The morning of September 5th dawned with an elusive scene in the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea: a beautiful sunrise. As the nautical miles slipped by, the Tiglax moved ever closer to returning our band of field biologists to Homer. The ship’s crew seemed anxious to return home to friends and family, and the rest of us had emotions ranging from apprehension to excitement to calm. After picking…
Thursday 1September 2016, week 16: R/V Tiglax, AK time 14:40 Here I am on day 4 at sea, wondering when we’re going to meet some weather. The ship’s not rocking enough; I want to be stumbling around the boat! After spending a couple days between Gareloi and Tanaga watching for orcas with some whale biologists, the ship once again belongs to Buldirians. We stopped in Adak to drop off the…
Thursday 25 August 2016, week 15: Buldir Island, 19:10 Time is rapidly flying by, and mere days are left before we Buldirians leave our summer home. I keep looking for ways to delay our return to society, with the only possible winner being a mega storm that means the Tiglax can’t pick us up on time. Unfortunately our current forecast for Friday through Monday calls for variable 10 knot winds…
Monday 22 August 2016, week 15: Buldir Island, 22:40 For years of childhood and adolescence I wondered why my mom would tear up over what seemed to me the most insignificant events. Take her to a comedic film and she’d find a way to cry at some point. It didn’t make any sense to me. As usual, genetics finally caught up with me, and now I understand why she used…
Monday/Thursday 15/18 August 2016, week 14: Buldir Island, 17:00 Since I was so wrapped up in relaxing on our day off that I forgot our day off means shower day, it seems fitting that I address how we deal with personal hygiene in field camps. Field life is certainly not for everyone; showers – if possible at all – come less than once a week, in my experience. For someone…
Thursday 11 August 2016, week 13: Buldir Island, 20:15 “Should we have halibut or cod for dinner?” Those words from McKenzie indicated Christmas had arrived for us Buldirians. On Tuesday the Tiglax returned to the remote waters of the western Aleutians for our resupply: our one day to receive packages, wash and dry laundry in machines, and shower with a normal water supply. While the weather has been rather unBuldir-like…
Monday 1 August 2016, week 12: Buldir Island, 14:15 My 2 winters based south of Sacramento have gone unwritten because there wasn’t anything exciting enough to chronicle. In a nutshell, I drove a white pick-up truck and counted many thousands of birds in California’s Central Valley. While the mega flocks of geese flying overhead were impressive, and I enjoyed living on the Cosumnes River Preserve, the flatlands were not for…
Thursday 28 July 2016, week 11: Buldir Island, 20:46 Sorry, but there will be no post for this week. Before our overnight at Spike Camp, I had 2 different posts started, but the words weren’t coming. Books are also to blame, as I read the first 75 pages of “The Last Season” in an afternoon and the first 90 pages of “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” last…
Monday 18 July 2016, week 10: Buldir Island, 21:20 Regarding that last post about personalities in camp… another good line from Kevin: With all our trail maintenance by garden shears and machete, I finally got a great big blister from the juice of putchki, the primary plant that grows too tall. Its liquid irritates the skin and results in 2nd degree burn conditions for some people. McKenzie mentioned the juice…
Monday 11 July 2016, week 9: Buldir Island, 18:56 Bear with me as – for the first time – there wasn’t a point during the last week when I thought, “I can write a blog entry about that.” Somehow we appear to be around the halfway mark for our time on Buldir. How that’s possible, I’m not sure. McKenzie made some comment about how that’s what happens when you don’t…