Trinkets: Native Alaskan Art

Seventeen countries... seventeen trinkets.  Now it's time for trinkets from my own country, one from each state in a random order.

I'll start with Alaska.

Himself worked as the medical officer on a fish processor in The Bering Sea, Prince William Sound, and near Ketchikan.  In 2008 I was able to spend 3 weeks about his ship... but before flying down to Adak I spent 4 days in Anchorage exploring.  

At one of the museums I visited I was given a recommendation of a shop that sold only Native Alaskan made arts and crafts (which for the life of me I can not remember its name, just that it was on the south side of the city).  All the pieces had a certificate of authenticity and photo of the artist.

It was there I found my Inuit drummer.

He is carved from Alaskan marble.  His face is carved from fossilized walrus ivory and the ruff of his parka is seal.

His drum is a slice of caribou antler and the stick is a piece of sea grass.

And he is standing on a piece of whale bone.

Sometimes a trinket is a piece of art...

Linked at:

https://nihongojapango.wordpress.com/2016/01/08/kiwiana-trinkets-and-memories-32/ 

Thinking Cool Thoughts...

Somewhere along the Aluetian Island Chain, AK.

April 2008

It's hot and muggy here in TN.  Trying to remember cool ocean breezes.

Eagles, Eagles,...Eagles Everywhere!

Did you know there is a National Bald Eagle Day?

That would be today.

Down here in Tennessee folks get really excited about bald eagles.  A sighting will make the local news paper.  There are eagle tours on Kentucky Lake/Barkley Lake and Reelfoot Lake. 

And an eagle nest? 

The area is cordoned off for about a quarter mile as to not disturb the sensitive parents.

In Alaska… they are pains in the butt.

They fight over garbage bins.  Foul sides of houses.  Attack passerby’s along the street.  Raid fishing boats.  Delay air planes as they flock an area.

One time Himself counted over 100 bald eagles on his ship and two ships tied to either side. 

But they sure are beautiful…

I took a lot of eagle photos while in Adak, Alaska.  Here’s a few to enjoy on this National Bald Eagle Day.

A young bald eagle before molting into adult plumage.

Flying out to see what he can steal from the returning fishing boat.

Youngsters.

Getting food the old fashioned way… catching it himself!

Sitting on Himself’s ship.

Heartfelt

I have a small collection of heart shaped rocks.  It’s small because I’m very picky about the shape – a vague triangle shape doesn’t cut it.  Also, either I or Himself must find it.  I won’t buy one. 

I keep them in this tray on the floor by my bedside desk.  (The inside of that tray is in line for a makeover – tiger stripes be gone!)

The first two came from Alaska.  Himself found them and brought them home for me at different times.

This one is basalt.  It is heavy and so smooth.  It feels really good to run your hands over it.  It would make a great massage stone (it and about 10 buddies…). 

I’m not sure what this one is.  I would guess basalt but it is layered with bands of something else.  Many of the rocks in the Aleutian chain look like this.  The white marks are from the paint on the floor of his ship.  It slid around a bit during some rough seas.  LOL

This stone is from the woods at our home.  Tennessee limestone.  I found it as we were walking along a small cut in the hill that used to be a railroad line.  

The next ones came from Colonsay Island in Scotland. 

I think the rings are so interesting on this one.  I found it on the beach near our B&B.

And on the same beach I found this stone.  I love it!  The heart shaped inclusion is a quartzite in an igneous stone. 

The last two heart stones I have came from a beach in Galloway – very close to Sorbie Tower.

I’m not sure what sort of stone this is.  There were MANY stones with this smooth red material going thru them (you can see that it goes thru the stone and is not something on top of it). 

I couldn’t believe it when I saw this one.  A red heart inside a white heart.  The band makes it look like a locket on a necklace!  

As I was writing about each of the stones and where they came from, it occurred to me that they are all from places I love.  Places that have taken my heart.  And those places have given me hearts to take back with me.

Beautiful trade.

The Brig

If you're a fan of "The Deadliest Catch" or the other shows set at Dutch Harbor, AK you might enjoy a peek into the calls handled by the Unalaksa police force.  The police officer who writes up the reports has an incredible sense of humor.  She cracks me up every time I read The Dutch Harbor Blotter.

