Work. Wow. I can actually do work!

Well, yesterday was 9-11. I'm glad I wasn't around normal civilization to hear politicians harp on it. Here on Amchitka we worked on the earth-station. Max was putting in GPS stuff while Ed & Guy cut tubes and Cyrus and I dug holes. It was good work, and I finally feel like I'm doing something. A lot of discussion went into how we were going to get the frame for the solar-panel farm streight. We wanted to build it in one peice, and then set it in place, while john suggests we just build it in place. I think that may be harder, but it won't matter to me soon... we're going to (hopefully) go to Semi tomorrow morning. Max stayed on the island to finish up, though I suspect he was pretty happy to stay off the boat.

The cook seemed like he was in a mood this afternoon. (Lunch: Hamburgers, Dinner: Corned beef & cabbage.) He proudly displays an I'm-never-ever-going-to-work-on-a-boat-again attitude. I'll just continue to smile and play by his rules.

After lunch, Cyrus and I played backgammon on the helicopter deck. What a beautiful day!
Today, I finished our rounds of backgammon up 8-7. Speaking of helicopter deck, today is the first time (on our trip) that the helicopter has parked on the ship.

Oh, and finally... the earth station is up and running enough to get internet. Only John has done so, though. From this island, now that things have cleared up a bit, you can see all the way over to Semisopochnoi.

rumblings

Breakfast was the same as always... I'm beginning to long for something else... french toast, croissants, yogurt, hell... even rice. Mikey doesn't do croissants, or at least, won't do croissants without more practice.

We fueled the helicopter, and now Jessica and Michelle are heading over to Semi to do their rock thing. Tina is wandering around the Island. Guy is bs'ing with the skipper, but will be doing electronic work. Cyrus is delivering a barrel of fuel up to the campsite. I'm on radio watch. The weather outside the bay is supposed to be extremely rough, so we're not going to stick our nose out 'till tomorrow.

Hooking up to the dock was uneventful, but getting us secure took lots of engineering. The bumpers don't reach the waterline during low tide, so our ropes get fouled. Last night we broke two lines and had to leave.

Taking the load off

I've just finished a pork-chop dinner poolside. Ok, well, there's no pool, but I ate on our newly cleared Helicopter deck. Get this -- in the sunshine!

We're docked up against Amchitka Island in Constantine Harbor. The waves are breaking hard on the little islands that somewhat protect the harbor. The sun is out. The wind is blowing cold, across the nuclear island, and over our little boat. I can't help but wonder just what radiation still exists on this little Island...

This morning, I awoke to gentle and persistant rocking, as the boat -- steered by the wind -- sat perpendicular to the swell. Earlier today, we pulled up to the dock, where Cyrus and I disembarked to walk to the earthstation site in order to retrieve the four-wheeler. This boat and this dock don't get along very well. You can hear the ropes complain as the boat bounces off of the dock with horrible grinding noises.

Cyrus and I had an uneventful hike up to the runway -- Amchitka has a huge runway designed for B-29's and such. Along the way there were a great many little mounds, which was explained to me were fossilized bird terds. yeah right. Anwyay, these mounds are all over, and there's occasional signs of human habitation; signs other than the excellent road we're walking, that is.

We found the bike with no problems, after a little over an hours hike. Then we briefly visited the earth site, to find out that everything was in order. There's a beautiful hut which is more reminescent of a pyramid, as well as a large satellite dish and several tents filled with stuff. No rats, thank goodness.

Upon the return trip to the boat, we crossed paths with Jessica, Michelle, and Tina who were making their way up to find tephra sites. At the docks, we found Jerry and Josh, who were loading the dinghy with tires and wood to create bumpers for the boat. We helped and then ferried out in the skiff to the boat, which was now anchored offshore.

