Others have it worse

Dutch Harbor is the name for the most active port in the U.S. There are a few bays that make it up as a whole, and the actual name of the town is Unalaska. Before I left, I had over a week here, and made good use of my time. There are eagles everywhere, and frankly, I'm ignorant as to how close I should get to them. So, that means I got as close as they were comfortable with. They're known for attacking, but I'd happily have taken a gnarly face scar in exchange for a story. On a hike, I stumbled across some going after a Sea Lion carcass.

Each time we go back to offload, I’m welcomed by the now, bright green summer hills (Bunker & Ballyhoo). The boat crew is also the warehouse crew, and they start to offload the minute we hit the dock, and don’t stop for about 24 hours. The top picture is the area when I left, in early June, and the bottom is during an offload in mid-August.

I didn’t realize people in America worked as hard as these people do. It’s no surprise that the vast majority of the crew (non-officers) are immigrants. Because of that, it’s like the old Christian bible story, “The Tower of Babel.” Everyone speaks different native languages (of course, most of them speak 2+ languages) from all over the world (mostly Africa and the Middle East, I think). Since there are so many, it’s hard to get used to the accents, and as a result, I have no idea what most people are saying to me almost all of the time. To top that off, lots of talking goes on in the factory, which is like being inside of a blender. I end up nodding and saying, “Yeah” a lot. The general term for the factory crew are “Processors” (engineers are called engineers). Their jobs can be from making fillets (for fish sticks & sandwiches), to packing to digging in fish guts to make surimi (stuff for fake crab), or fish meal. They work almost non-stop, weeks at a time. The accommodations are quite nice for us. Only two to a room, and two rooms sharing a bathroom. The regular crew have it much different- so I'm very lucky.

On the boat, everything (everything) is covered in fish scales- clothes, skin, hair- even at times, eyeballs. My sheets are littered with the little round bits. I imagine this is what a strippers bed looks like…if the scales were glitter. Here is a flashlight that’s obviously in heavy use in the factory.

There are many devil holes around, into which the processors must not only peer, but also climb! There are handles, wheels, knobs, levers and pulleys all over the place- absolutely sheathed in a layer of scales. When Pollock come down the belt with their pectoral fins flipped forward, I call them, “Nicki Fish.” That’s an inside joke that only a few people will get.

The boat is a wonderfully mysterious place, with new twists and turns for discovery, each day. Some places are more inviting than others (machines screaming at you, etc.). I constantly pass things and thing, “What are this?”

My days are filled with 12+ hour shifts of:

I just try to keep in mind, that no matter how bad I think my day is, there’s always someone who’s got it worse.