Here's a sample of what's been going on in the Frozen Wild West the last couple months:

Theft, Jan. 5 — A commercial diver, while raising a sunken vessel, discovered numerous tools that had apparently been stolen from a local business. Under investigation.

Suspicious activity, Jan. 7 — Homeowner reported someone had gone to quite a bit of trouble to shovel a path to his shed and his absent neighbor’s home. Nothing had been burglarized, but the homeowner was concerned that the paths might be the first step towards the commission of a crime. It was later discovered that the U.S. Coast Guard had been shoveling snow for the local elders.

Motor vehicle accident with damage, Jan. 10 — A parked and unoccupied vehicle struck another parked and unoccupied vehicle after being blown across an icy dock by a strong gust of wind. Damage to the two vehicles was significant.

Roads, Jan. 23 — Buoy in the middle of the roadway.

Animal, Jan. 24 — An exasperated, exhausted immature eagle which had entrapped itself inside a crab pot was able to fly to safety after an officer climbed a stack of crab pots and cut a raptor-sized hole in the netting.

Assistance rendered, Jan. 26 — Officer observed an agitated man haranguing PenAir employees about not being allowed on the most recent departing flight, and advised him that yelling at the employees of the only passenger airline servicing the terminal might make his departure from Dutch Harbor a bit more difficult.

Public safety, Feb. 1 — A man who was peeved about the amount of snow pushed against his home by road crews vented his frustration by rolling large snow boulders into the roadway. An officer advised against this course of action and helped the perturbed citizen remove said boulders from the road.

Assistance rendered, Feb. 8 — Officer presence was requested while a man was terminated from his place of employment, due to concerns about the number of firearms in the employee's possession and his likely response to the loss of his job.

Ambulance request, Feb. 10, 2115 hours — EMS personnel provided care and transport for a woman with an injured elbow.

Ambulance request, Feb. 10, 2210 hours — EMS personnel provided care and transport for a man who'd been hit in the head with an elbow.

Ambulance request, Feb. 14 — EMS volunteers provided care for individual who had four fingers amputated while out fishing.

Traffic, Feb. 18 — Rotund rock reported relaxing in road.

Assistance rendered, Feb. 24 — Officers responded to the airport regarding a report of a drunken man causing numerous problems in the terminal. Investigation revealed that a single besotted man had roundly cursed airline employees and attempted to pick fights with no less than five people. His last victim, who told officers he was performing a community service, smacked the drunk on the head and then stood over him and told him not to be so rude. None of the victims wished to pursue charges, as they all felt justice had already been served.

http://deckboss-thebrig.blogspot.com/

Hallelujah Chorus - Native Alaskan Style

This is so worth watching!  It was sent by a Native Alaskan friend.  It's precious.

Six Degrees of Separation: The Deadliest Catch

Have you ever seen something and it’s just so familiar? But you don’t really think much about it… until all of a sudden it hits you?

That happened to me last night.

As you can imagine, with Himself working on the Bering Sea, I’m a fan of the Deadliest Catch. HE has gotten to meet some of those guys. And he is under warning that if such opportunity comes again… he had BETTER come home with photos and autographs! (His ship was even ON the show one episode for Pete’s sake… and he still didn’t get pictures!)

But enough of chasing that rabbit…

I’ve been watching this season faithfully. And every time I saw the wildcard ship “F/V Kodiak”, I’d get a feeling about it… one of those pleasant memory feelings. But I’d be so into watching the show I never really thought about it.

Until last night at 1:38 am. I jumped out of bed and opened my photo file of the pictures I took while I was on Himself’s ship in March ’08. And there she was… the Kodiak. One of my favorite series of shots of ships bringing their cod in for processings.

I have quite a few still photos and two videos; the short clip below and a 9 minute piece of the Kodiak coming up and tying into the Independence (which is too long to put on here).

One of the deckhands (and I think he is on the ship for the show) spent about 30 minutes visiting with me while their cod was transferred to the Indy. It was fascinating to learn about how they fished cod (using the crab pots – not drag nets) and how it made for a better product. I wrote about it in this post: http://teri-gonewalkabout.blogspot.com/2008/04/alaskan-adventure-cod-processing.html

I’ll be watching the Kodiak a lot closer tonight during the show!!