Bumpers were fashioned, and lunch was served -- grilled chicken sandwiches with tomato soup. Armed with the bumpers, we tried once again to lash on to the dock. It took several approaches, and a ropeburn (as I tried to attach a line to the cleat, only to have it rip through my hands... apparently I'm not quite strong enough to hold a many-ton boat in place. hmph.) before we could get the maid seated nicely next to shore. Our new bumpers were groaning, but we were held fast. Next, we proceeded to offload 6 of the huts, as well as 40 cement bags and various GPS sundries. This took most of the afternoon, and involved an inordinate number of shackles and half-hitches. Boy, am I impressed with the rope-work on this boat....

By 6pm, the loading had finished, John and Bill had completed their helicopter trip to Amchitka, and the ladies had all returned.

One other item of note: Ed came up with a great stunt to pull on Cyrus. Cyrus brought along a little stunt kayak to use here & there.... Max attached his fishing line to the kayak, and let it drift nonshalantly away from the boat during our unloading procedure. Everyone freaked, and I had to whisper "it's ok" to each person that tried to dive past me to the skiff. I think that Jerry was even more concerned than Cy.

The evening was spent playing Backgammon (5-4, so far my lead) and Speed-scrabble.

Horrrible....

I suppose I should make it clear that we never actually change the date, even if we do cross the date line -- The Aleutian Islands are all kept back in time. Actually, I understand that Technically Alaska is in 5 time zones, though we only celebrate two of them.
Dinner is over, a quick barrel full of Parmesiagn Noodles to go with the medicines. Today was a horrible day at sea. The Crossing from Gareloi to Amchitka is 70+ miles of open ocean... Pacific fighting the Bering sea for control of the area. Add to that the high winds, and you get very rough waters. If that weren't enough, there's some remnants of a typhoon that's working its way into the area over the next few days.

I've been in the Galley most of the day. Actually, this is no different than most days... I try to do a little work, but usually end up playing games or sifting through my music. It is horribly difficult to keep a coherent thought while being pitched about. Today's waves were up to about 20', and just rocked the boat heartily. Water poured over the sides of the boat, causing geysers between the floorboards as it sloshed back and forth. The Galley window was underwater many times thorugh the day -- trading the greys of the arial world for the aquamarine of the water and the white of the foam. While it was entertaining at first, it got old quickly. I was still laughing to myself in general when Anthony repeatedly admonished me that I'd never been in a real survival situation. I have; only I usually never realize it 'till it is all over -- and that's fine with me.

Right now we're at anchor in Constantine Bay, a somewhat protected area of Amchitka Island. Arrival was just after sunset. The wind was blowing against the docks, so we're hanging out at anchor. This is also good for one other reason: Rats. Apparently, the Island is absolutely overrun with rats. The foxes were exterminated (after having been introduced), but the introduced rats remained and grew strong. We'll have to be careful to not let any on board, 'cause it would be devistating to birdlife if we accidentally introduce them to Semisepochnoi.

Another item of note: birds land on the boat each night. One of them, the storm petral, is a cute little thing, with a funny nose (normal beak, but nose comes off & up at an angle in some sort of cone structure) is a mild mannered bird... The ship is periodically swept, and all birds are tossed overboard (set free, that is). Otherwise, they crawl into the cracks-crannies, and get squished or trapped or whatever, and die.

The others are doing fairly well. Hardly a peep was heard from most, as the bunks were the popular hangout spot of the day. Feeling headachy, and tired of the rocking, I passed out this afternoon for a few hours, too.


Movie: Red Dragon.
Breakfast will be served at 9am. See ya there.

Waiting for my noon-time dramamine to kick in

The whole ships being massively rolled around. About an hour ago, Guy and Cyrus had to go up top to secure the huts which were shifting about 6 inches or so (frighting to see); Chief tossed his cookies; every little while the galley window is nearly submerged (or is partially submerged). This is truly navigating the aleutians. Speaking of navigating, we've just crossed the 180 date line and none of the navigation equipment really likes that. (So, technically, it's 9/10/2005, I suppose)

Unfortunately, I have no photos to add on this ugly topic, though videos may find their way to my regular website...

