Pictures From the MUNRO

This is MUNRO in Kodiak where I embarked.

A view from the pilothouse during the low pressure storm in the Gulf of Alaska.

The car carrier OVERSEAS JOYCE bouncing around during the SAR case for the OCEAN CHALLENGER. The smaller fishing vessel had rolled over in the 30 to 40 foot swells within a few miles of her.

Dawn breaks over Unimak Island as we pass thru Unimak Pass, the wide gap in the Aleutians where vessels move between the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. This is desolate country.

Crab boardings are why we are here, and we finally found the right combination of the crabbers we were after and weather that cooperated for small boat operations. On Sunday the 22nd, we boarded four crabbers. Unfortunately, none had the camera guys from the Deadliest Catch...

Looking rather heavy is your humble author, captured while encased in a careful laminate of polypropylene underwear, fleece coverall, ballistic armor vest, gortex drysuit, type III PFD, and survival vest. Though all of this was supposed to breathe, I sweated out about a gallon of fluids during the course of the day.

In-season boardings were new to the "rationalized" fleet, so there was mutual curiosity between the boarding party and the skippers and crew. We sized each other up, but it was all business. No major safety or fishery violations, and I had the time to do some in-depth training with the crew. And no one got hurt. My biggest fear was getting hurt while climbing on and off, but all went went safely.