Time off

As the Intrepid came back to Dutch harbor after the cod season out west the mate ran over a crab pot and wound a big ball of buoy line on one of the propellers. Also there was a leak in one of the fresh water tanks and some crew was leaving while new crew was trying to fly into Dutch to get on the boat. With all of this going on we stayed in town for two full days and part most of a third.
I spent most of my time staying at the company appartment. It was really nice just to stretch out on the couch and watch television and check my email at the same time.
On monday the weather was bright and sunny and it got up to the high 40's, it felt much warmer than that in the sun. I went out to Summers Bay with Doug, Saltwater Inc.'s Dutch Harbor coordinator. The bay is the next inlet over. It has some nice black sand beaches stretching between 1,500 ft snow capped peaks. Rumor has it that there are some friendly wild horses that roam the valley there. The signs on the ground indicate that the rumors are true but we did not see any horses despite the complete lack of trees or other cover for them to hide behind.
Tuesday blew snow all day long. Which was alright with me, I couldn't go hiking but at least there were no flights coming into Dutch and the Intrepid had to wait until Wednesday to get the new crew.
Wednesday was sunny in the morning so after calling and checking in with the boat. I decided to try to squeeze in a quick ascent of Pryamid Peak. I left out the back door of the house and headed straight up the ridge. The snow in places was knee deep or more but I could avoid that by watching for the tops of grass and shrubs poking up. Over the first ridge I dropped down about a hundred feet into a saddle. The snow in the saddle was firmer because the wind the day before had kept much from accumlating. The snow field curved up onto the next ridge. The sky turned overcast and there were a few flakes of snow coming down, but no wind so I headed up. I could not really judge the steepness or topography of the snow field because it was pure white, I tried to compensate by staying near to a rocky ridge but ended up getting into a steep icy section, it wouldn't have bothered me except that my rubber boots were less than ideal for kicking steps in hard snow and ice. I backed down and traversed to the left abit and discovered the the snow field was less steep than its blank face looked from below, so I started up again. I would have been able to work my way to the top of the ridge but I had to get back to the boat, so I regretfully turned back.
Picture: Doug and Ziggy on top of a hill near Summer's bay

Pacific Cod

Fishing Cod is messy. Cod need to be bled before they are processed. So the deck hands slit their isthmus on deck and throw them into the tanks. by the time they get to me they are covered with bits of gooey red blood and whitish bits of mashed liver. It is much easier to collect the data from a sample of cod because they are much bigger than rock sole or yellowfin sole. It is much easier to count out 30 or 40 cod than to count a basket of sole and then calculate the average weight, and it is much easier to find any by catch. Some of the flat fishes look very similar to each other and take time to sort out. During the rock sole season I might spend 2 hours in the factory for one sample, for cod I can get done in 45 min.

Fishing grounds

The Intrepid started the year fishing Rock Sole near the Alaska Peninsula, then fished some yellowfin sole and cod in the same area. The rock sole is pretty good eating especially the females which have large orange roe sacks.
When that season closed we headed out west looking for cod. You have to be in the right place at the right time to catch cod. They are few and far between until they spawn and then they form tight balls that can fill a net in a matter of minutes. It takes longer to fill the boat with cod but the price per pound more than makes up for the time lost by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When the Cod season closes the next big thing is Yellowfin, however there was some cold weather and a lot of ice was forming in the yellowfin grounds. So the Intrepid headed to the gulf to look for Arrowtooth flounder and Rex sole. That was a bust, so after spending a day to get to the gulf. A day spent fishing with out catching much, and another day heading back north we found our selves up in the icy yellow fin grounds.The last trip that I made with the Intrepid was for flathead sole south and east of the Pribilof Islands.

Fish: The cod are red because they bleed; the arrow is for arrowtooth flounder; the orange is reminiscent of the roe in a rock sole; green spot is for flat head sole; and the yellowfin sole is, logically, yellow