Metlakatla Fishery

Okay, so I finally finished blogging the Mexico episode of our life. But, there's still a lot of things I haven't written about yet. My schedule finally caught up with me and it's been pretty hectic trying to balance work at Knudson Cove with finishing up school and all the other projects I've got going on.

So, when we got back from Mexico, I still hadn't completely finished unpacking when the fam. announced that we were heading out to Metlakatla to pack fish for a couple weeks. So I threw everything back in my suitcase and we were gone the very next day. We left Jo at home; she had to work...

Dad and I drove the boat out to the bay where the fisherman were and the next couple days we spent waiting...

and waiting...

It wasn't like we didn't have anything to do though. We played Risk. ...again and again. And by the end of day-2 we were all hating each other pretty bad. Our conversations would be peppered with 'who really should have gotten Europe' and 'how it wasn't fair to hole up in Australia' and such... :)

Getting the boat ready for buying fish.

It was in the middle of the night when the first boat came to give us fish. We all stumbled out of our bunks and clambered up to the deck and pulled on our gloves, ready to work. The whole seascape was black, spattered by the lights of the boats spread across the bay. Scales flew through the air as the fish slid down the de-water box and into the tank. Mom watched Sam in the galley and made up hot dogs and coffee for the fishermen. Emma wrote fish tickets. Paul ran the fish-pump. I operated the weigh-box and tied up boats. Dad ran the hydraulics and kept everything in order, and Johnny hosed off the deck between loads.

Steadying the weigh box.

When we actually got to do some of the work in the day time, it's was amazingly beautiful out. The sun graciously brought out the smell of the herring though as well as the warm weather. None of us really minded though- the nice day was way worth the reek of fish. :)

The best meal in the world ;).

Orton Ranch Hike

On Monday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather with a boat ride and hike to Orton Ranch. We took a boat from town to Loring, where the trail starts, then hiked around Roosevelt Lagoon to Orton Ranch.

...all 16 of us...

...hiking... hiking...

...and more hiking...

It was about a two-mile hike around the lagoon to the ranch.

We did it! Pictured: Off the trail and into the grassy lawns of Orton Ranch!

taking a break

We found some shade from the sun and rested our feet and snacked.... unfortunately, the bugs thought it was a good place to hang out too...

wading in the river

We found a ton of little frogs along the river bank.

ahh... freedom

(or maybe this was when they were escaping from the angry grizzly bear...?) No, we didn't see any bears, though we did see a mink. I was in the woods, when I saw the underbrush moving, and it ran right up to me. I think it was as surprised to see me as I was to see him, because we both stood there looking at each other for a couple of seconds before I screamed... then he decided to leave.

After resting for a couple hours, we headed back down the trail to the boat.

As you can imagine, the boat was pretty crowded with all of us in it. Pictured are us kids, waiting for the adults to finish the hike... :P They were a couple minutes behind us.

going home

Hobart Bay Fishery

On Wednesday evening we were just sitting down to dinner, when we got a call saying the fishery was going on 2 hour notice tomorrow. (Two hour notice just means that fishery could start in two hours, and you should be within 2 hours distance of the fishing grounds). We had been planning on going on the fishery, but had thought it wouldn't start for a few more days and that we had plenty of time... So we were all thrown into a panic about packing and getting the boat ready. It is a 24 hour boat ride from town to Hobart Bay, so basically, as Dad said it, "We leave two hours ago."

Well, the boss called us again a little later and said that even if we left right now, we wouldn't make it in time for the fishery (if it did start tomorrow) anyway. So he said to plan on leaving the next morning. This was a big relief to everyone, giving us a little more time to get ready! (Pictured: Carrie steering the boat in the wheel house)

We got to Hobart Bay just an hour after the fishery started on Friday morning. (It didn't matter so much that we were "late" because it usually takes a while for the fisherman to set their nets and get a good catch before they deliver the fish to our boat.) In this picture, the small fishing boats are setting their nets. You can see the flocks of seagulls above them, looking for a chance to snag a fish.

The funny thing about fishing is all the rush, and then the waiting! We rushed up to the fishing grounds so we could wait around to get fish on board...

