Pukeless in Seattle

SEATTLE -- We're back. Photographer Karen Ducey and I got home last Friday night at 2 a.m. The flight out of Dutch Harbor was delayed as the weather turned for the worse. While we waited on the tarmac, the ground crew doused the 737 in a de-icing solution. For another take on the flying experience in Dutch, which is the port for the town of Unalaska, check out this excerpt from a recent Alaska magazine piece by Nick Jans:

Everyone has tales of angst and woe -- the waiting for hours, days, even weeks as flight cancellations pile up hundreds of increasingly desperate travelers; the stranded fishermen buying multiple shots of tequila for anyone ahead of them on the waiting list, hoping to get the competition so drunk that they won't be allowed to board the plane. Unalaska is the only place I've ever heard the pilot announce, as he revved his engines for takeoff on a windy, rain-spattered October evening, "OK, hang on -- here we go." Once airborne, the 737 thumping upward through turbulence, the packed cabin broke into spontaneous applause.

Some people did clap when the airplane lifted off. But after we were airborne, the flight went pretty smoothly. Our connection in Anchorage also was late, so we got there right on time.

As I write this, the crew of the F/V Exito is coming back from a second trip to the Bering Sea to retrieve crab pots. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game allows boats to store pots -- unbaited and wired open -- at sea for up to 10 days after the season. When the crew gets back today, they'll unload the pots and try to fly home Friday. Weather permitting.

I'd like to add how much Karen and I appreciate the generosity of the Exito's crew -- some of whom confided at the end of the season that they initially weren't pleased to be ferrying journalists around. The whole trip, no matter how lousy the conditions or how sleep-deprived they were, co-captains Quinn Ferguson, Steve Toomey and the deckhands couldn't have been more helpful or professional. Simply, they made the stories work.

Back home, the reaction to the articles has been terrific, so thanks. It means a bunch to the both of us that so many people had crabbing experiences to share. One note, however, I do feel the need to respond to in this forum:

Cheryl, crab fishing is dangerous enough as it is so I won't be giving Lyndon a kiss for you.

Bracing for a harrowing flight home

DUTCH HARBOR -- The F/V Exito is moored at the Coast Guard dock waiting to unload its crab.

The crew's work isn't done yet. Today, they were in the storage yard re-rigging the crab pots for smaller snow crab. That season starts in January. After they offload the boat this Sunday morning, they will head back out to the Bering Sea to pick up empty pots left behind when the season ended.

So they've got about one more week up here. Like us, they are anxious to get home.

We're flying out of Dutch late today -- we think. The weather changes on a whim here and, as it is one of Alaska's most dangerous airports, flights often get delayed or canceled.

Alaska Airlines says it cancels one in five flights to Dutch. That's why, in part, it's giving up this route to a local carrier in January. So with some luck we'll make it out of here tonight and be in Seattle shortly after midnight.

The story in pictures

Check out Karen Ducey's photos of life aboard the F/V Exito during the Bristol Bay crab season -- five days of gale-force winds, rough seas and around-the-clock labor.

Heading back to Dutch Harbor

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- The F/V Exito is nearing Dutch Harbor, and the crew is more relaxed and rested than at any time since leaving port seven days ago. With the crab still uncounted, the captains expect that the boat finished a little below average -- the first time in the Exito's 15-year history it didn't better the fleet average.

Co-captain and co-owner Quinn Ferguson blamed the media presence on the boat. He was kidding. I think.

It's possible that just a few boats hit it big this year and left the others fighting for the rest of the crab. According to the radio rumor mill, one or two boats pulled in a remarkable 200,000 pounds of crab. If true, this would make a single full deckhand share $60,000 for seven days' work, before expenses.

Owners deduct expenses, such as fuel and food, from the gross of every catch before figuring out crew shares. An experienced deckhand generally will get paid between 5 percent and 6 percent of the catch. Most boats have three full-share crew members and a couple of half- or quarter-share people. The Exito has four full-share crew and one half-share. Co-captain and co-owner Steve Toomey explained that the more experienced the crew, the better. In difficult conditions it makes the boat run more safely and smoothly.

Once we reach Dutch, we will unload the pots and get in line to unload the catch. Then, of course, it's time for a beer in the bar once called the world's second-most dangerous: The Elbow Room.

Deckhand dies

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- The victim of the accident I reported about in today's earlier weblog entry was later identified as Vernon Rosendahl, 46, of Texas. He was pronounced dead at Cold Bay.

Crab season ends; mood is muted

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- Both the weather and the mood improved today, at least for a while. Right now -- 5:30 p.m. Alaska time -- the crew is asleep, done with the final string of pots. They set and hauled pots 440 times this season, short of what the F/V Exito captains would have liked, but the weather slowed everything down.

With the last string collected, the Exito has turned southwest and is making about 9 knots motoring back to Dutch Harbor with a load of red king crab.

