Amazing colors

One of my favorite wheel watches came to a close during that short moment between sunset and sunrise in Prince William Sound. This photograph is without filters, and shows the back deck of the Silver Dolphin. Words cannot capture that night, but this photo comes close...

There are times when I miss being on the boat, the movement and sounds of it, traveling through breathtaking places. There is a  feeling of freedom even though we have schedules to keep and responsibilities. It must be the huge open spaces, the enormous mountains and glaciers, the vast water - all  creating a sense of peace and freedom.

Alaska Tours $5, Petersburg 2013

Looking back on the summer, there are moments I didn't have the chance to write about that instantly make me smile. Here are the images that tell the story of 2 boys, a dog and a start up business. Notice how it makes Ty smile too.

What a deal - Alaska tours for $5 out of Petersburg.

This is awesome. I think Ty thought so too.

We have been home for a while now, and I haven't looked at the photos until recently. It brought back a flood of memories and I realized how many didn't make it to the blog. The Alaska tour was one of those great moments. I hope you all enjoy- let me know if you are still out there.
Joanna

On our way home

Aloha! I sprained my wrist/thumb and it's taking way too long to heal. More later. Got to put my phone away!

Check out new videos on my YouTube

We were in some larger seas (for me) and I posted them on my YouTube channel because blogger says it will support video but doesn't. 

Anyway, check it out! Just check out Joanna Nellos Rhodes on YouTube. 

All is well. More to report later. 

Along side the Ocean Hope 3

It's impossible to adequately describe the past few weeks. We have spent time driving long distances in some of the largest seas I have personally experienced, but I'm just a greenhorn so that's not terribly impressive to those who have done this for years. We have spent days on anchor waiting... And waiting and waiting. I will post more cool stuff another time. Since I'm at the library in Dutch right now, I thought I would check in. Aloha!

Thank you Petersburg!

We are off on our next adventure. I found these photos on Jeff's phone. We walked along the water in Petersburg on a beautiful day this summer and he snapped a few photos. Great people to work with there and we look forward to seeing y'all again next year. 

A little Hawaii style up in Alaska. Worked most of the summer in my slippahs and a skort. Think I got a few strange looks, especially when climbing on and off the boat! I felt like I had to explain - it's not a skirt, there are shorts underneath. But who cares, let them wonder if they are that curious. Throw on some knee socks and extra tufts and I was ready for anything!

Chatting on the phone with Keysa that afternoon. We are out of cell range so often, when I actually get to talk to friends and family, it is a wonderful treat. Keysa is looking after the infamous Bootsie and we are grateful for her help and friendship!

Mahalo Keysa!!! 

Whale video on YouTube

We are about to lose our easy connectivity for the next 30 days or so. No 3G in Dutch! I will try and stay in touch as often as possible. Check out my YouTube channel for a new video of whales!

Salmon wrapping up... next season starting

It has been a dramatic 24 hours. We went from wrapping up and getting ready to head back to Hawaii as earlier as next week to starting a new contract in a few days that may take us into the first week of October.  This has taken some scrambling to figure out, but I am happy to report that we will continue working!

As soon as they release us from salmon tendering, we are going to drive the Silver Dolphin to Dutch Harbor and tender pollack.  This is essentially the same work, but with some key differences. We will be working out of Dutch and may encounter slightly larger seas and cooler weather. Don't worry, this is nothing like winter fishing out of Dutch, that is way out of this greenhorn's league. We will also be a 3 person crew, so my duties on deck will increase and I will still do the cooking and help with the distance driving. Looking forward to throwing heaving lines, tying up boats and getting dirty! I am sure I will want to eat those words on cold rainy days, but for now, its got me excited for this next adventure.

It's strange how things work, because I was getting excited to get back home, settle into our new place, and spend some quality time with our cat and friends. Looking forward to driving a car again, walking the beach and playing tennis.  But, that will need to wait a bit longer because we are blessed with work.  This is something I learned from my Yia Yia, my father and then the recession brought home in sharp relief - work is a blessing, when you have it, don't you dare take it for granted! Instead, work your ass off. If you are having a hard time, shut up and work harder. Alaska is no place for whiners, although I have encountered a few. I will do my best to live up to the standards set by my grandparents as my parents have, and do a good job for my Skipper.

More to come and thanks for checking out my blog. Hot Greasy Mess is a fun way to stay in touch and share little pieces of this amazing experience. Connectivity limits what I can post, but sometimes YouTube is a good place to check out my videos.

All our best to everyone!
Joanna

Smoked salmon fettuccine - yum

I haven't talked about cooking much this season, but I'm getting to the point where I can create good meals on my own. I usually use a recipe or part of a recipe but I'm getting better at coming up with my own ideas and it works out... Very exciting. It's nice to feel more confident in the galley. Wish I felt more confident on deck, but that will take more time. 

