Flying glass, glaciers and tons of rain

Ok lets see Sunday night Jonathan and I went camping with a big group of people. I was kind of drizzly all night, but besides that it was a lot of fun. We mostly sat around eating marshmallows and talking, but occasionally some people would ride off on four-wheelers. We also went down Boulder Alley again, which was once again great. We packed 4 people into Jonathan's two-seater F-150. Somehow along the way we managed to bust out the passenger side window on the truck. We still have no idea how it happened, because there were no obvious branches behind us that would have done the damage. Right now we think it was either the mass amount of vibrations from the road or the side mirror getting knocked into the window. Either way, we all got showered in safety glass, although I got the worst of it because I was sitting next to the passenger side door. Even Jonathan thought it was hilarious. So right now he is riding around in style with a black plastic trash bag covering the window.

So we hung around the campfire until early morning, and then we decided to all drive out to the glacier at the end of the highway. Once again we jammed more bodies into a truck than we should have. I think we had 8 in a 5 seater, with one person laying across the others in the backseat. It wasn't the most comfortable ride I've ever had, but it was fun. We eventually got to the end of the road and the Million Dollar Bridge, which is a bridge that now serves no function but use to allow workers to get to the big copper mine that operated around here. After a few pictures were taken, our group headed down to the glacier. I thought the glacier was fairly large, but everyone else was saying how much smaller it had gotten. You could see how much higher the river was going to get when the glacier melted by the mud left on the rocks. In the next couple months I would expect that glacier to lose a lot of it's mass.

As for fishing, we are making more progress towards it. Yesterday Andrew finished installing the hydraulic pump which runs the refrigeration for the fish hold. We still need to finish fiberglassing the fish hold combing, attach the new backstays, mend the net, and give the entire boat a good scrubbing. Going to try and get out of here in the next few days.

Last night the shore power terminals failed, so I spent my morning rewiring the fitting on the boat and on the cable itself. Hopefully I'll learn more about electrical while I'm up here, because it would be nice to have that skill set even if it ends up being limited.

It has seriously been raining for about a week at this point. I am starting to get used to it at this point though. The only time that the temperatures are bad is when I have to get out of my sleeping bag in the morning. Besides that I haven't minded it being chilly at all. It's a nice alternative to Florida, because here I don't step outside and instantly start sweating.

The winds are supposed to be around 35-40 knots tonight, which could prove to be interesting.

-Jack

Progress on the social front

Man I have been busy the last few days, in terms of both work and social life. I am really getting to the point where people know who I am and I can be comfortable hanging out with them if Jonathan isn't around. Thursday night I went and played Frisbee with a group while Jonathan was at the gym, and we eventually get enough people together to play Ultimate Frisbee. It had been raining just about the whole day before we went out there, so the field was incredibly slick and of you tried to change direction quickly you ended up sliding. The conditions and the game itself were a lot of fun. That night we went out to a bonfire with a different group of friends. Jonathan, our friend Cody and I ended up walking out to a nearby glacier and checking it out. Cody is pretty cool and is going to be out fishing on a different boat this summer, so hopefully we'll be able to hang out a good bit. The only issue with making friends here in Cordova is that once we leave, the next time I will see them will be at the end up the summer.

Friday night we went and had a bonfire with yet another group of friends. This group is probably my favorite and the ones I will hang out with the most. It was out in this place called the gravel pit, so some people brought four-wheelers and everyone was riding around on them the whole time. After that we all headed back into town to drop off most of the group, but then some of us headed back out to car trail called Boulder Alley. Basically Boulder Alley is a narrow trail in the brush riddled with bumps and sharp turns. It makes for a really fun truck ride.

Then last night was the local high school's graduation ceremony. I skipped the actual ceremony, but then Jonathan picked me up and we went and hung out at the after party. Then at about 10:30 we went to this thing called Safe and Sober, an event for seniors and a guest of their choice. Most of the group from the gravel pit was there, and it was a lot of fun. We stayed until about 5 am, when they kicked everyone out. So Jonathan and I headed back to the boat and passed out for awhile. I actually just woke up now, so who knows what work will be like today. Hopefully we can manage to go camping with everyone tonight though.

The people who ran it were giving out prizes to the seniors, which included laptops. These were not bad laptops either; these were pretty nice. Supposedly the people running the event had been doing fund-raisers all year for this. Jonathan actually ended up winning one, which kills me. I have already tried to offer a trade for his which would include my current computer and money on my part. He is going to use it as a navigation computer onboard this summer, because they believe that the computer they have been using for navigation has been corrupted by the internet. So the plan for the new on is to be strictly a nav computer, and keep it offline permanently Man, I really want that computer, but I don't want to be annoying about it. I do think that my current one would serve their needs, and I could even wipe all traces of the internet off of it by restoring it to factory settings. We'll see, I don't want to push it too much.

