In the air

I got released from my last boat earlier this week and have been waiting around dutch harbor. I'm about to board a plane to go to anchorage for my next assignment. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Mainly my folks.

-Patrick

No mail

Don't send mail to any adress but the one i'm about to list.

Patrick Morales
733 N Street
Anchorage, Ak 99501

The News From Lake Woebegon

Well another week has passed and it was an exciting one for this bird watcher. I got to cross off a few new species off my "life list". Yep. One of which was a Laysan Albatross. I was pretty stoked.

There were also seals and a few humpback whales. I saw all of this within a three hour time period. Our fishing had gotten so slow that it had become more advantageous for us to sit in one spot for 12 hours to wait for it to get dark and then start fishing rather than burning up fuel to go between the day and the night spot.

I just realized that I haven't really mentioned anything about the crew on The Viking. I've decided to do a list for easy reference.

Pat- Pat if born on the east coast would most likely be described as a redneck but since he is from washington I'm at a loss for fitting him to a relevant stereotype. None the less his interests are hunting, fishing, and logging. Yes-Logging. He's what I found out the state of washington refers to as a Lumber Barron. Which is anybody who possesses a certain acreage of hardwood. He's pretty nice for the most part, kind of an asshole but in that endearing sort of way. It's hard to tell whether he actually likes me or just puts up with me since I have to be there. Eitherway the man knows how to cook and as a result I eat well on this boat. Really well. In fact i've eaten better on this boat than I have over the past 4 years of college. Here's a quote from Pat.

"Shit steve it might get really expensive to do your killin' if you have to start going out of state"
- Pat in reference to fellow crew member not owning land in washington.


Bill- Bill is one of two captains that alternate time on the boat. They usually trade months. Bill is a man of few words and with that said i'll say no more. He'd like it that way

"..."
- Bill on... anything

Sam- Sam and I got on a similar sleep schedule. Is was on purpose because he's the one who operates the boat at night when most are asleep. Sam's really nice and was gracious to explain the ships electronics and gear. He told me some really crazy stories about fishing in Alaska. One of the most interesting ones was back in the days of Joint Venture when people from outside the united states were allowed to fish they would sometimes caravan to the fishing grounds. By caravan i mean they would drive three boats that were all tied together and the boat in the middle would be piloting the other two. Crazy. Speaking of crazy. Sam might have a little crazy streak. He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet but I get the feeling that if you pushed him or crossed him really bad he might kill you. Most of the time we just talked about sports which was nice because I've missed that connection to the real world.

"Go Seahawks"
-Sam... on the seahawks


Dean- Now we're to my favorite member of the crew. Dean has probably assumed the role of father figure on the boat and I feel it's something he's relished as well. He has three daughters and most observers are female so I think he's enjoyed having me around to sort of pal around with. Dean is the ships engineer and he's into motorcycles and his wife sent him his dvds which contained a few motorcycle documentaries. My parents might be familiar with "On Any Sunday" and "On Any Sunday 2" both of which Steve Mcqueen makes an appearance. We also watched Faster a documentary on Moto GP. Dean also showed me how to weld which I have to say I don't necessarily see his daughters being interested in but who knows?

Dean sort of looks like what I'd imagine wyatt earp looking like. He's got dark hair laced with lines of grey and he has a big thick moustache. If you put the guy in cowboy duds and gave him a set of revolvers he'd look pretty damn authentic.