This is my favorite thing of the whole summer- the ladder. 

The season is wrapping up. But we are staying busy. 

The beauty is everywhere. Another breathtaking sunset. 

There aren't many pictures of me since I'm the photographer, but here is one taken in a great spot full of flowers

Aloha!

Joanna

Still going...

We are headed out to Port Malmsbury in Chatham Strait. Ready for the opener tomorrow. Nice to be in town and nice to get out of town. Gives me a break from cooking and a chance to stock up on supplies. New idea for breakfast - stratas! Never heard of it let alone made one. But going to try. 

Jellyfish in Affleck Canal. Wow. Didn't jump in that day!

Swimming and salmon berries

We are plowing through the summer quickly now. Not sure how long we will get to stay, but we are working hard and playing hard - soaking up every moment of this summer.  Don't know if I will be back nest year, and will treasure these memories when Jeff goes fishing without me. 

On a blue bird day, I jumped in the water right off the boat and swam around.  We were anchored up in Hawk Inlet and Bryce jumped in too. Jeff and Ty watched and laughed at us. The ladder I am climbing up is one of my favorite things this summer. So nice to have on hand for getting on and off the boat. Although I am never trying to get in the water and trying to avoid falling in at all costs as I traverse from the boat and the dock. Using the ladder to get into this cold, Alaska water was a very rare event. There were porpoise (we call them porpi because it makes Jeff laugh every time) swimming all around the boat, but none came to close.

We are in Affleck Canal for a few days. Exploring the south end of Kuiu Island in SE. 

All the best to our friends and family. 

Joanna

Checking in

We are waiting to offload. Lots of fish to process. After the last 2 day opener, virtually everyone headed back to town:

This was the view from the wheelhouse. Boat masts fill the skyline in Petersburg.  The world if commercial fishing is complicated and fascinating.  

Reading lots of great books:

Ocean Treasure by Johnson and Byers

What ship is that? A field guide to boats and ships

Alaska Inside Passage

As the Gurney Turns

And more but I can't get to them right now. Jeff is grabbing a quick nap before another late night. Since I can't go in the room without waking him, I will add to the list later. 

Pa is doing ok. We haven't found Sandy, his little dog yet, but Pa is in ABQ with my folks. Think he is enjoying the company!

Thanks for the photo Sarah. This made my day and it had been a hard day. Much love to our families... Be in touch soon  

Joanna

A new month - August begins

I haven't written in a while and I am short on words. There is no sufficient way to describe events since my last post. Just part of the job. I will try and show you because words fail me recently. 

Hiking to wade in a glacial lake. 

Isn't she beautiful? Great credit to her owners for keeping her in top condition. Not easily accomplished! We take care of her for the summer with pleasure. 

It's been a time of changes and adventure. Our family said good bye to the Quarters on the west side. Yale is open, so you can still get your fix of BBQ and pick up a bottle of wine. 

Much love to our families. As always. 

Chilling at Baranof Warm Springs the water is actually more blue:

 We are working and playing hard. 

Several folks have mentioned to us how lucky we are, living in Hawaii and working in Alaska. I agree with the sentiment and get what they are saying about how sweet it is. Absolutely.  

At the same time, the word lucky gives me pause. I actively sought out and created the life I live today. There were plenty of hard times and sacrifices, but it was worth it to me to make it work.  When my husband and I married, we became a team that continues to define our relationship, goals and values while living this life of adventure and logging lots of airport hours. 

We have had wonderful support from family that help make it work and we miss them terribly. Because along with this life, there are sacrifices. Hawaii isn't all sunsets and rainbows anymore than Alaska is.  We are far away and miss family and friends. There are big events like closing a store or a missing dog and we are so far away and not able to be there to support or help. Someone took my grandfathers little dog Sandy out of his car while he was shopping at the grocery store. 

Who takes a 90 year old man's dear companion?!?!? These are the times when it is hard to be so far away. I get homesick for my family and friends no matter where they live.

We miss out on the little things too like the everyday tennis game or dip in the pool. 

So I don't feel lucky to live this life. I feel blessed and proud. As my niece Isa has in her byline  - in a world where you can be anything, be yourself. 

Will do, Isa. No problem. 

Aloha. 

Hi and goodbye Petersburg

It's been a rough couple of days. Life on boat not all sunsets and rainbows. 

