7-13-09

“When men come to like a sea-life, they are not fit to live on land.”

-Samuel Johnson

Land ho! Those words have new meaning after being at sea for a month, especially knowing that once you reach shore you will be getting off. I am feeling the whirlwind of excitement to be heading home soon, sad that this incredible experience will be ending, anxious that all our gear and samples will be unloaded and shipped successfully, and stoked for a night on the town with the crew and scientists. The mountains of Unalaska Island look even more spectacular than when we set sail. For the moment I am trying to take in the landscape. Who knows when I will see it again.

We waited just outside the Dutch Harbor Port for a tug boat to come and escort us in. It didn’t actually pull us, just made a brief pass. I guess it is all part of procedure to check out each ship before it docks. As we pulled up to the dock everyone headed onto the deck to get their gear ready to be unloaded. There were several men on land waiting to secure the ship to the dock and pile our equipment into trailers for shipping. Crew members operated both of the cranes to unload the many pallets of gear that had been used throughout the trip. Rachel and I held our collective breath as the HPLC instrument crate was hoisted up and set onto the dock. As I was carrying a pile of cardboard off the ship to be recycled I took my first step back on land. “Success!” I thought. “I survived the cruise!” I owe the credit to Rachel and the crew for keeping aware enough not to get knocked overboard. Now I just had to survive one night in Unalaska.

After everything was unloaded and we had completely cleaned out our lab space, all of the cruisers started moving towards the bars. I had heard plenty of stories about the craziness that ensues at the end of research cruises, and had been looking forward to finally getting to party with all of the scientists and crew on the ship. The first bar we headed to was in the Grand Aleutian Hotel. It was a small group to start but others started to trickle in as the evening progressed. Most of us were starving and quickly ordered food.

Looking out the window we saw a juvenile bald eagle. I actually had no idea what a young bald eagle looked like, but they have patchy spots on their feathers. In a way they actually look more grizzled at a young age than at adulthood. I guess you could say they become more refined with age. I was able to get within a few feet of the youngster sitting on the hotel deck without it flying away. I moved very slowly so not to startle the eagle. Unfortunately, as we walked to the next bar, my patience had diminished and I scared several adult eagles away as I tried to photograph them up close. There were bald eagles everywhere, sitting on top of pieces of scrap wood, fish processing warehouses, apartments, ship masts, and of course all over the surrounding hills and cliffs. The natural living symbol of America’s rugged wilderness made me feel more patriotic than any flag or national monument ever had. In that way Dutch Harbor was the most American place I have ever been.

The thick smell of fish billowed out of the processing buildings filling the roads with a strange mist. There were several apartment buildings that provided permanent and seasonal housing to those who worked at sea and in the warehouses. I try to imagine what it must be like to live this isolated lifestyle surrounded by fish fog. Many people feel more comfortable out in the wilderness than in civilization and others just take remote jobs to support their families. Whatever the reason, it is certainly a big change from the lifestyle that most Americans are used to.

We arrived at the Unisea Harbor View Bar and Grill. Apparently this was a real dive bar several years ago and was recently renovated because of the popularity of “The Deadliest Catch.” We spotted a number of other scientists and crew members hanging out playing pool, having a beer, and unwinding from the cruise. Tracy Smart informed me that there is a horse shoe pit behind the bar. “We should start a horse shoe tournament!” she proclaims. In order to get the horse shoes I had to give the bartender my ID. At that moment I wasn’t worried about getting my ID back because I didn’t think the horse shoe game would last very long…

Each horse shoe game would last about three rounds of throws before someone would get distracted. Ebett (University of Alaska, Fairbanks graduate student) and Lucas (3rd Engineer) had numerous cartwheel and handstand contests that would always draw our attention away from the horse shoe pit. I made a few ringers and I think I won a game or two, but the scoring was not very official. The party eventually moved inside to the dance floor. Monday was karaoke night, which made for some excellent entertainment. The highlight was seeing Kent (Captain) and Dee (Chief Mate) sing together. I have no memory of what song they sang, but I’m sure I cheered extra loud. After the song I danced with Dee in what was, thanks to me, surely some of the worst dancing ever seen at the Unisea. Dee told me that “If you don’t lead I will.” I decided to try my best to take the lead, but I don’t think it helped at all.

Some locals really showed off their pipes on the microphone. I think one guy might have sung four or five songs. There were up tempo rock songs, slow ballads, beat boxing, and some pretty good break dancing. It was one of the most lively Mondays I have ever spent at a bar. After the last call at the bar I realized I had not recovered my ID from the bartender. To do this I had to find the horse shoes. For the first time that I could recall, since I had not stayed up till 2 AM while in port, it was actually dark outside in Unalaska. I sifted around in the sand of the horse shoe pit for all the horse shoes. In my “slightly” intoxicated state I was certain that I would not be given back my ID unless I found all four shoes. Otherwise the bar owner would certainly throw me into the harbor for causing him all the trouble of loosing their valuable horse shoes. Luckily I found all the shoes without too much trouble and proudly returned them to the bar to receive my ID. We recovered as many people as we could find (Wes, a grad student from University of Alaska, Fairbanks wondered off and helped some fisherman sort fish) and everyone piled into a couple pickup trucks and rode back to the ship for our last nights sleep on board. There was still a lot of energy in the group so we all ended up talking and joking for at least another hour on the dock.

As we all headed to bed, the only thing I could really think about was falling asleep for as long as possible before our three leg flight back to Maryland. But looking back on the cruise, I thanked my lucky stars that the Bering Sea was still conserved and managed at a state that allowed it to remain such a productive ecosystem that warranted so much scientific interest. If not, we would likely not have come together to study and experience this amazing place, and I wouldn’t have been able to meet all the incredible scientists and crew on the Knorr. After seeing the natural beauty, economic benefit, and American majesty of a well preserved ecosystem, I have new perspective on environmentalism. I always thought conservation and restoration was the smart plan of action, but now more that ever I see it as the patriotic choice as well.

-Eli

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them."
-Theodore Roosevelt