This was such a confusing day for me. We fished starting at 9 pm on the 7th. We set the nets, fished the flood and then came in at about midnight or a little later for a little while. We decided to go back out at four, to clean up the ebb and get the fish delivered - we had been extended into the next tide, so we wouldn't have to pick up our nets and even better, we wouldn't have to be out so early on the next tide to set them. Yippee! A little extra sleep. The idea was to get an hour or two at high water.
First, a comment about using the alarm clock here. In my winter life, I might set the alarm for 7 AM or 7:30 or maybe even 8. Sometimes, I might have to change it to catch an early plane, but usually the setting stays about the same +/- an hour. Here, I'm always winding the little hand around the clock face - this time, I'll get up at 4; next time at 9; next time at 12; then at 2. It's one of those small indicators of being in a very different life.
So at about 1 am, I set my alarm for 3:45 and went to sleep. At 4, Josh was standing in my doorway asking me if I'm going. Huh? My clock said 3:15. What? Josh asked if I wanted to stay in. What? OK. And I went back to sleep. Next thing, he was standing in my doorway saying it's time to go fishing. What? I still thought it was 3:15 because that was what my clock said. It was light so I figured it was 3:15 in the afternoon. Maybe there was an announcement. I went to the Internet to check for one and nothing. Glanced at the clock - 9. What? That was when I realized that the battery on my clock had died - at 3:15. So, note to self: fresh battery for the alarm clock every spring.
I want to sing the praises of my crew. Not just the Ambi’s crew, but the whole group. We’re getting to the tough part of the season. You might think that the 36,000 lb days are the tough part, but they’re just hard in one way. As we move deeper into July, we get a better view of ourselves and one another. My sister used to say that on my pre-season birthday, June 20, everyone loved each other and my birthday was always happy. By her birthday on July 10, people are all mad at one another and her birthday wasn’t as much fun. I think she had it right and it has been a goal of mine as captain of our little enterprise here to keep our crew as cohesive by July 10 as it was on June 20. I think this crew has only gotten better in that time. (Including Josh's hand - he got a glove on tonight!! He might be two-handed sometime soon. Though honestly, I'm not sure being one-armed has slowed him down much.) Everyone is exhausted and there’s plenty of wishing I’d let us spend more time in the cabins and less time in the skiffs, but this valiant crew remains cheerful and hard-working. The folks at the processing plants don't have it as good as we do. I think they get a bit more sleep than we do, but I don't think they are enjoying themselves as much. Even in our really really hard days, at the end of them, we've brought the fish in or solved whatever problem we've had - and we can feel good (except for the bleary-eyed exhausted part). I'm not sure that people working here in other capacities get to experience that kind of satisfaction. Whatever the reason, at this time of the season, we begin to see people's frayed edges. In contrast, we're happy with and proud of what we've accomplished (so far, we have 164,573 lbs in); we're supporting one another; they're still making me laugh; we usually have what we need. I couldn't be happier with this crew.
David is great to work with because he is so very responsible and capable. I can trust him to stick with me. And he is always thinking of the crew - wanting to be sure they get enough rest, sending them up to the cabin as soon as we can. And he's always the last one in with me - even after me sometimes. And he is one heck of a skiff driver. He's due to head back to Seattle soon and I am a little worried about how we'll do without him. I had a call tonight from my favorite port engineer who said that the fish reports indicate that more fish are on their way. That's exciting.
On the way out to set, we saw a gorgeous rainbow that went from behind my cabin over all the rest to behind the Space Hut. I haven't figured out how to use the panoramic function on my camera yet, so here is the part of the photo with my cabin in it.
Um... I think it's due for repainting. After tonight's set at 10, we went through the nets in case the fish were hitting (they weren't) and then decided to go in until just before high water. We've been using the Bathtub to deliver the fish and it had a lot of mud in it. We had an opportunity to clean it and I mentioned the need. Trina and Chris, without being asked, just went over to the Bathtub with me when everyone else went up, to work on it. Anyone else on the crew would have done the same thing if they had been standing there when I said it needed to be done - it's just how this crew is.
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