More pictures!

I said I'd post more pictures. But first I have to address a question I'll undoubtedly be getting from people outside Alaska.

What's with Sarah Palin?

Well, I had no idea she would get the VP candidacy, either. In fact, I heard persistent rumors about it months ago, and discounted them with the same certainty that I had resorted to in order to discount the rumors that Lieberman would get that spot on the McCain ticket: "ridiculous - it'll never happen!"

Well, I was wrong, and that's it. I thought for sure McCain would get a credible VP because he's old enough that he could have an incapacitating stroke or something. I thought McCain would get someone with a good economic record (for example, who doesn't mail $3,000 to every state resident). I thought that McCain would pick someone who's not under investigation, and who isn't from a state where it seems that every other GOP official is under investigation.

So much for Alaska voting democrat for the first time in decades! She is still popular enough here that the Obama campaing in this state is largely a waste of funds. Thankfully, there are many opportunities to effect change in local government, in the upcoming October and November ballots for those of you who ar registered to vote here. The Tuesday election was not a total disaster, either.

So I have been working on a boat just like this one (I took a picture of it because it is hard to photograph my own boat, the St. Michael):


Here is a humpback whale, lobtailing off Kita Island:


A gumboot chiton I found kayaking:


An abalone, also found while kayaking:


A whale breaching off Viesokoi Rock:


A photo of orcas that another crewmember took with my camera:


Kayaking heaven, and my kayak hauled out:


One of my favorite bald eagle nests:


An ophiuroidea "brittle star" on a leather star:


A whale's fluke off Vitskari Rock:


And another one, in slightly heavier weather:


I'm leaving town tomorrow, and I'll be overseas in a couple of days or so.

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Bragging about animals I saw at work

This is simply a list of cool things I saw at work on the boats in the last week and a half or so.

Obviously, this is a mother brown bear with two cubs; they were eating crabs and other intertidal goodies:


And a mink looking for salmon fry at Medvejie:


This is an immature bald eagle:


Here is the back and blowholes of a gray whale:


The back of a humpback whale:


A fantastic bear!


I know; I said I'd post something about interesting plants, but it was easier and quicker to just put this together.

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Time flies when you're having fun!

I thought it had only been five days since the last entry, yet I am late again! I have been really enjoying myself, though, and days are flying by much too fast for me to keep track. I finally went up a little mountain called Sugarloaf, which is about 45 minutes away by kayak, and took a picture of a few common plant species, such as this beautiful bull pine (or shore pine) Pinus contorta var. contorta:


I also photographed this dwarf dogwood Cornus canadensis:


And this mountain hemlock Tsuga mertensiana, which is one of my favorite trees:


Here is another bear photo from work:


And a seventeen-pound king salmon caught near Long Island:


I also ran the Medvejie half-marathon, and won it in 1:23'07''. It was a good run, very scenic, mostly on dirt road, and it even got exciting when the safety guy on his bicycle had to chase a brown bear off the course.

A few critters

It's been hectic with endless days filled with endless work and play. I just love it here in summer. I only did one long kayak trip yet (no time to write about it), and a few great hikes. Sadly, I didn’t have my camera on the best hike of the year yet, so I guess I just have to do it again later...

Anyhow, here's a sea otter I photographed off Inner Point on Kruzof Island:

And some harbor seals on the Parker Group:



A brown bear, in Silver Bay where we have been seeing them about every other day:


A tufted puffin - one of about 150 we saw off Saint Lazaria Island:


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Work and training at Allen Marine

I thought I would segregate the things I do a little – this is about my job as a deckhand on the passenger vessel Sea Otter Express, which does tours mostly to the Medvejie hatchery in Silver Bay. In this boat-cleaning picture you can see the naturalist (Ryan), and captain (Russ):

We started the season off with a lot of training; everything was covered from company history to firefighting. This picture is of an evacuation drill, with Alex and Mindy in the foreground:

And here is Pablo, going through fire-fighting practice. We all got to do it, and I thought it was a valuable and fun part of the training:

Finally, here we are in one of the CO2-activated life rafts, after we deployed it in the harbor on a glorious day:

The tour has been good. I am sunburned, and from time to time I find interesting birds, bears, and plants. I even made time to go kayaking, but this is all for another post, when I get around to it.