No, we did not edit this picture on the computer, this is straight from Carrie's camera. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on Friday evening!

John, sitting out on deck enjoying the view. It's evenings like these when we go, "Oh yeah, now I remember why we came!"

...they're still fishing... and we're still waiting...

Action time! It was a long night... About 9:00 on Friday evening we had our first fishing boat pull alongside us and we started pumping the fish on board. We were pumping fish from fishing boats non stop from 9:00 Friday evening until 5:30 the next morning. As soon as one fishing boat finished pumping their fish on board, another one took its place. Boat after boat... they just kept coming! In this picture, Dad is standing next to the weigh box. When the fish are pumped on board, they go into the weigh box where they are weighed, and then dumped into the fish tank.

Dad worked the crane that lifted the suction hoses on and off the fishing boats, Paul ran the fish pump, Carrie steadied the weigh box and did other odd jobs out on deck, and I wrote out the fish tickets (the paperwork). Notice Paul isn't smiling in this picture... I don't think any of us were smiling. This was probably taken around 2:30 in the morning...?!

...You knew this picture was coming, right? This was, after all, the purpose of this fishing thing. It was an amazingly fast fishery! We left on Thursday, and we were back in town on Sunday morning to unload the fish at Phillip's Cold Storage! It was a good trip... work... but good.

Wrangell Boat Trip

Whew! I finally weeded through our trip pictures. Believe me, it was quite the job of "weeding through" (I was off on my estimate of a hundred in my last post... Carrie took over 700!!!!). So I had a hard time deciding which ones to put on the blog!

...eating dinner in the galley on our boat ride to Wrangell... I don't think the galley table was meant for eight people (and this is only 5 of us)!!

mm... spaghetti!

The whales gave us a WONDERFUL show!! There were two of them, and they breached about 5 times for us then started slapping their tales against the water again and again! (Too bad we didn't get any shots of them breaching).

Dad had me drive so he could lay down for a while. His bunk is in a room just next to the wheel house, so I its nice to know I can just call for him if I need help.

Typical conversation (can you call it that?) while I drive:

Me: Dad!

Dad: (from his bunk) What?

Me: There's a black dot way up ahead of us on the radar.

Dad: Is it a boat?

Me: How can I tell?

Dad: Get the pair of binoculars.

Me: (look through the binoculars) It's a boat, what do I do??

Dad: Is he headed toward us?

Me: Yes.

Dad: Turn the boat so you will pass him port to port.

Me: Which side is port again?

Dad: Your left.

Me: How far over should I turn?

Dad: Enough to give him some room.

Me: Uhh.... we're kind of turning toward the beach.

Dad: Well don't turn that much!! How close are we?

Me: Close.

Dad: (he jumps out of his bunk and comes into the wheel house) Oh, you're fine. Just don't get to close to the beach or to the other boat. Right in the middle. (he lays down again)

Me: (a few minutes later) Dad?

Dad: What?

Me: I think I see another boat.

(good thing he has such a useful daughter who can drive while he gets lots of good rest) :) :)

We made it to Wrangell late that night and they took the boat out of the water the next morning. Here, the crane is lifting the boat into the shipyard... it was pretty cool.

it sure looks big out of the water!

While the bottom of the boat was getting fixed up, Dad put Carrie and I to work painting the upper deck (fun huh?).

the weather was beautiful!!

We had a beautiful view of the sunsets from the shipyard.

In the shipyard, we put together a se-saw with an old board and metal barrel. Here's a little video of our fun. :) And no... this was not staged.

They must have known we were coming and put this up! :) ... Well, actually, we saw this sign on one of our walks through Wrangell. I thought it fit pretty well with the video.

When we weren't making trouble in the shipyard, we were wandering around Wrangell. We spent a lot of time at the library and Mom took the kids over to the playground.

...heading home...

Working on Dad's Boat

It was the last week of the fishing season, and the people that had been working for Dad were no longer interested in the job. So... Dad took me, and a friend from our church, to work for him instead.

We were blessed with beautiful weather, and it was nice to be out on the water...

Here's Dad, working on the back deck of our boat.

We enjoyed some beautiful sunsets!

My job was "the cook", and writting the fish tickets. We had a good time, and I learned a lot!