The Kodiak heading towards the Independence.


On the left is the deckhand I spent time visiting with. I can not remember his name and my notebook from the trip has gone AWOL.

The below video is cod being offloaded from the Kodiak. The weather was as miserable as it looks. I think there were wind gusts of 30 KPH and it was cold. And I was having a fantastic time! LOL

Juried Art show entry

I gave my first juried art show a try, entering two photos for consideration. I was a bit hesitant at first, as the idea of "trying out" to be allowed in a show was kind of scary.

I'm excited to say that one of my shots was selected to be in the competition!

This photo is called "Bering Sea Cod". I took it off of Adak Island as cod were being brought on board for processing. That's one of my favorite shots on the whole trip.

Alaskan Adventure - Emergency Steering

One point along the southern end of the passage is called the “Seymour Narrows”. I’m not sure if the cruise ships go thru it, but the smaller vessels do. And life can become exciting real fast in the narrows, from what Capt Joe said. The tide is rather strong at this point and when it changes direction the rips can be very strong…even to the point that there are whirlpools created. Joe said one ship he was on was completely spun around by one of them! Wow!

One reference says, “Seymour Narrows is a long, slender, dangerous stretch of water north of Campbell River, B.C.. Like many sites in this part of the world, vast amounts of water are forced by ocean tides through narrow passages, which creates high water currents (15 knots at times) and dangerous conditions — whirlpools, overfalls, and other boat-busting conditions.

Explorer George Vancouver described Seymour Narrows as "one of the vilest stretches of water in the world." The rapids have claimed over a hundred lives and is regarded by many sailors as the worst hazard to marine navigation on the British Columbia coast.”

We were going to go thru the narrows right at deep dusk. While we did set anchor awhile to wait for the worst of it to pass, the ride could become interesting without warning at any time.

And I wasn’t going to miss it for anything!

I bounced up to the bridge a bit after we brought the anchor up. Capt Joe was the only one up there and all the bridge lights were off but one (the glare on the windows is really bad with the lights on). I noticed he was talking a lot on the ship’s phone to engineering. And it was kinda strange that the deck hands weren’t hanging out either, but figured it was part and parcel of going thru.

So I sat down and waited for the ride to begin. Since it was pretty dark by now there wasn’t much to look at outside, so I picked up a magazine and thumbed thru it. Pretty dull stuff. Until I hear the radio crackle and the Canadian Coast Guard ask “Independence, what is your current situation?”

Hmmmm… they take going thru these narrows really serious! I flipped a couple more pages.

Then Capt Joe replies, “We are heading into Deepwater Bay on emergency steering…”

Emergency steering?!?!

No wonder he’s been in such close communication with the engineers and the deck hands are scarce (read “BUSY”)! I look up from the magazine to find Capt Joe looking directly at me. I raised an eyebrow, he smiled. Well, he was relaxed and if he’s OK with what’s going on…so am I! I nod my head towards the stairs off the bridge to see if he wanted me to leave but he shook his head “no”. He then snapped off the last light, leaving the bridge illuminated by the instruments and the dim light over the charts.

For the next 15 minutes or so, I watch as 42 years of experience maneuvered us out of the narrows and safely into the bay where anchor was dropped until it could be figured out what was wrong. It was fascinating.

They got the problem fixed and we were on our way again...8 hours later than planned.

Alaskan Adventure - Inner Passage

The appearance of Mt. Fairweather was the signal that soon we would be entering the famous Alaskan ‘Inner Passage’. If you’ve been on an Alaskan cruise, you know what I’m going to be talking about. Wow! When Himself and I were planning our upcoming cruise I suggested we do the Alaskan package. He reminded me that he goes that route 2 to 4 times a year. Yeah…yeah.

The passage from Point Spenser to Ketchikan is full of mountainous islands with snow covered peaks, quiet coves & passes full of fishing boats and an abundance of wildlife.