As for work lately, it's been mostly a bunch of odd jobs, so there's not really much to talk about. The biggest thing is that I set up a large cover with a tarp over the work area on deck so we can fiberglass when it is raining. There aren't many projects left, but they are all big ones. I think we can all see the light at the end of the tunnel, though.

Our departure date has slid to the 4th of June, so we will be at the dock for more then a week. I want to get done with all of these boat projects and actually get fishing, because I don't get paid for doing boat projects. Jonathan and his parents have all said that this is the worst part, and that our first fishing area will be the worst of the summer. I'm kind of happy about that because it lets us get the worst out of the way early and then have good fishing for the rest of the time. Once the season is over I will have to help them put the boat to sleep for the winter, but it will be much easier than what we are doing now.

-Jack

Living up to it's reputation

In terms of rain, that is. It rained here all day yesterday. Not hard rain, but it was a constant shower. I can see how they get 180 inches of rain a year up here. I had the grand pleasure of hacksawing through steel cable out in the rain, which was naturally a lot of fun.

Yesterday was pretty easy. Not much really got done because Jonathan kept having to be at the school for seemed to be throughout the entire day. He graduates tomorrow though, although it is all formalities at this point. He's not actually graduating from this school district, but he has to finish up his singing classes.

That was about it for yesterday. It was really quite uneventful, but since I have the time now I figured I would update. I think my homesickness is getting a bit better, but it is still prominent. I can't blame any of my hosts here for it, they have all been great and figured I would miss home. I figure once we get fishing, and I am able to get myself into a sort of rhythm I will be fine. It's just that the last few days I haven't been working too much and it has given me a lot of time to sit and think about things, which is never good when you're homesick. I am trying to keep my mind busy in my off time by reading and things like that.

-Jack

After a week

Cordova is still working for me. I'm about to hit the 1-week mark. It seems like I have been here longer than that, but I suppose it is just because the days here are so long and you end up doing much more every day when the sun is up for 19 or so hours.

Work on the Jonathan S (the boat I'm crewing on) is progressing well. We have been doing bottom work, rigging work, and more scrubbing. There are still remains from the soot explosion, most of which are in the fur of the boat dog, Cheeky. Poor little dog; with his filthiness and the fact that one of his hind legs is not running well, he looks rather abused. He has been promised a bath for at least the past 3 days, but so far it has not happened. The bath is going to have to come before the deck gets a final wash down, because this morning I noticed many paw-shaped black footprints at Cheeky's post on the bow of the ship. It is where he sits for periods during the day to watch and bark at people who come by, and to look adorable enough to be scratched by those same people.

Monday we went on what is called 'the grid'. Is it a series of large wooden rectangles which serve as temporary method of hauling one's boat out. What happens is that 'the grid' is high and dry at low tide, but underwater at high tide because of the 15-20 foot tide difference up here. So you wait for high tide, go tie up, and wait for the water to run out, leaving your vessel high enough above the mud to allow you you to work its underside. All we had to do Monday on the grid was clean a bit of growth off and replace some zincs.

Andrew (the captain and Jonathan's dad) and Jonathan have also been cutting into the boat, attempting to make it easier for us to get the fish aboard. I would explain what they are doing, but I myself don't entirely understand what is being done so I doubt I could explain it at all. What I do know is that the end result will make it much easier for us to transfer the fish from the net to the fish hold, making my job on deck simpler. Sounds good to me.

Right now the wind is howling and it is raining, so who knows what we will get done tomorrow. If the day ends up being clear, I'm sure some fiberglassing will be in store. Gel coating and painting are also possibilities.

Last night Jonathan and I watched a movie with a couple friends. I am starting to be recognized and people are actually remembering my name, so things are going well on that front. Tonight we had a bonfire with several other people. I swear, some of these people are a confederate flag bumper sticker away from belonging in the South. Trucks and guns are popular topics of conversation. It's funny to see the parallels between some of the locals here and some Southern 'hicks' (for lack of a nicer word), but I have yet to meet a mean person here which makes it irrelevant.

Only 9 days until we leave port!

-Jack

The first few days

Alaska is great. Having been here for a few days now, I can rally say that. For one, just having those snow-covered mountains around is incredible. Plus the weather has been great in terms of temperature (highs in the low 50s with lows in the mid 30s), and it is only going to get warmer for the next couple of months.

