NORTH TO ALASKA / PART 1

As a new season begins for my favorite TV show, "Deadliest Catch", I am reminded again of my own adventures in Alaska. I recently commited my memories to print. Here is Part 1 of North to Alaska.

Like all young kids I had dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up and fantasy’s I hoped to live out at some point in my life. Most boys dream of being firemen or policemen. I dreamed of being a commercial fisherman. Growing up in Newport Beach, California I loved being on, in, under or around the ocean. Gliding over the ocean’s surface I would peer down into the purple blue offshore waters and wonder what strange creatures were between me and the ocean floor. The smell of salty ocean air made me feel as though all was right with the world. And nothing fired my imagination more than watching fishing boats’ return to port.

My grandfather once kidded me for seeing beauty in fishing boats. But to me the sight of a fishing boat plying the ocean in search of fish is as beautiful as a late summer sunset. It represents a way of life. A life, despite its hardships, most fishermen would not trade for a desk job at any price. To most, it is their home for a large part of their lives. The only communication with their families is by way of marine radio or satellite phone. Often it is the choice of several generations as the way to provide for those families. Yes, I see beauty in fishing boats.

As I grew older, it became apparent that there would be those things I dreamed about doing and there would be the real world. I married my best friend and together we devoted the middle part of our lives to giving our four kids a good head start in life. Through those years I occasionally added new dreams to what was now a mental file labeled “Things I Will Do Someday.” With our kids now in pursuit of their own goals and having just sold a family business the “Things I Will Do Someday” file was beginning to work its way from the moth balls of my mind to the forefront of my consciousness.
Being able at the time and in the search mode meant I might pounce if the stars aligned properly.

They did. Jim, a high school buddy and long time fisherman that I had kept in touch with over the years, called. He was part of a fishing family that had been making their living from the sea for three generations. After getting married he chose to raise his family in Newport, Oregon but based his boat, a 90-foot trawler named “Collier Brothers” in Kodiak, Alaska. After going through the obligatory “How are the wife and kids?” phase of the conversation he asked “Why don’t you come up and make a few trips with us?” Mind you, this is February. My geography tells me that Kodiak is well north of the equator and in the Gulf of Alaska. That translates to cold, ice, mountainous seas and more cold. Before I could press the pause button on my brain my mouth blurted out, “I’d love to.” Being too macho to backpedal now I listened as Jim read off a list of things to fill my duffel bag with. All were in some way or other related to cold. We arranged a time to meet a few days hence and I hung up.

I broke the news to my wife and kids that I would be leaving for an undetermined amount of time to go fishing in Alaska. Not the fly casting from the sunny banks of a lovely stream kind of fishing they envisioned, but something their husband/dad always wanted to do. I explained I would be fishing for cod on a trawler. I left out the part about the weather conditions being similar to those seen on the Deadliest Catch TV show. I hit all the Eddie Bauer type stores in town acquiring my list of supplies and I was ready to go. The night before leaving my wife had a bon voyage party for me. Friends and family wished me well. My guy friends told me privately they wished they were going with me. I placed a call to Jim’s wife Sandy to confirm my arrival time. She said Jim would be there to pick me up at the airport and “Oh by the way, it snowed 22 inches in Kodiak yesterday.”
To be continued...