Along one area a pod of Dall porpoise rode the wake of the Independence for about 40 minutes. They would zoom along in the wake of the ship, tho for them it was probably like skiing a bunny slope. Dall can swim up to 25 miles an hour…the Indy – on a good day going with the tide and a strong tail wind – can get up to 9 miles an hour. From a port hole in the bow, I was able to watch them and get some great photos of their games.



One time I was outside the bridge door taking some shots of a light house and I kept hearing a squeaking noise. Kinda like the sound of wet rubber-soled shoes on a vinyl floor. I finally looked around to try to figure out what sort of “Indy noise” that was (you wouldn’t believe the variety of sounds that ship can make!). Just as I turned I saw a huge fin slicing out of the water… a big male orca! He was gone too quickly to get a picture. A few minutes later I heard the squeaking again and started looking. Sure enough, there he was. This time he was too far to get a photo. Drat! Several more times I turned at the sound of his squeaks to watch him glide away from us.
Ketchikan was the first place you could get a good cell phone signal. So for that small portion of the trip, so many people were up on the deck calling home…some for the first time in several months. I’d been to Ketchikan in ’02, so it was fun to see it from the water side instead of the road side.

After leaving Ketchikan the passage narrows, becoming more “fjord” like, the land goes UP even more sharply...resulting in waterfall after waterfall.
Some started at the top of the mountain and fell 300-400 feet to the waters of the passage.
There are abandoned salmon canneries,



Logging camps,

Beautiful homes

And all along the passage are lighthouses.
So… have you booked your cruise yet???

Alaskan Adventure - At Sea

First… No, I do not get seasick.

Most of my trip was “at sea”. We left Adak on 20 March and reached dock at Tacoma, WA on 5 April…and only 2 of those days were we docked at other places (Akutan and Bellingham).

Two of those traveling days were stormy… 25 foot seas with some waves breaking at the bridge (six stories from the water line!) and wind gusts up to 80 MPH. Winds were sustained at 55-60 MPH. Temps were the mid-20s. Life just is not good in that type of mess. Even if you don’t get seasick, you still have to move about. And in moving about you can get slammed from one side to the other. Your knees just feel cruddy when it’s over from the grinding they’ve taken trying to keep you upright. Things that weren’t bolted or tied down came crashing to the floor… as did some things that were secured! Just laying in bed you sometimes had to grab hold. I would sure hate to have been in one of the top bunks!!!

We were rocking in a circular motion...the normal up and down from the ship moving forward combined with a stronger side to side motion from the waves. Then on occasion, a wave would hit really hard at some weird angle that felt like some giant had hauled off and kicked the ship. A loud vibratty "thooong" would ring thru the whole ship while it shuddered. It kind of felt like when you're driving thru a deep wet snow and your car is lurching along as it pushes, then all a sudden hitting some washboard potholes.

But most days were quiet sailing. The ship just rolls along with an occasional ‘rip’ hitting that makes life interesting. GREAT sleeping. Like rocking a baby!

For the most part, we were always in sight of land. The snow covered Aluetian Islands or the fjords of the Inner Passage made for an ever-changing scene.

However, we did have 3 days of crossing the Gulf of Alaska. We were blessed with perfect weather, a very rare thing indeed. To quote Coleridge, "Water, water everywhere..." and tho the waters are not becalmed as they were in the "Ryme of the Ancient Mariner", we had excellent sailing. Soft, rolling waves with very little wind.

Changing colors and moods of the sea.


The ocean is so big here it's like you can see halfway to tomorrow (truth be told...we were not that far from the international dateline) but anyway, it's really cool to watch as we approach a cloud system.
You can see ahead of you a misty 'curtain' that you can no longer see the horizon thru. Sometimes you can look to one side or the other and see the edges of it. Eventually it gets closer and closer until it brushes upon the deck, then across in a full blizzard and finally over the windows of the bridge (which I have been informed that on a "marine" vessel is called "the wheelhouse"). When you get to the other side it happens in reverse, with the air slowly clearing until once again you are in the open. The snow we are getting are those giant springtime snowflakes, so it's really pretty.

The Alaska Ranger

The Alaska Ranger

I’m not going to get into the shoulda-woulda-coulda arguments nor am I going to speculate the strengths and weaknesses of those involved. As anyone in the marine community knows, next time it could be them. This is just a telling of the event as I experienced it.