I have been working a lot, that is for sure. Pretty much as soon as I got here on Wednesday I was put to work. It seems that the oven onboard has been acting up lately, and the morning before I arrived it had produced an soot explosion which had covered the inside as well as the outside of the boat with soot. By time I got in, the inside was clean except for the floor, but the deck was far from it. Jonathan and myself have been involved in the task of cleanup the last few days, as well as a fair amount of other chores including changing the engine oil, retrieving the extremely large fishing net out of storage, loading the net onto the boat, removing the old and torn net OFF the boat, replacing the anchor chain and cable, replacing rigging lines, greasing various deck hardware, and installing the huge block which the net runs through. Tomorrow we get a day off though, so that will be nice.

The kids here seem pretty cool, and I believe that they feel the same about me. There are several different groups which hang out together, and I've interacted with a few of them already. Right now I am still just trying to meet everybody, then I'll attempt to become more familiar with them. I'm not sure how much I will really end up hanging out with them, it depends on how often we have to return to Cordova due to breaking something on the boat.

As we were landing in Juneau I snapped a few pictures before my batteries died on me. Here are a couple:





Only 12 days until the fishing season opens for the first species of salmon. It turns out that there are something like 3-4 different species which we will fish for during the summer. So while we won't be fishing for one species throughout the summer, we will be busy with some sort of salmon the whole time.

Anyways that is my trip so far. More to come in the next few days.

-Jack

From Seattle

The flight from Atlanta was a long one. The only issue was that I slept about 30 minutes, which is definitely not enough. The massive roar of the 767's engines is heard pretty clearly when you're seated close behind them. That coupled with the stewardesses bumping my knee every time they passed made it hard to fall asleep.

Only 2 hours are remaining from my 7 and 1/2 hour layover in Seattle at this point. After arriving, I had to get to baggage claim and grab my bags, because I guess Delta doesn't transfer them onto Alaska Air, or maybe they just hate me. And because the check-in counter for Alaska Air didn't open for another four hours at this point, I had the extreme pleasure of carting my stuff around the airport.

After all of that I proceeded to pay an exorbitant amount of money for internet service, which I am kind of regretting. I would not have bought it if I had been tired at all, but of course after 18 busy hours my body was wide awake. I did manage to get eventually get another 45 minutes of sleep, which wasn't too bad and brings my total for the trip up to 1 hour and 15 minutes so far. After sleeping on the floor I woke up with involuntary shakes all over my body which, to say the least, were very annoying. I bet I looked like I was having a freaking seizure as I walked up to the check-in counter.

But anyways the shakes have quit, my bags are checked again and I've gone through security, so pretty much all of my work is done. I only have to make one more connection to get to Cordova, where I will undoubtedly pass out as soon as I sit down on anything remotely comfortable.

T-minus 18 hours

Tomorrow is the big day. At 7:23 pm I am scheduled to fly out of the airport in Jacksonville. After that I get to spend a fun-filled 12+ hours in an airport/plane. Really looking forward to that. I may actually resort to 'reading' to pass the time.

The last few days have consisted of trip to Walmart, making a couple of sleeping bag liners, and college applications. I even was lucky enough to get a tetanus shot.

It will be so nice to finally get up there; to finally be through with all of the preparations and actually get to work.

Anyways, time for sleep. I will probably post from the Seattle airport.

-Jack

Getting prepared

So right now we (parents and I) are spending time and money getting me fully prepared to ship me off to Alaska. We snagged a sleeping bag today, and tomorrow I will probably finish up buying jeans that should be about the end of the shopping. After that we just need to make a lining for the sleeping bag and the preparations will be done (I think).

I fly out on May 15th. I'm really starting to get excited about it, especially after talking to Jonathan about it for a couple hours. It seems that I might be taking on the job of skiffman, rather than corkman. It seems that Jonathan might be taking up the duty of driving the big boat as well as tending the net, and if he does somebody will need to shift to driving the skiff. I guess that somebody might be me, but it's all still undecided now. I'll have to wait until I get up there to find out.

He also said that my cut of the earnings hasn't been decided on, but it should be by time I get up there. I assume it will be around 8-9% of the boat's total haul for the season. Hopefully I might even get up to 10%. Some are saying that the forecast for this fishing season is the best ever, so that extra percent could be a big difference. If the season pans out as predicted, I might be coming home with around $20,000. Hot damn.

The fishing season doesn't officially start until the 1st of June, so the first couple of weeks in Alaska will be filled with fixing the boat up. Fun stuff, as always. I won't be complaining though, because fixing a boat up in Alaska definitely beats fixing it up in Florida, namely because you don't sweat off 10 pounds fixing a boat in that Alaska weather.

Anyways, only 11 days until I get on the plane; I can't wait to get there.

-Jack