In the general vicinity of Ketchikan, AK

Leg 4, June 29 - July 5, 2000

Steve & Linda Hulley join us for this leg


Kina Cove, Prince of Wales Island.
We follow a tug and empty barge into the cove, & for an evening & a morning, watch log transport in action.
Olga, the tug's cook, gestures to Linda & invites us all aboard.

Karta Bay: Early morning search for clams for steaming (successful!);
the "sunflower star" was admired (by some) but not eaten.

Sawmill at Kasaan on Kasaan Bay.
The log being sawed is so large that the operator stands on a bucket to oversee the cut!
Steve got to operate the saw.
Tom counts 100 wide "young" rings & estimates age of tree to be about 600 years.

Haida long house, Kasaan on Kasaan Bay.
After a 15-minute walk along trail, we find and enter the long house.
Three totem poles dominate one wall; fire pit in center.

We find totem carvings in the woods
near the Haida long house.
 
Nature adds her own carvings, the "driftwood totem" found on nearby beach.

Matlakatla on Annette Island.
The island is the only
Native reservation in Alaska.
For interestng brief history
of Metlakatla,
click history
Matlakatla really turns out for the 4th of July: a parade full of flags & floats.
The Matlakatla girls' basketball team shoots at the hoop on their float.
Then came a whole day of activities, including musical chairs.

We visit the Native-owned Annette Island Packing Company, and ask if we can watch.
Everyone is incredibly friendly. "Sure, just put on a hair net."

The fishing boat Island Dancer pulls up to the company dock.
Chum salmon are unloaded by vacuum, the kings by bins on a sling. Regardless, all fish are delivered by fork lift to the assembly line.

Fish are then beheaded, gutted, sorted & graded, and put in bins to give to those with fileting knives.

The filet line includes a NY Yankee fan.
Amazing skill & very sharp knives do the job,
and then each filet is carefully placed in a bin for packaging, fresh or frozen.

 

Don't forget the caviar. Roe are separated & examined.
Eggs are removed from surrounding tissue, & collected for packaging.

Then fish are shipped fresh or frozen, same day to Seattle, next day to Europe. Awesome!

With heartwarming generosity, they give us a sockeye salmon for our dinner, which we enjoy enormously.

To Icehouse Cove on Revillagigedo Island for last night together,
then take a morning hike in woods and muskeg before delivery to Ketchikan International Airport.

Per explicit request
from the home front,
a photo of the photographer
(and her main squeeze).

Read Tom's journal about leg

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7/06/00