Melt down in Baranof

French toast and the breakfast from hell 

    Breakfast is my least favorite meal to cook. It usually involves getting up earlier than I would like in the morning. I am not a morning person and never have been. The guys usually have to wait a little too long before I actually feed them. In my own defense on the topic of timing, most of us need time to wake up and aren’t ready for a full breakfast until after our coffee or tea. The boys know, if they are hungry, there are plenty of breakfast snacks and I will deliver a hot meal … eventually. This morning I wanted to use fresh herbs from my little herb garden I bought in Petersburg. So I cut fresh rosemary and chives for the fried red potatoes. If only it had been that easy. I decide to complete the meal with sausage and French toast. Jeff had thawed out a nice, thick Texas toast and it is one of his favorites – freedom toast. I hope he enjoyed it, because I’m not making that mess again for a long time. For some reason, submerging bread in a thick, egg-custard concoction is incredibly tedious and not very appetizing to me. Sweet breakfasts make my stomach turn. I realize I may be reporting things that cooks are not supposed to openly admit, but I could care less today. I am not a real cook anyway, I am just pretending to be one for a very small, forgiving audience. 

     When things start going awry, it happens fast, there isn’t a lot of counter space or room to maneuver. Organization, timing, and having ingredients close at hand, but not too close because of the tight quarters is a delicate balance. While cooking, Ty came down for coffee and I handed him the box of 5 dozen eggs and asked him to please get them away from me before I threw them out of the galley. Not long after, Jeff came down to “get something” and I promptly shooed him out because there was not enough room in the galley for both of us. He retells it differently, of course, and it all sounds so dramatic. 

     After what seemed like an eternity of cursing, rushing, flipping, stirring, splattering grease everywhere, and using more dishes than I could count, I announced breakfast was ready and they could come down at their own risk. Then, I hastily went out on deck to my favorite hiding place, striping off my apron, earphones, fleece and burst into tears.

On our way again

We are leaving Petersburg for Amalga Bay, north of Auke Bay which is NW of Juneau. This is new territory for me and I'm excited to check it out. Beautiful sunny day in SE Alaska. Got my boots on and ready for work. 

During those rainy, cloudy days, I loke to make soups pr stews for us. I made pho twice and everyone enjoyed it. The beef stew was average, so if anyone can recommend a hearty recipe for the slow cooker, I'd  appreciate it. Jeff made his awesome Okinawa chicken tonight and I had a break from doing the entire meal. Spoiled the boys yesterday with biscuits and gravy, bacon, scrambled eggs with red potatoes and cheese. So this morning it was a yogurt Greek style with berries  and honey. 

Mornings like today are a great treat. Jeff and I got to walk to the coffee shop and wander around town. We walked back to the boat, and I had some time to spare. So I headed to the flower shop and book store for some quiet time. It was delightful. 

So happy.... Aloha. 

Crossed the gulf again

All went well. Working out of Petersburg now. Enjoyed Baranof Warm Springs yesterday - amazing!

Gratitude.

I said it last year, and it bears repeating. It is a wonderful feeling to be thankful for all the blessings you have in your life at the time that you have them.

For all the blessings in my life, beginning tonight with my husband, I am grateful. 

Cooking too

I realize I haven't told you all about my culinary feats of late. After the chicken pot pie, I was not cooking for a while, until after I felt better. Since then I've gotten good feedback for a few new dishes. 

No surprise, the boys like hearty, put meat on your bones types of meals. I have tried a couple of chicken casseroles with stove top stuffing in top - that was a big hit. Also an awesome salmon sandwich with sriracha mayo, fresh greens and salmon grilled with a rub made with brown sugar, cumin, red chile. There have been countless pasta dinners and I even made meatballs from scratch! I'm not sure I would follow that recipe again, very fatty meatballs, but the boys enjoyed it. We were working when dinner was ready, so I pulled the cooked meat balls out and placed on paper towels to drain. By the time we got to eat 5 hours later, they were a little dry but tasted great. 

I've come up with a pretty good egg scramble for the mornings. I much prefer savory breakfasts to sweet ones. Lately I have been perfecting my breakfast sandwich. Scrambled eggs, sausage or bacon in Texas toast served open face with cheese on top. This was a hit too. 

Perhaps one of my favorite things to cook is taco meat. Ground beef and onion cooked, drained and then add the taco seasoning with water and let all those flavors come together. Whenever I'm making taco meat, the boys seem to instinctively gravitate to the galley more. They peer in, asking what's for dinner. Once the meat is done, I mix in rice and black beans for burritos or pull out the taco shells. This all usually comes with the regular garnishments, hot sauce, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, and avocados. 

Yesterday, I harvested a bunch of herbs from my little herb garden and blended the with butter, olive oil and a little salt. It was delicious on toast but I added it to the mashed potatoes. I loved it but I fell asleep before I could get feedback. 

The way I know if a meal is a success is by asking the boys if it's worthy of eating again. So far only only a few dishes haven't made the cut. There have been so many meals by this point, I forget which ones they didn't like. Oh well. 

