Unfortunately no I'm on a 378' 'White Hull' and not on an Icebreaker. Cutting holes in the Bering (or insert any body of water we happen to be in at the moment) is kind of a slang term for patrolling our particular area of responsibility. We're making big loops around our patrol area 'cutting holes in the water' while on standby for search and rescue missions. Since we happen to be doing fisheries at the moment we're more than likely somewhere near a group of crabbers or the like just in case a crewmember goes overboard/severe injury/or boat has a severe emergency and needs assistance. Barring that it means tomorrow I may get a little time off the boat doing at sea boardings for fisheries compliance and safety inspections since one of my collateral duties is boarding team member. Dangerous but fun.

As far as the ice goes we spent a little time up near the ice pack earlier this year. It was the first time I witnessed the ocean steaming because the sea temp was around 36 and the wind temp was around -30.

Anyway thank you for the warm reception!

BTW, since you spent time near the ice pack, have you actually heard the crack of dawn?

-Droken

Considering the number of staff members who have an addiction to "The Deadliest Catch", which is about the crabbers in that area, you may have just gotten lots of peopple grinning and going 'cool!'.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

Seriously. If you happen upon F/V Time Bandit, say howdy from Wedge and Ardaniel. We;re big fans. :)

	Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train

Wedge - Unfortunately I don't think we're anywhere near the Time Bandit. Although if we did I would have definitely said hello for you. We've just finished our last day of patrolling and are getting ready for the trip back home. Yesterdays last boarding didn't go as expected due to a sudden and powerful squall. Quite frankly it almost ended in disaster. Thankfully our Coxwain is gifted behind the controls of a small boat and we all made the trip back to our cutter safely. I shall forever call him my hero.

Unlike a quarter of the crew I missed an opportunity to have a beer (and get my picture taken)with Sig Hansen. He was unwinding at the Unisea bar in Dutch and we happened to pull in for a port call so a lot of the crew there that night ran into him and his guys. I had gone to the Grand Aleutian hotel and got a room so I missed the opportunity.

A lot of the other crabbers go to a third bar called Lattitudes. While not a fisherman only bar and technically not on the black list for Coasties its kind of understood that coasties aren't supposed to go in. This harkens back to the 'let a sailor be a sailor' days when Lattitudes was called the Elbow room and was the premier bar to go to to if you wanted to get in a toussle with rough and tumble fishermen. Some of the old salts are kind of sad to see the old Alaksa tradition go the way of the dodo. The first part would be to go to the Mecha in Kodiak and get 'Mechanized' then try and climb the giant kodiak bear statue. Then in Dutch go for a night in the Elbow Room fighting optional.

On a different note once I get back home I'm going to be putting a few pictures from my time here on the Jarvis on the web for my folks. I'm transferring once we get back to home port {sad}. I can dig around and find a few pictures of Alaska for you guys if your interested and throw up a link to them.

~Manny
{In a British Accent} "Petty Officer Alicea I don't care if it's the midwatch or how bored you are you can't leave a snowman on the quarterdeck to stand your watch and hide around the corner." - A Junior Officer's comment on my Skippy the Snowman gag.

OK, that's brilliant. Amusingly brilliant.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

And by all means, if you get some pics online once you rotate back to the world, drop a link in private-mail. There's a bunch of us who'd love to see them.

	Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train