Observer Cruise Lines

Observer Cruise Lines – A new kind of cruise!

Tired of traditional cruise line vacations to Hawaii, Mexico or the Caribbean? Sick of steak and lobster for every meal? Had enough of the shore-side adventures on white sand beaches with sunshine and pina coladas?

Book your next trip with Observer Cruise Lines!

As an observer you’ll get to experience:

• Total immersion in local culture 
• Variations of unpredictable weather and waves of all sizes 
• Living in quaint, dim, enclosed spaces 
• Being awake long enough to necessitate 4 meals in one day 
• Complete freedom from unwanted calls, text messages, and emails! 

While on your adventure, you will enjoy the luxurious accommodations of your very own private* stateroom. Dine at exotic locals such as the fish plant mess hall and that shack of a bar that serves only beer and overpriced peanuts!

After your satisfyingly bland meal, treat yourself to a fun-filled day of recreational activities including:

• Wading through 4 inches of fish slurry on deck or in a flooded plant 
• Inventing your very own creative workout routines 
• Watching millions of mind-numbing fish roll by on a factory belt 
• Learning every card game there is 
• Sampling fish as they, your gear, and everything else actually freezes solid to the deck 
• Practicing to pour the perfect cup of straight-up battery acid “coffee” 

At the end of the day wind down on a relaxing 23-hour cruise out to the middle of nowhere, bucking straight into 25-foot seas the entire time.

Act now and you’ll have the opportunity to add on the “Missing Holidays, Birthdays, and Anniversaries with Loved Ones” package for no extra charge!

Hurry to reserve your cruise now! Subarctic winter only lasts 10 months out of the year!

*Private meaning shared with at least 2-3 deckhands.

Blogging Off-road

Hello from Dutch Harbor,
 I have not forgotten you or this blog! Unfortunately I have learned that when you travel to crazy places like the Bering Sea internet is NOT a given, and I have not been able to post on the blog because of this small hang up. I only have internet on a shared computer in the plant office, so I can't sit there hogging the computer writing on the blog. I have continued to write posts on my own computer, and will put them up as soon as I have sufficient opportunity & internet speed. On the plus side, I'll be able to post appropriate photos along with the post at the same time! So this story will continue, you'll just have to experience it a few months behind me. From now I guess you could say I'm taking a step off the virtual beaten path and blogging off-road!
 Since my recent annexation to intnet-less BFE, I've been keeping a list of things about boat life that should probably bother me, but don't. I figure it's a good way to portray everyday life while remembering to appreciate how not completely horrible boat-life is all the time! It certainly has its ups (watching orcas from the office window!) and downs (having the fish freeze solid to the deck while I'm trying to sample aka work).

Without further adeau:
Things that should probably bother me about living on the Bering Sea, but really don't:

• The cold (surprisingly)
•  Constant motion (think about showering in a tiny little bathroom on 10ft seas, and I STILL haven't been seasick!)
•  Never knowing where I'm going to be in 10 or 15 hours, let alone tomorrow or next weekend 
• Odd-ball hours (Yesterday I waited for my offload all night, ate "breakfast" at 4:30 am, and then went back to my boat to sleep from 5-9 am and woke up to eat "lunch" and edit some data) 
• There are no windows in the "house" part of the boat
•  When its dark, its PITCH BLACK DARKNESS on the boat, in "town" and on the water 
• Its light until 10pm but dawn isn't till 9am My "room" is a tiny bunk in a stateroom 
• I share with the rest of the crew. (I mean tiny, I cant even stretch out my arms above my head while laying down, and I'm Short! ... But I can sit up so that's a plus)
•  Food at the seafood plant is tasteless, at least its a change-up from greasy boat food, sometimes they even serve "tacos"
•  I'm pretty sure everything smells like fish .. but i can't really tell, cause everything smells like fish 

Small things that actually drive me crazy in boat life:

• There is NO crunchy peanut butter 
• All the good seed/wheat/healthy bread is always gone 
• I've been listening to the same 400 songs on my ipod since February
•  I have yet to see whales from my boat/on the sea (but I did see a laysan albatross one day!) 

The only things I really miss are:

•  Riding my bike Solid mexican food - Margaritas and Street tacos are all I want in life 
• A nice glass of CA red wine 
• Waking up to sunshine through the window And of course all my friends in CA :)

So yeah that's a little update, I've just been sampling, working and hanging out on my boat. We're on land about 40% of the time and out to sea the rest. Its not that bad, I read probably two books a week. Let me know if you have any book suggestions! I'll post again when I can, but I'll continue writing while I'm out here so you get the full story eventually!

This is what Dutch Harbor right now: (Not my photo, couldn't load my photos at this time, they'll be up as soon as I can manage it)