I went up to the bridge fairly early on Easter morning. Even tho it was still dark, I wanted to hear the latest ETA on getting into Akutan as I was eager to do some exploring. The night before we had tried to get thru the pass between Unalaska Island (home to Dutch Harbor) and Akutan Island, but the strong spring tide and the stormy weather made it impossible. So we went back and waited in a quiet cove until sometime late in the night for the tide change.

As I came up the stairs, I noticed the bridge was subdued and all the radios were blaring. I headed over to the ‘thingy’ (GPS?) that shows the ship’s current lat/long position so I could find our position on the chart. (Doing that is something that Capt Mark taught me how to do on my ride to Ketchikan in ’02). There is where I heard the first hushed “…men in the water…” and “…Coast Guard is reporting a mile long string of beacon lights…”

Oh crud…

I slipped over to the bosun to ask him what was going on. He told me that a fishing vessel was taking on water and that the crew had abandoned ship. The Coast Guard and all available ships were responding in rescue mode. We were too far away to participate.

Oh crud!

I immediately headed down to Himself’s office where I knew he and Pastor Martin were having their morning coffee time. I told them what was going on and we sent up prayers for the crew and the rescuers.

Throughout the morning I stayed up on the bridge quite a bit, listening to the news as it came in. The number of men in the water climbed from the 20s up to the 40s. During my afternoon on Akutan Island we didn’t hear anything, so I stopped by the bridge before heading to the galley for supper. The latest news was the ship was the Alaskan Ranger, and all 47 members of the crew had abandoned ship. There were at least 4 lost and one was missing.

The next day we learned the Chief Engineer who was lost was a friend of Himself’s – Chief Dan Cook. One of those saved was a friend of both of ours, 1st Assistant Engineer James Madruga. And the captain, Capt Eric Jacobsen, was a very good friend of Capt Joe.

Sometimes the fishing world is too small…

Detail of the Fisherman's Memorial in Seattle, WA.

Tributes at the base of the memorial. The photo is of Capt Eric Jacobsen.

Alaskan Adventure - Akutan

After a few days of sometimes stormy travel, we reached Akutan on Easter Sunday. The weather was still strong, with 50 knot winds whipping down from the mountain. Capt Joe made a few attempts to dock but gave up and headed to the middle of the harbor to wait for the weather to settle down.

Stormy weather

Akutan town is home to about 75 Native Alaskans and to the Trident shore plant, which employs about 1000 people. Homes, shops and the plant are nestled along a strip of rocky beach with the hinge point a large church and recreation facility built by Trident founder Chuck Bundrant. There is also a seaplane port where the Grumman Goose planes land in the harbor and taxi thru the water up onto the beach. Himself has spent a lot of time here and was eager to show me around.

Akutan town

After several hours of waiting, the gangplank was put into place and the mass exodus occurred. Everyone was ready to have a little time to shop, call home and just walk around. Including me!







Beach

Our first stop was at the “Trident Store” where we picked up some snacks, milk for my hot tea and a beautiful art print of Akutan harbor & the Trident plant. I looked over the Trident logo clothing but decided I was happy with what I had picked up in the ship’s store.

Not wanting to be carrying the stuff around, Himself ran back to the ship to leave our bags in his room. While he was gone I shot some photos of the gulls, docked ships and watched opilio crab being offloaded. When he got back, we wandered down to the end of the dock and back.

Since it was Easter, we didn’t get to do anything in Akutan town…everything was closed. Besides homes, town consists of a general store, a medical clinic, a café, post office and a Russian Orthodox church. The land is so boggy during melt that a boardwalk has been put in for both pedestrian and ATV travel.

After going from one end to the other, we went down to the beach at the seaplane ramp. The beach is a rocky one, with stones from the gently puffing volcano Mt Akutan. After spending a bit of time there picking out treasures for my rock garden and gifts for those who enjoy such. Then we made our way back to the Indy, happily tired from the walking and fresh air.

Yes! It was COLD!!!

King crab and snow crab.

Ice on a crabber just in from the Bering Sea.

The church that Chuck built.











Russian Orthodox church



Snow crab being delivered for processing.ShoppingWalking the gangplank!Trident shore plant