Shrimp Boats are a comin'

Whittier, Alaska

June 24, 2008

Sally driving, pulling ropes, fresh catch, Roger the Captain, George, The Voyager, shrimp pot, Richard and his aunt.

This was a day to go shopping and tour around in the Motor home.

Richard called and said his bosses were going to go out on their boat and pick up their shrimp pots, and would he like to go and take his aunt and uncle along? Wow, that sounded like fun. So, we traveled to Whittier, AK, I would guess an hour or so away from Anchorage.

The neat thing about Whittier is that you have to go through a couple of tunnels. The last tunnel is 2 1/2 miles long, it is called the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. It is 1 lane and cars and trains take turns traveling through it. They allow a 15 minute alternating directional use for vehicle traffic. About 3 trains a day go through the tunnel. What a great experience traveling through the tunnel....2 1/2 miles!

Roger Aldrich and George Porter were the captains and co captains on The Voyager. The Voyager is a 57 ft. Carver. We traveled about 10 miles out in the ocean to pick up their shrimp pots. Another fun thing to do while visiting in Alaska! The pots are lowered into the ocean 600 ft to the floor. They rest down on the floor and the shrimp come into the mesh basket and are caught. Roger and George had 4 baskets down, and probably caught 250+ shrimp. It takes a few minutes to reel the rope up 600 ft. There are 2 pots on each 600 ft. rope. Once you reel in the ropes the pots are emptied into a cooler, then you start the process of beheading those shrimp!

The shrimp are then washed and packaged to take home! That was a fun thing to do on vacation! We were out in the ocean until 10:00 or after. One thing to remember it is still very light at that time! Richard got us back to the RV park very late! Sadie did OK being alone for almost 7 hrs! So, now we know how they catch shrimp! These shrimp are no ordinary shrimp either!

Another wonderful day ended on our trip!