Big News

Today was day two of the new job, not too much to report on that front yet. I didn't post anything Sunday night as that was my night to cook . . . I hit two out of three recipies, the cherry and chocolate chip scones came out good, the quiche lorraine came out good, but the English muffins from scratch, baked on a griddle, were not the best. It is from a very old family recipie from a cookbook my sister compiled last year so the directions are a bit "sparse". I love a challenge though so I'll keep trying until I get it right.

After work tonight Goldfish and I went hiking on Ballyhoo with our friend Keri and her dog Kali, and of course Chico. We watched the whales for awhile while the dogs played; the weather was outstanding!

The photo shows crates of crab legs coming out of the cooker and into the chiller. After the chiller they are glazed, boxed and shipped. We're getting another crab delivery in a couple days, it's a fun process to watch.

The big news? Can't tell, I promised I'd wait a couple days! Cheers and good night!

Wierd Feeling

I started my new job today - same company - and I felt disconnected from the whole process. In the plant I could watch sea lions jump out of the water with salmon in their mouth, watch the boats go by in the East Channel, watch the sunrise every morning, watch the birds, watch the salmon jumping, watch the weather change (sometimes minute by minute), watch the wind play with the water. Now, in the engineering office, I don't even see the outside until I go to lunch or come home. I think the solution might be to take a walk at lunch and then spend lots of time outside in the evenings when I can.

We were up on Haystack Saturday and I took pictures of the Iliuliuik River below. In the top picture, see all the white things in the water? Those are spawned out salmon that won't flush out until the next tide. The middle picture shows the seagulls making a guantlet for the salmon to run on their way upstream; you can see all the fins of the salmon sticking out of the water. The bottom picture shows the number of gulls there were with the Russian Orthodox Church in the background.

Golden Crab

It was interesting today seeing the differences between the brown and red king crabs. Our off-loading system is really pretty efficient compared to some on the island - there are a couple guys down in the hold of the ship loading the brailers and separating any crab that are dead (boats don't get paid for any dead crab). The crane operator swings the brailer over to a large stainless steel inclined ramp which opens directly into the plant where the crabs are grabbed by the waiting processing crew and butchered, cooked, chilled, glazed and packed. The photos above show F/V Aleutian No. 1, the unloader pulling the release on the brailer of crab, and the waiting processing crew grabbing the crab, butchering them, and handing the legs down the line for the next step.

I start my new job in the Engineering department Monday so I'll be hanging up my rain gear and joining the white collar ranks. I've never worked with a finer bunch of coworkers than the ones on the line with me the last three months - Haime, Boy, Phillip, Edde, and Chayo - I'll miss you guys and will be back to visit. Cheers . . . . .

First Crab Delivery Tommorow

There is good news on the crab front - the quotas have been increased significantly from last year indicating a healthy population - good news for you Deadliest Catch fans! We are getting our first crab delivery tomorrow at noon from F/V Aleutian No. 1. This will be brown king crab, more commonly called golden king (ahhhh, marketing . . . . ). It is not the rock star of the king crab family, the red king - that won't be for another few weeks.

This site does a good job explaining the differences between the three species of king crab, and delineating where each is found. You can find more info on brown ki . . . oops, I mean golden king crab here and here. And finally, you can learn a little about crab pots at this site.

I took the photo above out on the spit last week and it shows a close-up of the entrance to a crab pot.

View From The Beach

The Shell Oil drill rig Frontier Discoverer was moored at the APL dock this morning lit up by a Christmas tree so I steadied the camera as best I could standing on the beach in front of the house for the long exposure needed to capture the scene. You can read about the tough times Shell has experienced in getting permits to drill in the Beaufort Sea here and here. The Frontier Discoverer and associated support ships are costing Shell a million dollars a day standing idle awaiting court appeals. We like them because they are a nice boost to the economy here in Dutch Harbor while they sit around!

Reverting Back To Nature

This World War II bunker is on the spit enclosing Dutch Harbor, right on the beach. I took this picture last week when I was gathering seaweed and walking Chico. It looks like in another 60 years you won't even see it . . . .

Puffballs Like Softballs

I was walking on Mount Ballyhoo last week, on my way to watch the whales, and noticed some of the biggest puffballs I've ever seen. If I was absolutely sure about it being a puffball it would have gone home with me to be sauteed in butter because it was just right for harvest. That is a 20 ounce quad mocha for scale to give you an idea. We usually park at the bottom and walk up to the point so we can feel we've "earned our whales" . . . . .

