As you can see, not all 32' boats are created equal.
The first summer Tim and Ariel were dating, back in 2008, they spent the summer camping together and enjoying Juneau before leaving for colleges far, far apart. 2009-2013, Tim fished every summer in Bristol Bay with his dad and an ever-changing crew while Ariel found ways of keeping herself distracted for the summer by doing things like giving up chocolate or running every day - torture. After marrying in 2013, Ariel was invited to join the crew of the f/v Whiskey Creek. For Tim and Joe's eighth year on the boat and Ariel's third we were joined by Roni's nephew, Rab.
In bleeding position, ready for the season with bonnet and skirt.
2014 we saw fish. 2015 we saw beluga whales. This year we saw walruses! Unfortunately, walruses are a protected species so the fishery was managed to try to keep boats as far from the walruses as possible, but the walruses kept showing up where they weren't supposed to be - in the middle of our fishing, so we called them "strawberries" to keep the troopers from catching on.
Walruses, like other marine life, are incredibly hard to take pictures of. Rather than sharing many blurry zoomed in pictures of walrus-less water, I'll let you imagine 4 or 5 enormous marine mammals swimming along all pressed together with the tops of their tusks just showing above the water looking like big round white cheeks. As your imagining that, here are some of the other things we saw this season which were easier to photograph.
Rainbows!
Sunsets!
Sunrises! (nearly the same as sunsets up in the north...)
Fish! Fish are so beautiful. Look at the little eyelash marks under her eyes and all those beautiful blues and greens on her forehead and how shiny her silver is... They get more beautiful the less sleep I have.
Rab and Ariel covered in fish goo ("gurry"). A sign of a good set.
Sid-ways boat gravity! This is what happens when the boat goes dry while the captain and engineer are sleeping, leaving the useless crew in charge of watch. Hours of sideways standing.
The booming metropolis of Naknek!
Ariel had to skip out early to get back for a wedding and took the greenhorn (Rab) back to shore with her, leaving Joe and Tim to finish up the season. After a month at sea with no civilization on the horizon and three other humans sharing a cramped space, the rundown old canneries along the river bank look as striking at the New York City skyline. Ariel brought Rab out on deck when Naknek came into view to enjoy the shocking realization that what looked like dirt roads and shacks when we came in from Seattle now looks like an overwhelming city. The culture shock of returning to flush toilets and convenient showers, clean clothes and private sleeping quarters, limitless food and new faces is startling every year.
