Dutch Harbor, here we come!
Ever wondered what it’s like halfway out the Aleutian Peninsula at the confluence of the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean? I’m guessing there’s a whole lot more to Dutch Harbor than ‘Deadliest Catch’..and, lucky for me, I get to find out for myself what one of the world’s richest fisheries has to offer!
Cota and I will be working on an ICICLE Seafoods fish processing boat for the next four months in Dutch Harbor for Pacific cod season! Plus a bonus month in Togiak for herring season! Omg!
I scored an office job and Cota gets to be a be a case manager … I’m not exactly sure what that means yet, but …he’s in Seattle, on the boat, and learning, and I suspect after our two-week sailing across the Pacific Ocean to get to Dutch Harbor we will know a lot more about the boat and operations.. And our awesome friend Trey, is the cod operations manager, so we won’t be alone out there. We will all have friends on the boat!
I’m not a big fan of Holidays, and most years I’m happy to escape them altogether. But, I don’t see my family very often and I miss them.
I’m grateful I got to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year. They mean the world to me and life is too short to stay away from those you love.
I’m also so, so grateful for our friends, Dustin and Katie, that have become such a significant part of my family with Cota this year. We got to spend this Fall in Alaska with the Craney’s and it was them that made it possible for me and Cota to go to Hawaii in October. Sophie loves them and they took care great of her while we were gone. And thank god we got some vitamin D, huh?!
Again, without the Craney’s this adventure might not be possible. They have lovingly adopted Sophie for the winter while Cota and I take off to live and work aboard the MV Gordon Jensen out in the Bering Sea. I don’t think Sophie would like it where we are going. And we wouldn’t be able to leave if we didn’t trust that Sophie was in good hands, with the love and freedom she needs to be her wild self. Thank you Katie and Dustin!
I’m nervous, but mostly I’m beyond thrilled to be doing something crazy, unique and profitable! And especially excited to share the experience with Cota and Trey and everyone else I will soon get to know very well..
There are so many of you that I was looking forward to connecting with this winter…. we love you and miss you. Thank you for being in our lives, and out there in this crazy world, being you and making this insane planet a more beautiful and balanced place.
Blessings and peace to you and yours…..
Check out the history of this boat we’re going to live on!
Hopefully you’ll get a taste of those cod. And hopefully, the galley will be rewarding. When I was in Akutan working at Trident, It didn’t take me long to discover that the late shift dinner was run by a Thai crew. Now they made good food! I completely re-arranged my schedule to eat dinner at 11PM ! So there’s this sense of complete timelessnss on a boat like that. Its always going non-stop it seems, assuming the deliveries are coming in. The crews in Dutch and Akutraz were amazingly diverse, not sure they always got along xtremely well with each other, they had their cliques, but its really remarkable. Not sure you can get that anywhere else. Stay safe you two! And sane! don’t let anything get to you, its a purpose and you’ll be back off the ship and on dry stable ground soon enough!