The good feelings about the end of the season -- even though the haul was much lighter than everyone wanted -- were muted when news came over the radio about the injury of a deckhand on the F/V Shaman, a boat based in Seattle. The news came in while I was out on deck. Captain Steve Toomey called me back into the wheelhouse to tell me the news so I could work on a story.

We learned that a deckhand fell from the Shaman. He was recovered unconscious when two fellow crewmen donned survival suits and jumped into the water to save him.

The deckhand wasn’t breathing as crew members brought him back on board. He was “knocked from the stacks” of crab pots and fell into the water. It wasn’t yet clear how that happened. He was airlifted by helicopter to Cold Bay, Alaska, about 50 miles away.

Steve told the crew about the accident after they were done working. It takes tremendous concentration to pull, empty and stack those final pots especially when a person is badly sleep-deprived. Steve said he didn't want them thinking about that when they were stacking pots on deck.

I was out on deck because the crew insisted that I learn how to throw the hook. This is the deceptively tricky procedure of snaring the pot line as the boat slides past the buoys. Once snared, you haul the line back in fast and thread it into the block. It winches the pot to the deck.

My new career with the hook was short-lived. I missed three times at a distance of about 8 feet. I finally got it on the fourth try, but that hardly plugged everyone's laughter. (Note to Alaska Department of Fish and Game: One way to preserve a massive healthy crab population is to mandate that people like me try to catch the damn things.)

Before they allowed me a redemptive throw, Steve called me in to tell me the news from the Shaman.

The end is in sight

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- Today at noon, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the Bristol Bay red king crab season would close Monday at 6 p.m. The department manages the fishery and set this year's limit at 14.5 million pounds. Each year, mid-season, the department takes the pulse of the crab fleet and decides when it will hit the limit.

The captains and the crew of the F/V Exito had mixed reactions. They are dead on their feet exhausted and would like to go home. But the harvest so far generally is a disappointment. A few more days out and a few more crab means a bit more money for everyone.

My reaction was nether conflicted nor ambiguous: Hallelujah. I've spent enough time in Bristol Bay's spin cycle. From the look in photographer Karen Ducey's eyes, I'd guess she feels the same way. Weather-wise, this is one of the worst king crab seasons in recent years, with nearly constant gale winds and mountainous swells.

Not to mention the sideways snowstorm last night.

This morning with everyone busy, I pitched in and cooked breakfast. The entrée: breakfast burritos. The crew appeared to like them for the 45 seconds they lingered to wolf them down. As the deck crew shuffled past me from the warm galley and back outside into the frigid air, Jeff Madigan, chief engineer, said "Thank you." At least that's what I think he said. Same syllables, anyway.

Wave knocks out Ruff & Reddy's windows

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- The F/V Ruff & Reddy, a crabber out of Kodiak, became the second casualty of the season late yesterday when a massive wave knocked out the wheelhouse windows and ripped the life raft from the roof. The ship began taking on water and then put out a distress call immediately. The Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau motored to the scene.

How big was the wave? The R&R's wheelhouse windows are 15 feet above the water.

According to radio chatter, the crew was not injured. The Coast Guard was expected to deliver a pump to the boat. With repaired windows and the water drained, the R&R likely will finish the season.

Like the F/V Raven that capsized four days ago, the Ruff & Reddy is a small boat at 86 feet. Smaller boats have more problems in this type of weather, 25 knots from the north with swells to 15 feet.

The F/V Exito's crew is exhausted. Part of that is the hours -- 24 hours at a stretch without sleep -- and part of it is the nature of the job, muscling 650-pound crab cages on and off deck. But equally taxing is the wind. Not only does it sluice icy salt water across the deck and into every opening in a crew member's rain gear, it also is the source of these swells.

"It really takes it out of you," said Jeff Madigan, chief engineer. "This work is hard enough when you are not always fighting for balance."

Quote of the day:

"The forecast is pain followed by cold and wet." -- Michael Keenan, former Exito crew member who now works on the Katie K

Grim reminders

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- Mostly it's been a day of bad news and grim reminders.

We're moving into the teeth of a 35-knot wind, considered a gale. The weather, which finally began to look a bit promising yesterday, has turned sour. The boat grunts up the swells, ranging from 10- to 15-feet, pauses at the crest and plunges down the backside. While it does this, it pitches side to side, occasionally as much as 10 degrees.

Think of the most stomach-churning roller coaster you've ridden. Now ride it for four days straight. It's a little like that.

Once more, the catch has been lousy. We are a little below average compared with the rest of the fleet, but no one seems to be doing particularly well. Total estimated catch so far is 2.2 million pounds of crab for the entire fleet. With an overall quota of 14.5 million pounds, this could extend the season until the middle of next week. We'll know more tomorrow.

Erik Snyder, the only greenhorn deckhand, already looks dead on his feet. The deckhands worked all night retrieving pots, sorting crab and then dropping the pots in new places. Right now they are going to get about three hours of sleep while the Exito motors north through the storm to retrieve pots they set 36 hours ago.

