Origens

Kicking it in Mexico. I’m thinking, why Alaska? Why commercial fishing? Why not teaching English or Literature at a university? Why not a career in Finance?

I’m remembering a time in the late 90’s and early 2000’s when a group of friends and I we’re all commercial fishing deckhands in our 20’s and early 30’s. Before the salmon season started in July we would hang out a lot together at camps we made in the woods around Sitka or by fires we made on the beach. Once the season was on we didn’t see each other much so it was a delight when we did.

In between fishing trips you might have time for a coffee at the Back Door Cafe after offloading the weeks catch, shoveling out the old ice, scrubbing the fish hold and doing laundry.

At the cafe you might run into a deckhand friend and talk about the solitude and loneliness of working on the ocean. You might bitch to one another about how strenuous it was to chip away at the old ice in the fish hold at the end of a trip when it had melted and hardened again. Invariably we would share about moments we had where we felt overwhelming awe and gratitude while looking up from our work at the raw uncut beauty that is the Alaska coastline. Our bodies ached, our faces were flecked with salmon blood and silver scales and there would be a time where you would look west over the open ocean or back towards the rugged mountains rising straight up out of the sea. It was a vision that made it seem like the earth was just born that very day and all at once you knew there was no place you would rather be and nothing you would rather be doing.

Oh yeah… that’s why I didn’t get a job on Wall Street.

The moments of awe and the sea borne revelations keep coming, even without all that work. You just need to be out there.

Let me know when you want to come out on the boat and what dates are good for you.

Peace and Love,

Captain Andrew