobatics and barrel rolls, and their social behaviors.

Anyways, I'm off to the grocery store to get supplies to cook Shrimp and Chicken Pad Thai tomorrow or the next day. I took the picture above of the F/V Bering Rose today as it turned the corner and started down the channel with the morning sun behind it. Sometimes its interesting to intentionally back light something and see how it turns out . . . .

Berries Everywhere

I have to confess, I haven't been berry picking out here yet - Goldfish has a friend Keri that she goes picking with on a regular basis and our freezer is about 25% full of berries from her efforts. I have, however, done lots of berry grazing, berry sampling and berry eating and I love the salmonberries out here. Almost anywhere you hike there are berries to pick, there must be something perfect about the climate out here. There are blueberries as well but those are harder to find. Goldfish just got back from her walk with Chico and Keri on Ballyhoo and told me you can hear the humpback whales. Can't see them because of the rain and fog today but you can hear them. Pretty cool music to walk to . . . . . . . .

World War II Museum

The World War II Museum is nicely done, from the exterior to the neatly and well written displays. It is only open 4 days a week for 5 hours so I was wondering if I would ever get there but yesterday's day off was the perfect opportunity. The museum is right next to the airport and I was able to watch a Coast Guard C-130 do touch-and-gos on the short runway.

Today it felt good to be back at work, working hard and feeling healthy. The pollock were huge and there was just enough bycatch, primarily herring, to make the day go by quickly. Early to bed for me, those huge fish kicked my butt!

Day At The Beach

I split my day off between the WWII Museum and Morris Cove with Chico. The salmon are pairing off and building redds to lay eggs in the upper reaches of the creek that empties into Summers Bay; one female had beached herself and Chico delicately picked her up by the tail and dropped her in deeper water. Of course he may have had darker motivations I was unaware of but the result was good . . . .

Lots of new pictures that I'll get posted in the days ahead. There are several boats coming in tonight and tommorow so lots of work for awhile. Cod season starts in a week and we are flying in additional workers to help with the extra load; the season is almost half over so this has been a nice midpoint break.