Mike is home!
After the Courageous engine died, Mike hung out in Naknek for a few days, and talked to some people about getting on their boat as a relief skipper. Ultimately, the season was starting to wind down, and while there were still plenty of fish to be caught, the idea of going on someone else's boat and potentially fixing their mechanical problems was not appealing to Mike after working so hard on our boat.
Also, because of the massive harvest, Bristol Bay is running out of shipping containers to put fish into, so our processor told Mike there likely would not be any late season fishing anyway this year.
He made a difficult decision to come home early. It didn't feel like it would pan out financially for him to stay, and the idea of having him home with us for more of the summer than ever before was exciting.
So on July 18th, we picked him up from the airport, and have been enjoying our "bonus" time together. We spent a few nights at a lake house and are looking forward to blueberry picking soon.
As for the Courageous, we've found a new engine, but likely won't have it for another 6 weeks or so. It will be shipped to Naknek, and our diesel mechanic, Jimmy, will install it. The haul road to get the boat back to Homer closes on September 15th, so the Courageous will likely stay in Naknek for the winter. Mike will travel back and forth a couple of times for boat work. It definitely won't be as convenient as having it in Homer, but it does eliminate the preseason trip to travel to the bay, and that's kind of nice. Mike is already busy working on our small boat, the Little Moose, giving it some new paint before splashing it for some late summer fun.
So that's a wrap, folks. It wasn't exactly the season we hoped for, but it was good enough and we're thankful for the fish we caught and for the extra family time this summer.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words and encouragement after the last email. We appreciate it so much! Also, your preorders are especially helpful on these less than spectacular years. We're grateful that our operation is diversified and that we're able to direct market our catch as a bit of a buffer. So thank you so much to everyone that's already ordered a share of the catch! We'll be in touch about ship dates, but it will be a month or so before we have a good idea of which week your fish will ship.
More soon!
Comments will be approved before showing up.