No one is to be seen; they're all clinging to their bunks, most likely. I've been occupying myself with cleaning out my computer's music files.

out and about again

We've been under weigh since midnight. The fish & chips weighed on me heavily, so I lay in bed wondering where I stashed my dramamine. I never looked for it, I'm happy to say. The seas were rough, and I was wondering when we'd turn back; though I now know we didn't. Josh reports good time (11 knots), so we just might be in Amchitka by midnight.

Yesterday, we found a backgammon game. Horray!

VFW

Just came back from the VFW in town. We ate some fish & chips and played a little pool. Being the garbage-disposal that I am, I plowed through my meal; others snubbed the fish -- apparently it wasn't that great.

The plan now? Midnight departure: weather depending.

venturing forth

(time adjusted to Aleutian / Hawaii time)
Well, we just made our first attempt to leave Adak; and have just turned the boat around to return to dock. Seas are probably 25' up ahead. Now absolutely everyone has had the pleasure of experiencing the joys of seasickness. Somewhat amusing, but not very. The smell of vomit is now begining to seep throuout the boat. blech.

Maybe we'll try later, but my guess is that we're in Adak one more night.

Adak

Actually, it is 11:32 9/7/2005, Aleutian Time. We changed our clocks this morning. Sometime really early this morning, I awoke to the blatantly obvious lack of rocking, as well as a relatively quiet engine. The reason? As surmised, we were approaching Adak.

We arrived into port around 7:30am, and ate breakfast with John Paskie, who came on down to the boat. Cyrus' idea of waking him up to a full-moon didn't quite come through; instead he just called John on the sat-phone and informed him of our arrival.

Adak harbor is pretty, with very few ships (5) and a sparkling clear bay. Plenty of Sea anemonies are attached to the piers, and lots of jellyfish flop about in the waters here.

The town of Adak is pretty interesting. It used to be populated by about 7000 navy personnel when there was a base here. The Skipper tells of how he'd been here in the 80's, when it was really hopping. He was offered a job making pizza. He also told an interesting story of an engineer who made good with the wife of the captain in charge of something or other. The guy ended up buying the gun of the captain, for self-preservation reasons, as much as anything.

In 1996, the base pulled out. Now only about 70 people live here. Only, there's still a huge modern town here. The suburbian buildings are in pretty good shape for having been left here 10 years. Slight signs of decay are around... cars are all dented... There's a health-trail whos equipment is rusted and signs are ripped... Lawns are completely overgrown with weeds... very few people walk the streets. All in all, it is a very interesting ghost town.

The old Fish and wildlife house is a good example of this decay. Some while ago, they pulled out of a large building. Now, it's a mostly-unfurnished building. Mustang suits still hang in neat rows... displays at the visitor center are still halfway assembled. The list of local animals remainswritten in chalk in the lecture hall. It is in this building where our communication hub lies.

Several times over the course of the day, I --in various combinations with others-- logged on in there to access the internet. Among the news items: More info was needed for my Chile registration. Also, Steve sent in an abstract for me.

There's a bunkhouse with a really nice kitchen where the others stayed. Today we caught up with Max, Ed, Guy, Michelle, Jessica, and Tina. They'll be coming on board tomorrow morning for our trip to Amchitka. Yes, the weather outlook is still bleak... We all hung out and had Pizza for dinner.

I've moved into a different cabin for the duration of our trip. There are still 3 bunks, but they're staggered,so I can actually sit up and type.

Atka area

The sea ahead and to port is whitish grey. The sea ahead to starboard is dark. The sea behind is a deep beautiful aquamarine. Today I napped. After waking, I consulted with the skipper, who thinks we may be in Adak by midday tomorrow. We'll see... The waves have smoothed out a bit... well, amplitudes are still sorta big, but the periods are long enough that the boat is rising and falling with them, rather than breaking against them. Right now we're approaching Atka, on the north side. Fog and clouds are preventing a good view of the Island.

Called Katie and Mom. Both were surprised to hear from me.