12 year old Scotch with 10,000 year old ice

Jeff announced to me that he is going to have 12 year old Scotch with 10,000 year old ice. I busted out laughing because it just sounded so good. Made me smile. And he will be able to because Bryce went into the river for a piece, wrapped it up, loaded it in the van and carried it back to the boat. I picked the scotch up at the grocery store, which isn't that exciting, but required nonetheless.

Here is a photo of me, standing in melted glacial ice. The glacier outwash is the name of the river of melted ice. It's beyond freezing cold. Felt great.




Today was a busy day in the galley. I cut and packaged up brownies, went to the grocery store, put beef stew on, made nachos with taco meat and this awesome guacamole by Keysa. The guys rented a carpet cleaner and did all of the upholstery and carpets. Excellent work and such an improvement on the boat. There is no fishing the next day or 2, so we are working on the boat at the dock. It's nice to be in town.

- Joanna

Location:Seward, Alaska

Too cool

A day out and off the boat. Excellent!


- Joanna

Location:Exit Glacier

Sunset

It looked just like this:


- Joanna

Location:Prince William sound

Getting my feet wet in glacier water

Couldn't stand next to the out wash with out getting in! Damn it was cold!


- Joanna

Location:Exit Glacier

Joanna Shoveling Fish

Dinner

I did the whole chicken fried steak and all the fixins' all by myself! Boys loved it. It was quite an ordeal to cook, but it was worth it.

Glaciers

Prospect, Spoon and Porcupine Glaciers, from left to right. Just 30 minutes out of Seward.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunrise

Well, we are turning and burning as they say here in the tendering world. Drove 14 hours to town, offloaded about 400,000 lbs of salmon and left again. Didn't get to make any calls and still have trouble loading a 51 second video to YouTube or Facebook. I have to sit in the cannery and use their wifi and it just isn't very effective. There wasn't time to troubleshoot. Got some photos up, went to the grocery store and found a store that sells yoga mats. I think there is enough room in the wheelhouse and I'm going to give it a try.
My best to all.
Joanna


- photo by Ty. Sunrise over PWS

Location:Prince William Sound

Sitting on the bow of the boat

Gorgeous day!
Finished all of my chores. Cooked enough food for the next 24 hours of work. So, I'm taking a break and sitting on the bow in the sunshine finishing and excellent book, the Poisonwood Bible.

But wanted to stop and say hi for the short time I have 3g. My dear sister and friend Kurstin always takes pictures of her toes in the sand. Thought of her today with my toes in a different place entirely. The hum of the boat is powerful as we travel at about 10 knots. I can feel the hum of the engine on every surface and right into my bones. I can hear the waves against the bow. The sun is shining.

We are driving and hauling fish constantly. In my varied career, this is one of the best jobs ever!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Valdez

On the way to Exit Glacier

(see full image)

Driving around Seward yesterday. Came across this view. 

Joanna

Oops

Technical difficulties with Internet connection. Sorry


- Joanna

Down in the tank...

Check out my video on you tube. It has to do with this story:

We were transferring fish the other night.  They pumped out as much fish as possible, then Bryce our deckhand, went down into the tank to spray water into the corners (best way to put it) to keep the fish moving and going out thru the hose. At some point it gets so low, that we have to push the fish closer and then eventually toss them into totes. So, I bundled up and went down into the tank when it was low enough not to get inside my boots. Ty kept saying no, no, you don’t have to go down there. He thought he should be down there helping, but he would immediately have to come back up to deal with something else. I reminded him that he is the chief engineer now and I am the deckhand, so hold the ladder and tell my husband to get the camera. As Mom would say - "cut the chatter, I am going in." And down I went. It is a weird sensation stepping on and around dead fish. But I had my shovel and pushed them toward the pump as fast as I could. Then tossed the rest in a tote with Bryce. We were done in no time. I certainly wasn’t going to stand on deck and watch him work down there alone. 

So, all is well. Still having fun and learning a ton. We are only in town for 4 hours tonight and racing back out to the fishing grounds- where exactly, I do not know.

Thanks to all who have checked out my blog. One disclaimer - nothing I say in here is fact-checked or  necessarily accurate. My purpose here is to keep my friends and family updated on this crazy job I have this summer. That's all. Please don't take it seriously. Just having a little fun.

Joanna

Fishing in Valdez today

It's raining. And raining. And raining harder. The boats are all lined up ready to go. We are watching the show and waiting. Going to be a long day and even longer night.

My ship has come in

Now I have a personal understanding of what that phrase means. I will write more later. Got to run.

