Airship Goes to Alaska
Yesterday we did a bunch of work at the boat, went up and put some laundry in, and were let in on a great deal to pick up some freshly caught sockeyes for $6/lb (we bought two, about 10lbs), from Joe the gillnetter here at the dock. He sends most of his fish straight to Seattle, but now we know a guy who knows Joe and got to be part of the "bro deal" today:
This is Joe. He looks just very much like Sam Elliot:
We picked up our fish and took them back to Steve's warehouse, where Steve filleted them for us (aka "showed us how it's done") and we vacuum sealed them right there:
Here's today's procurement (along with two nice chunks of halibut from Steve's 125-pounder he caught the day before)! We kept one sockeye filet and one halibut filet out and put the rest into the freezer.
Last night for dinner I made some guacamole and cooked up some black beans while Kevin grilled up the fresh fish for tacos and we had Steve over for dinner to thank him for all of his help (well and just to hang out, because he's cool). We're probably going to stay another day here before heading to Taku Harbor (and, ultimately…sniff sniff…south).
Tomorrow morning we'll take another trip over to the marine supply store and get ourselves outfitted with some halibut rods and a bigger net (we seriously need a bigger net…wait til I show you a photo of what we've been using to bring in fish). Then we may go out on Steve's boat with him later in the day to pull up his halibut skate line…because he invited us to, and it sounds like fun to see how that all works! This is the basic configuration:
Residents of Alaska can subsistence fish (fish for personal use or sharing with family) under slightly more relaxed rules and regulations as it relates to fishing methods and the limit of fish you can keep.
It's interesting…the last time (a week or two ago) when we were in Juneau for a week, we had actually gotten a little bored of Juneau. We'd been doing so much exploration in more remote coves and inlets, and coming to Juneau was mainly (after the first time) to drop off friends or pick up family, provision, get work done with reliable internet, etc. It's one thing to visit a place and just skim the surface (visit some shops, go to the museum, eat at a couple restaurants, try the local beer, ride the tram, do the hike, see the glacier)…all that is great but it only really gives you one interpretation. This time, even with the bit of mechanical stuff and haul and out all, we've met some great people and connected a little more with Juneau, and it's been so enjoyable!
