A word to the wise -- when you read Average Annual Rainfall figures for this part of the world, it all is just numbers, until you sit for 3 weeks with the pitter-patter drumming overhead. We go from rain to rain and wind to rain and snow to rain and wind and snow. Every 4 or 5 days, there is cloudy, and at least twice I have seen the sunshine! It is gorgeous when that occurs, but the locals assure me that won’t last long!
The progress has seemed glacial, but looking at the state of things today, I feel encouraged. I feel like I know the electrical system pretty well; I’ve wiped the engine down by hand and checked the belts, hoses, and other systems in depth; the paperwork is slowly trickling in, and Keith is due to arrive in a little over a week. Once he’s here, we outfit the actual fishing gear part of the vessel, and give it all a tentative test run. Hopefully, there will be at least one fish to sell in the course of the next couple of weeks! I’m starting to get antsy about income – all the money is flowing in an outward direction, and the bottom of the purse is in sight!
The big news this week is HERRING! The Sitka Sound herring roe fishery is on 2-hour standby from the Fish and Game department, meaning they get a two hour warning before their season opens. This is critical since the season only lasts 15 minutes – not a second more! There are 49 permits for this fishery (so I’m told) and boats are limited to somewhere just short of 60 feet (again, so I’m told). Average income per boat is around $200,000 for the opening… record catch last year put one guy over 1.5 million for his set! Somehow, I don’t think salmon trolling is going to get anywhere close! You can see the beautiful, perfectly equipped seiners in the harbors now, and there is an excitement everywhere you go over the pending opening. Stores and bars are doing very well right now! I took a shot of one of the harbors Saturday night, and you can see all the big rigging on the seiners clustered up with Mount Edgecumbe as a backdrop. There are over 1300 boats harbored here, and the seiner fleet has added to the congestion.
Willie has adjusted well – he took over the bunk that I will use when Keith comes, so we may have to argue a bit over possession! He wakes me up wanting to go play and do his business, so we head up the dock pretty early. He fell off the dock while tied to the boat a week or so ago – I’ve taken him swimming in the ocean on the weekends when he doesn’t have to dry out on the boat – Rich lets him sleep in the warm garage on Saturday nights. These folks have taken such good care of us that I am humbled. Not sure how I will ever repay…. Thanks is all I can say for now.Well, I better do something physical – this is too much like the life I left, spending time on the computer! Somehow, my hands don’t look the part anymore…