We are pulling out now. Weather is supposed to clear up and we may see the sun again soon.

Eat this!

I didn't have to ask twice. Rainy day cooking was fun and fattening!

We have fish debris!

Up until last night, I've been able to stay fairly clean. Meaning, I haven't had to climb down into the tank and shovel fish, or stand at the sorting table throwing fish into the proper bins, and I've stayed pretty dry too. Well, that came to an end last night. Granted I didn't get as soaked as my crew mates, but I had to stand next to the weight box and pull these levers for about 5 hours. During this arduous process, I got splattered with fish foam, fish juice, and fish guts. The hot shower and nap felt great before my wheel watch.

We are on our way back to Seward to deliver fish. I've got to go grocery shopping for about 7 days of food. We do not know yet where we are headed, but the best guess is down to Southeast Alaska, to possibly go in and out of Petersburg. So, our Prince William Sound trips are probably over, but we will see a whole different part of Alaska. Will try to post videos to you tube if we are in port long enough. Here's today's photo:



Driving to Seward just off of Cape Puget.

-Joanna

Butter and Bacon Make it Better (BBMB)

Hello all! We have had a great couple of days. The boat was in port for 36 hours while we waited to unload over 400,000 lbs at the processor. The opener brought in over 1.7 million lbs for this cannery from what I heard.

Breakfast is a challenge. I'm not much of a morning person, especially on rainy cloudy days like today. My breakfast skills are improving, but I end up making scrambled eggs too frequently. A returned to a favorite - my mother's quiche. It was a hit again. This time I sautéed the mushrooms with butter and a little garlic, then let cool before putting it in with turkey, spinach and bacon bits. Pour the eggs and milk on top and then layer with cheese. Yum. It's just time consuming to make. Jeff gets impatient and won't wait for it to set.

That was just the beginning of my rainy day cooking adventures because after that, I baked a cake! Granted, it was out of a box, and for the purists and real bakers out there you may turn your nose up at my achievement. But I don't care. It was quiet an adventure for me. Most notably, when I turned on the mixer, I immediately felt like a little kid. It was as if I was transported back to my grandmother's kitchen and she was showing me how to use a mixer without spraying the batter everywhere. Great memories that the sounds and smells brought back to me in a flash. I may not have taken up cooking until someone hired me to do it, but what the women in my life taught me is percolating to the top now. I am grateful.

We left Saw Mill and headed back up to Valdez for tomorrow's 6 am to 8 pm opener. All of the best to you all. Here's tonight's photo:



This is actually in Dutch Harbor at the beginning of our trip.

Posted from my iPad

Location:Crab Bay in Saw Mill Bay, Prince William Sound, Alaska

On our way

I tried to post a longer note with photos but I don't think it went thru. On our way but don't know where to

Saw Mill Bay

We may be headed back here, but don't know yet.

Leaving for places as yet unknown

We had a night off tied to the dock and had a good time in town. Seward is a nice town, reminds me of Creede in some ways, but it's bigger.
Check out my YouTube videos. It's under my full name.


More later,
Joanna

Location:Seward

On our way again...

The photo below is of a waterfall at the Valdez Narrows. We are leaving here for Cog Hill Bay which is near College Fiord. This is very cool because there are a dozen or more huge glaciers up there, all named after colleges. We were near there the other day, but had to leave before we could explore. We are also going to avoid some bad weather coming tomorrow. But, it means driving through the night again.

We will not have cell or Internet up there, so it will be a few days before we can get in touch. 
Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!

Joanna

Happy 4th of July

Hope everyone has a great day. We are cruising around Valdez, waiting for salmon. Here is a view from the wheelhouse... Rainy and cold today but still beautiful!

Throwing the monkey ball

Well, it's actually called a monkey fist and it's a round knot thing on the end of a lighter line that you throw to the dock that is used to pull the heavier 4" line. I accidentally called it a monkey ball when I asked the guys to teach me how to throw it. Of course, they thought this was funny and now chuckle every time I call it a monkey ball for obvious reasons. This is part of living on a boat, laughing at things a nine year old boy would find funny. That's good though, I need to laugh more.

So anyway, we pulled into Seward this morning, and I'm on the bow ready to throw the monkey ball and all the guys are watching me. The guys on the dock and our crew. I threw that monkey ball as hard as I could and the guy on the dock caught it! This without any lessons (the guys never did help me practice during our down time). There is a lot of on the job training...

We are on charter now, so we are driving constantly. The hours are challenging but its still beautiful and we are having a good time...


The guys loved my quiche. Thanks Mom for the recipe!
- Joanna