August 2025 Update

August 15, 2025

August 2025: Things are finally slowing down... kind of

F/V Courageous News
Mike and Owen made it home from Bristol Bay early in the morning on August 2nd. On August 3rd, Eva and I joined them on the boat for an adventure.
We spent 5 days berry picking, biking, hiking, and enjoying life on the boat. The weather was perfect and we had a blast.

Eva and I came home after that, and the boys spent two more nights on the boat before it was hauled out for the season. Owen's friend, Roan, spent 2 nights on board. He had never had a sleepover anywhere before, and his first time was 2 nights on a gillnetter! Pretty cool.

The boys were on board with Mike when the boat was hauled out and placed into the boatyard in Homer. Watching boats get hauled out is pretty wild, and it always blows my mind to see these expensive vessels riding around on travel lifts.

Here's how it's done. The boat pulls into a slip that has slings hanging down. The slings get adjusted to hold the boat perfectly, then it starts pulling the boat from the water. The boys climb from the flybridge up a ladder and onto land as the boat is lifted higher.

There's some work to do this winter, but thankfully, it's not much. She might get a new paint job if she's lucky ;-)

UPDATE FROM THE HOMESTEAD

We managed to cram a whole summer of family fun into three weeks! After our boat adventure, we spent 3 nights camping with friends near Seward, AK. We came home for two nights, then left again for our annual fish camp across Kachemak Bay.

Here's how this personal use fishery works:
We load up our small skiff with coolers full of ice, a canoe, camping gear, a set net, and the dogs and head to our favorite fishing spot. When the opener begins, we set the net using the skiff. One end is anchored to the beach. When fish swim into the net, we pick them out using the canoe.

This year, we caught 55 fish, which was the limit for our family. All of our Bristol Bay catch heads south after the season, so this is the way we fill our personal freezer.

We got a nice mix of sockeye and silver salmon, and I've already smoked and canned 8 of the fish.
We arrived back in Homer just in time for the kids to start school the next day.

Now, we're busy harvesting the garden and Mike is preparing for moose hunting in September. It's been a really fun summer in Homer, but I always look forward to the pace slowing down a bit in the fall.