The cheeseburger pie is another favorite, again, ground beef gets their attention. It's and incredibly easy recipe I found in good old Betty Crocker. But that book makes me think of another Betty, my grandmother, Betty Jo Kelley. She passed away this last January and I miss her terribly, especially when I'm cooking. I haven't written about her death because it still hurts too much. I worry about Pa, on his own, but we found his dog Sandy a few weeks after she disappeared. 

We are headed out again. 

Aloha

Taking fish

Rainy day

So far away....

This post is late, I actually wrote it 3 or 4 days ago. I didn't realize it didn't go thru....

On deck making my phone calls before we are out of range again. Thinking about my Mom and hoping she feels better soon. It's very hard to be so far away and out of communications range when difficult things are going on. I know I can't do anything about the fires threatening the cabin, but I could certainly help my Mom when she's not feeling well. Can't do anything from here but worry and try to focus on work. 

So, leaving for Prince William Sound with a heavy heart and thinking of home and the people I care about. 

Glaciers. Amazing. 

Nick

I miss you big brother. And I always will. 

Waiting in Valdez

Waiting for fish in Valdez. Not much to report on this foggy, rainy morning. Thinking of all the firefighters, those lost and those still on the line. 

I want to thank Gin Getz for her blog, GinGetz.com, for providing perspective and prose during this fire season as it threatens so much of the San Juan Mountains. The cold, wet weather here seems like a gift compared to the hot, dry weather they are dealing with... 

That's all for now... Got to get back to work. 

Leaving Seward.

We are headed to Prince William Sound up near Valdez. 

Getting on and off the boat very nerve wracking!

Don't worry, I made it. Getting better at climbing around the boat. 

More to come!

Down there?

One of the most difficult parts of the job, getting on and off the boat at low and minus tides. Jeff helps me by straddling the gap or talking me thru it. It is a nerve wracking experience! I'm on the dock now, going to run errands and come back at high tide.

- Joanna

Location:Seward

Crossed the Gulf of Alaska

First, let me say that we are thinking about our friends near the West Fork and Papoose fires in southwestern Colorado. It is difficult to be so far away while this tragedy is unfolding in the San Juan mountains, a place I have been lucky enough to call home since 1999. Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone dealing with this terrible fire. Well, we drove up the inside passage and it was amazing. On one of my wheel watches, dolphins came right at the boat and surfed out wake for a good 15 minutes:

Unlike a cruise, of course, we drove non-stop until Petersburg and only stayed there for 4 hours or so, then kept on driving. I came down with a bug that was going around on the boat, so my trip to Petersburg included a doctor's appointment. Got the antibiotics I needed but a weakened immune system and the open ocean was not a good combo. I immediately got sea sick as soon as we left Icy Straight. Here is a photo of the last thing I cooked - a chicken pot pie with Silver Dolphin Summer 2013 written in the crust:

Looking at the silver lining - it was quite a weight loss plan - I haven't eaten since Friday. I couldn't keep anything down. All I could do was drive and sleep. I could not go down into the galley at all. Jeff and the boys took good care of me, and I am very lucky that they pitched in with the cooking and everything else. I am not sure what all went on for the 3 day crossing. It is all a blur as the rolling ocean zapped all of my strength and Jeff hovered over me clearly very worried. I remember something about Chef Boyardee ravioli out of a can? I didn't eat it, but the boys did...and lots of frozen pizzas and hot pockets. This is good food to have in a pinch, but I try and cook healthier meals with fresh ingredients. When we pulled into Seward at about 3 am this morning, it was such a relief. I am finally feeling better and able to keep soups and yogurt down. It is also a pleasure to see many familiar faces here at the cannery. So we got off to a rough start, but that's all behind us now. Take care out there. Joanna

Just left Canadian waters

All is well. Getting my sea legs back. Slow going. We have been driving nonstop since we left Seattle on Tuesday morning. No service, so I will keep this short... Latest lesson: when driving in almost complete darkness - trust the radar.



- Joanna

Location:Revillagigedo channel

The 2013 season is about to start...

In Seattle, this is a quick clip of just moving the boat from one side of Fishermen's terminal to the other.the video is on YouTube and uunfortunatelywont play on blogger.   We have a busy day tomorrow and are planning to depart around midnight....



So, this is my first post of the new season. We have a great crew and a beautiful boat. The Silver Dolphin is so well cared for by the owners and it is our privilege to work on it during the summer season.



We will be in and out of communication range for the next 6 days or so. Just wanted to get started and let y'all know - ALL IS WELL!!



I have no idea what I am going to cook for the boys. I don't think I have cooked more than 6 meals since last summer. Jeff is always shocked when I suddenly end up in the kitchen. But, put me on a boat and I can figure it out! Have to get better on deck too.  I am a little rusty, but about to get busy again.... better learn fast.



Talk to you all soon.



Joanna