Busy Busy Busy

Lots and lots of fish with all the fleet that weathered out the storm last week in port coming in one after the other with full loads. I took this picture of Chico a couple days ago when we were hiking on Mount Newhall. Early to bed for me as I have testing tommorow - cheers!

Indian Summer Continues

There was a sea lion by the dock all day long - every time I had time I would look out the window and he would be swimming around in the vicinity of F/V Great Pacific. After work there were three sea lions, all playing in the east channel. It was like I was working at Sea World today . . . . I took a picture of these eagles on the Church last week, just before dusk.

Mount Newhall Day

I finally got the perfect afternoon to tackle Mount Newhall today! Chico and I started up about 2:45 after mailing some packages at the post office. There isn't a trail after about the halfway mark and I made some uninformed route decisions that left me about 150 vertical feet short of the summit with no real safe way to advance so I ended up traversing to the left and glissading down on my butt back to the trail with no damage except the loss of most of my jeans on my left butt cheek. I took these pictures at about the 1300 foot mark and they form a right-to-left panoramic view if you connect them in order from top to bottom. You can see from the bottom photo (doesn't that rock formation look just like a man's face in repose??) that it was already 45 degrees of wet grass at that point and it got steeper further up. The view was pretty much the same from further up - I just didn't want to dig out my camera from the pack while I was clinging desperately to pieces of moss with my hands and feet trying not to slide to the bottom (until I was ready!).

The top photo is cool as it shows the whole of Mount Ballyhoo which I climbed a couple weeks ago. On the right side of this photo is the open Bering Sea; on the left side you can just see the airstrip - not very long is it? A lot of folks don't realize that the only body of water that can properly be called Dutch Harbor is the water between the spit in this photo and Mount Ballyhoo. In the second photo you can see the town of Dutch Harbor with Hog Island in the distance. The water to the right side of Hog Island is where we have been watching whales from Mount Ballyhoo these past few weeks. The third photo shows some of Dutch Harbor and the town of Unalaska towards the left. You can see Alyeska Seafood jutting into the East Channel just above and to the right of center.

I got home with one tired dog and found that Goldfish had gotten prime rib and baked potato with all the fixings for me from the galley, so I didn't miss out on supper - all in all a pretty perfect day! We're going to watch a movie and turn in as there is lots of fish tomorrow. Cheers!

From The Living Room Window

A couple days ago I watched the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPAR service the navigational buoy at the entrance to the East Channel. In the top photo you can see Mount Newhall in the background, and in the bottom picture you have a better view of the buoy being hoisted onto the deck of the SPAR in preparation for servicing. You can read more about the SPAR at the Coast Guard site here, or the Wikipedia entry here. The SPAR is home based in Kodiak, Alaska and services navigational aids all along the Aleutian Chain, earning it the nickname "Aleutian Keeper" which is painted on boom arm of the large deck crane.

So Quiet

With only a few people working today the whole area is quiet and still, no truckloads of fish shipping out to the dock, no forklifts whizzing around, no distant hum of machinery. Just the ping - ping - ping of the baseboard heat and the bubbling of water on the stove coming to a boil for tea . . . .

Three Months

I didn't post yesterday as we went out for our monthly celebration of another month on the island. I spent the afternoon walking the beach on the spit with Chico gathering a particular kind of seaweed I want to use in my soap making, then Goldfish and I went out for Chinese food. Today we hiked on Ballyhoo and watched the whales, spouting and cavorting 3 to 400 yards offshore. We picked up Keri's dog Kali on the way so Chico would have a play buddy to run with.

With the passing of the three months comes the changing of the season, from summer to fall. The salmon berries are gone and the blueberries are growing scarce. The fire weed has peaked out and the tundra vegetation has begun to change to reds and browns from vibrant green. And of course the pink salmon run is slowing down and spawned out carcasses are washing out to sea with the tides . . . . I look forward to the change of seasons and all the new things that await!

Wind From The South-East

Most of the fleet left for the fishing grounds today so there will likely be a gap before another delivery. Last night's storm was fantastic - it is still blowing a bit but the sun is shining with mixed clouds. One of the benefits of being so far out west is although it get light fairly late in the morning, we are blessed with daylight well into the evening, even this time of year.