No one has mentioned it, but today is the two-year anniversary of Scotty Powell's death on this boat. Powell, a veteran deckhand and friend of both of the captains and two crew members currently on the Exito, was swept overboard by a 40-foot rogue wave -- a swell much more massive than the ones before or after it.

A small picture of him smiling and holding a salmon hangs in the galley.

One small positive note: Magone Marine out of Dutch Harbor, a company known for difficult salvage work, has towed the F/V Raven to the protected side of Amak Island. The Raven capsized two hours before the season began on Oct. 15.

If the Raven is being towed, then likely it has been righted and can be saved.

Discovery on the Bering Sea

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- Karen Ducey and I are not the only reporters here for the crabbing season. The Discovery Channel has three camera crews here, two on crab boats and one with the Coast Guard. If they were lucky, they got some great footage yesterday on the rescue of the F/V Raven's crew.

According to radio chatter yesterday, the boat sent out a Mayday when it started to roll. The Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter immediately and within an hour rescued the five-man crew. As of this morning, the Raven remained afloat just north of Amak Island, possibly still on its side. No one has said why it capsized.

Steve Toomey, the co-captain and co-owner of the F/V Exito, said crab boats are heavily loaded at the season's start because all of their heavy pots are on board. Coupled with large swells, it can make a boat top-heavy and more prone to rolling.

This isn't the first time Discovery has come to the crab fisheries. In 1999, the channel released a documentary on crabbing that was well regarded by the fleet, although some crabbers thought the tone was a little overly dramatic.

But then, it can be a pretty dramatic job. Just ask the crew of the Raven.

One of the cameramen I chatted with on the flight into Dutch Harbor, said the channel sent them back for an update because the first version was one of the more popular shows ever on Discovery.

In an hour, the Exito's crew will pull the first pots of the season. The early radio chatter hasn't indicated a great season so far. But it's too early to tell with any certainty.

Karen has remained a bit seasick the past two days, although she shows no signs of it, climbing around on the stacked pots taking photos. I've been feeling pretty good. Neither of us is eating much. Karen calls this the "Bering Sea weight loss plan."

The Raven capsizes

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- At 2 p.m. Wednesday, we heard a Mayday call from the F/V Raven. A frantic crew member said the boat was “rolling.”

The Raven capsized in 19-foot swells, forcing a dramatic helicopter rescue of its five-man crew. All of the crew members were taken to a seasonal Coast Guard base at Cold Bay. The Coast Guard said it appeared the crewmen were rescued from the deck of the boat before going in the water.

“Those are lucky boys," said Quinn Ferguson, captain of our boat, the F/V Exito.

The capsizing happened just two hours before the king crab season officially began. The 86-foot, red-and-black Raven, which is based in Oregon, was heavily loaded with crab pots when it began to sink.

Coast Guard officials said they did not yet know what caused the accident. The Raven was last seen listing at a 45- to 50-degree angle.

Approaching the fishing grounds

ABOARD THE F/V EXITO, BRISTOL BAY, BERING SEA -- The weather, as Captain Quinn Ferguson put it, laid down a bit last night when everyone went to sleep except Ferguson, who took the night shift on watch. Even though the boat like other boats out here has an advanced auto-pilot system, someone always is on watch for problems.

Right now we are in crab-fishing territory 10 miles from our fishing grounds. At a speed of 7 knots, we’ll be there in about two hours, or an hour before the season officially opens at 4 p.m. When it does, we’ll drop 150 of the 650-pound baited pots and then make a 4.5-hour run to shallow water by Port Moller, where 60 additional pots are stored at 23 fathoms.

We’ll retrieve those pots, come back and spot check the pots we set. If they look good, the new pots will go down.

Last night, as expected, I got seasick. (The good news is that I made it to the bathroom on time.) Quinn supplied a transdermal patch called a Scop that's about the size of a nickel and fits behind the ear. That and a good night’s sleep and I feel much better -- although I don’t think I’m likely to eat much for the next few days.

We just received a gale warning from the Coast Guard. We’re already getting rocked by 15- to 19-foot waves. Looking straight out from the wheelhouse, the horizon oscillates from all sky to all ocean and back. That’s likely to get worse.

First report from Dutch Harbor

While on the F/V Exito, a Seattle-based crab-fishing boat, I'm going to try to file daily reports about the crew and the catch as we head 250 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, into Bristol Bay. I'm told by verteran crabbers I'll be filing dispatches between bouts of projectile vomiting. Photographer Karen Ducey, herself a veteran of crab boats and commercial fishing, will be photographing the event. (No, not the vomiting.)

Monday’s forecast was for lousy weather -- 9- to 12-foot waves and wind up to 35 miles an hour -- and the Coast Guard was in storm-watch mode. But by Tuesday afternoon the forecast had improved. The winds were expected to be lighter, and the seas a bit calmer.

We'll be leaving Dutch Harbor on the Exito and heading out to Bristol Bay on Tuesday morning. We're expecting to reach the king crab fishing grounds by 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to send pictures from the boat. The satellite phone can't handle that much data, but we'll do our best to keep you informed between published stories.