Not So Deadly - Seattle, WA - 6180 Miles

Warning: If you are unfamiliar with or not a fan of Deadliest Catch on The Discovery Channel, this probably will make little sense to you.

Today was another "you can't plan this" day and no it wasn't today's Seattle Pride Fest at the Space Needle. We went to the Space Needle yesterday and expressed plenty of pride in Portland. While at a park on Puget Sound to see a lighthouse and the remnants of a fort, we spoke with a local couple who recommended a nearby seafood restaurant.

"It's at the terminal where the fishermen sell their fish and they go there to eat afterward," they said.

How could we pass up an endorsement like that? I put the name in Jessica, our GPS, and she guided us using a route I never could have found taking us on the docks and winding us through stacks of crab pots and crates of fishing nets before getting us to the restaurant. The food was indeed good and the seafood was fresh caught. I'm not sure we saw any fishermen unless, after a hard day of hauling in nets full of salmon, they changed into their casual chic clothes for a glass of Chardonnay with their meal.

While eating I saw a sign saying, "Tour the Sea Star from Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch." After our meal we had a look at the boat. We weren't going to do the tour but could get into the gift shop on the back of the boat for free. Operations while in Seattle were run by Mike Day who manned the gift shop. He said he had major back surgery after years of wrestling crab pots while the ship was featured in season one so he wasn't in the show. The boat is now a chase boat shooting footage of the other boats during crab seasons and he was in the crew for seasons four and five. We decided to take the self-guided tour. When we got to the operational part of the boat we were greeting by Kenny. He was in the crew of the Sea Star during the first season and every time the show went to commercial it showed a graphic using his face. He said we could go anywhere on the boat except the engine room.















The Sea Star
















Terry in the galley and trying one of the bunks. After taking Terry's picture in the bunk I went back on deck. It took her a minute or two to come out. She said what we really needed was a movie of her trying to get out of the bunk.
















These are pictures of how I would be spending my time on a crab fishing boat until I fell overboard. I'd alternate between baiting the pots and puking my guts out.
















Pictures of me in the Captain's chair and Terry with Kenny. He was in the crew of the Sea Star for 35 years. Now he says, "I don't get along with the cold any more." He's had frostbite countless times and the more you get it the easier it is to get it again until now he can't tolerate cold at all.















Terry getting ready to throw the hook to snag a pot.

These are just some impressions and factoids from talking with Kenny and Mike:

• I asked if anyone got badly hurt while at sea. Kenny said, "Nah. A couple of guys lost fingers. One we cut off while we were out and the other waited until we got back to shore. Everyone's had broken bones. No one has a big toe that's right from pots falling on your feet. Everybody gets frostbite, but I haven't seen anything serious." He has a different definition of serious than I do.
  
• They both had a similar style of speech somewhere between Joe Walsh and Ozzie Osborne. I don't know if this has anything to do with crab fishing or if it's just a regional speech pattern.
• I asked if people got money from Discovery. He said no and he hears they sill don't, although he wouldn't be surprised if some money changes hands somewhere. There is a trickle down effect in that he makes money as a tour guide that he otherwise wouldn't. Also some of the captains endorse everything ranging from beer to sunglasses. And, of course, there are the internet sales of shirts, caps, etc.
• I asked if people went out not knowing they would get seasick. He said, "Yeah. The greenhorns have no idea what they're getting into. Now they bring them back. In the old days they stayed out and if you didn't work you didn't eat. They figured that out pretty quick."
• Crab fishing is not as lucrative as they lead you to believe on TV. Like farming, there are good years and bad years. Between boat repairs and 800-1200 gallons of diesel per day, a captain can easily have a zero income year. If you don't catch many crabs, the crew doesn't make much money. They predict the individual boats will soon be gone and replaced by corporations.