Goldfish is baking muffins and I am sourcing materials on-line to make soap. If tomorrow is a day off I'm hoping for decent weather so I can tackle Mount Newhall. The photos show a Russian icebreaker that is part of the Shell Oil exploration fleet that has been parked here in Dutch harbor for awhile on stand-by at the cost of a million dollars a day while their environmental permits to drill in the Beaufort Sea are reviewed. I took the picture from Ballyhoo while the ship was passing by Hog Island - to give a sense of scale, the escort tugboat is 80 feet long.

Finally Storming

And the internet seems to be acting up so I can't upload photos. I walked the dock after work tonight and counted 11 boats, rafted up two deep in most places, with only one of our boats out braving the storm and fishing. Today was another busy one while we dealt with the influx of fish. I just love the storms out here - both walking in them (with good raingear!) and being inside with a warm cup of tea while it rages outside. I'm going to sign off so we can use the laptop for movie night - cheers everyone!

Busiest Day Yet

I thought we were going to get one million pounds off loaded during my shift but we ran into a few problems towards the end and just got 900,000 - still a good day. It is absolutely gorgeous out, 55 and sunny, the calm before the storm. 24 hours from now there is supposed to be 30 foot seas in the Bering so the fleet is almost all back here with whatever fish they have on board creating a bit of a bottle neck so we're going full bore to get everything processed.

I took Chico for a walk in the pass after work today and on the drive there we saw this fox - what you can't see in the picture (taken through the windshield) is Chico going absolutely beserk, trying to eat his way through the dashboard to get the fox. You can see the fox is completely unimpressed . . .

Loads of Fish

There are lots of boats heading to port full of fish, just in time to avoid the big storm heading this way. We'll be working like crazy for a few days, both pollock and cod, then will probably get a day or two reprieve. I'm trying to fight off a cold so I can stay in good shape for the onslaught.

The salmon berries are becoming harder to find but the blueberries are in full swing. I picked some yesterday - but ate them just as fast as I picked. Goldfish found the awesome double blueberry in the top photo last week. The whales are closer to shore and really putting on a show tonight according to our friend Keri but I'm making an early night of it and heading to bed - cheers everyone!

Great Food

We just got back from the birthday party, wow there was a lot of great food there. It's interesting, the social structure has almost come full circle from pre-contact times in this area. Long ago, the sea and the land provided everything the tribe needed and there was a great emphasis on family. You had potlatches and seasonal celebrations and taking care of the tribe was more important than "things" or status.

Today, our basic needs are met with food and shelter provided by the company so there can be that emphasis on people again. It took awhile for me to understand why anyone would cook anything when the galley is always open, but it is the social aspect of food and the care that goes into the preparation that is important. In most places you just don't see 20 to 25 people gathering, all with food, for a birthday party - every birthday party - but here the societal fabric seems to be woven a little tighter . . .

Anyways, there is fish in the morning, I need to get to bed. Folks liked my salmon berry pie so that was fun, and my belly is full of many wonderful dishes and desserts I had never tried. The picture is taken along a beach towards Summer's Bay - I am always drawn to documenting old nets, gear and timbers along the beaches, usually at the high water mark, driven ashore by winter storms. There is supposed to be a big storm coming that will bring a lot of the fleet back to port so it will be very busy for a few days . . . cheers everyone and good night!

Let's See . . . .

What have I been up to? I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because I was working on my resume and cover letter for a job opening. Goldfish had a hair appointment so Chico and I walked on Ballyhoo and watched the whales for awhile. Tonight we went to a slide show at the museum given by Reid Brewer and Roger Deffendall showing some of the findings from a 75 day dive trip along the Aleutian chain in 2006 and 2007; good stuff. I baking a salmonberry pie for a birthday party tommorow night while I type this - it's only the second time I've done this recipie, I hope it turns out.

I saw a sea lion by the plant dock yesterday and today, same time, while I was waiting to punch out. If the weather cooperates tommorow I'm thinking about doing a big hike up Mount Newhall in the afternoon before the birthday party - hopefully pictures to follow tommorow night!

And On A Happy Note

As a more cheerful counterpoint to the dead beached whale, here is a fantastic photo taken by Lynda Lybeck-Robinson a few weeks ago here in Unalaska. Lynda is Goldfish's boss's piano teacher, so although I did not take this photo, I know who did. The splashing in the background is from another whale beating it's tail on the water. These are the same whales in Broad Bay that I watch from Ballyhoo Mountain sometimes. They should be getting closer to town later in the fall. Anyways, I wanted something cheerful so I made an exception to all the blog photos being taken by me - at this point any whale photos by me would show tiny splashes in the distance . . . . this is probably the favorite whale picture I have ever see because these are "my" whales. Cheers everyone!