Looks Like Rain

Petersburg, AK this morning.

Jason flew into Petersburg, Alaska two weeks ago, and five days ago he met Arlo and Alma and I on the wet tarmac at the Petersburg airport. The transition from our lives on land to our lives on Debonair happens physically the moment we step aboard, but it takes more time to make the mental and emotional shifts. And it takes work.

Provisioning makes a mess of things.

Although it’s been raining almost continuously since we arrived, we’ve been working in our foul weather gear and under tarps, and now Debonair’s systems are up and running, the electronics are functioning, her rig is up, and her lockers and tanks are full.

Alma, who got her first Covid vaccine shot in California, finished the job here in Alaska.
Arlo got away from the work on Debonair to check shrimp pots with new friends.

We’re getting used to the rhythms of living aboard again and we’re itching to get away. We leave Petersburg tomorrow, heading south through Wrangell Narrows toward Prince of Wales and Kuiu Islands., and, eventually, to British Columbia.

Thanks so much for reading! We’ll post more in the coming weeks. Do send any questions you have (about the boat or the place or anything else) our way.

We’ll leave you with a final image of fishermen repairing nets–a multiday process. Nobody stops for rain here.

This is a salmon seiner. You can see the nets cascading from the hydraulic winch on the boat and down the length of the dock. The near corner of the dock is weighted down by the lead weights on the nets. Each of the men on the dock is using a big net needle to repair the net.