Sands of Zanzibar: Heeeere fishy, fishy fishy.....

Sunday Morning. It's a hazy day and we are off for a 7 hour drive to Kitimat. How can one province be so huge? BC is almost one million square kilometers....944,000, and that's almost a million. That's like 4 Montana's, or 3.5 Colorado's, or even 25 Rhode Islands. Or a France and half. How can there be such long distances between places? Why can't I have my own helicopter so that I can zip here and there in no time? Seven hours? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

We stopped at Tim Hortons in Vanderhoof for a caffeine fix...regular with cream for me, iced Capp with a vanilla shot for he. Are we there yet?

Then we stopped in Houston (no, not that Houston) for gas. Are we there yet?

Then we stopped at Morricetown to watch some traditional native fishing. They stand on a plank over the river, or perch somewhat precariously on the bank, with a spear and a net, and catch salmon. Then they try to sell it to you. I wasn't impressed, nor was I not impressed, it was just guys fishing as far as I was concerned, but it's apparently quite an attraction. Are we there yet?

I finally spot the road signs for Terrace...we must be almost there! Are we almost there yet? Whaaat? Another hour? Where exactly are we anyhow?

Eventually we reach the little town of Kitimat, home of the giant Alcan smelter. It was sort of disturbing to see such a hideous looking place right by the water. Makes you wonder why kind of effluent runs into the ocean, but that's a rant for another time. I noticed a cruise ship parked (uh, docked I mean) in the shadow of the smelter, and I thought it seemed strange, and then I learned this:

"Construction workers in northern B.C. will make themselves at home on a cruise ship as they complete $3.3 billion in upgrades to an aluminum smelter.

The Silja Festival, which was built by Estonian company Tallink, is a 171-metre ship that once carried passengers across the Baltic Sea from Stockholm, Sweden to Riga, Latvia.

The ship will be re-branded as the Delta Spirit Lodge while it houses Rio Tinto Alcanworkers for nine months, the Kitimat Northern Sentinel reported."

Which I thought was even stranger. Although, when you think about it, a good idea. It has 500 bedrooms, a casino, restaurants and so on. There is an incredible housing shortage in Kitimat, and this is a pretty good solution when you think about it. But, we're not here to worry about smelters and housing... We're here to fish...and, finally, we're here!

We drove to the marina and were greeted by Charles the deckhand, Darren the chef and a few hundred mosquitos. They gathered our luggage and off we went, to the boat. The fellows gathered our luggage that is, not the mosquitos, although they were large enough to make a good attempt.

Let me tell you who else was there. Tony, our friend from the little cabin was our host and boat owner. His longtime friend, Stan, who I called The Gorton Fisherman was also a guest, as well as a taxidermist, and a retired businessman, an ex-mayor, a brother-in-law, plus Steven and I, Charles and Darrin, and Pierre The Captain. A total off 11. Just a few more than the SS Minnow. And a few less than The Orient Express. And the same amount as A Ship of Fools. Hmmm...this could go many different ways....

We walked to the end of the dock, and I must say, I was...ummm....more than surprised to see my home for the next Six Days/Five Nights. Meals Included.

We were asked to remove our shoes, just sox and slippers inside, and we were provided with footwear for on the deck. Our own shoes were quickly spirited away until the following Friday morning when they magically reappeared as we left.

This was my first sight of the little fishing boat: I'm at the deck doors, looking towards the kitchen.

And this picture is from the kitchen, looking towards the deck door.

If you look at this picture above, there are stairs going downstairs to the left, which lead to two bedrooms, each with a full bathroom, and also to the right are stairs going down to three bedrooms, with a shared full bathroom in the hallway.

The stairs you see going up lead to the wheelhouse, another bed and bathroom, as well as a sun deck and BBQ.

Ok. I think I can do this.

We had a tray of meat and cheese, and wine for a little welcome snack.

And then we checked out our bedroom:

And bathroom (with a regular size shower in there too)

We slept on the boat, at the marina that night. The waves slapped up against both the dock and the boat, making for quite a bit of noise and it was almost too "rocky-ish". I didn't sleep really well, but I never sleep well the first night in a new place...unusual noises, and pillows that aren't quite right. The sound of the water was really close and I kept waking up thinking there was a bad leak. I didn't want to drown on my very first night.

Monday am. Woke up to the sound of the Diesel engines starting up...hooray! We're finally on our way. My first decision was about showering. We had been told earlier, by a prior guest, that the one concern on the boat is water conservation, and even though this boat has a desalinization, uh, thing, we still need to conserve water. Pierre, tne captain, will "make" more fresh water if needed, but I guess its sort of a pain, and makes him cranky. I dont want to be the Gilligan to his Skipper. Now, there are five bathrooms on board, three with showers, as well as a dishwasher, so they must accept the fact that a fair amount of water is used, so I wasn't sure exactly how much to conserve. Does that mean a shower every few days? Or super-short showers? Or preferably no showers? Is a short shower just a 2 minute wet-down? Or is a 5 minute warm shower acceptable? Considering I was the only woman onboard, I didn't really want to query the others about their bathing habits. I decided to stick my head under the tap and call it a day and go have breakfast.

Breakfast this morning was pancakes, eggs and ham steak. Hearty, but far more than I ever eat. I sheepishly asked for a scrambled egg and coffee, as did Steven.We just aren't breakfast folk. Coffee and a slice of toast will suffice, but there didn't seem to be any bread.

This is how the fishing works: This morning we head out to Douglas channel. The captain knows the good spots to fish (he's been with Tony and doing this for 22 years....this is boat #3) There are 3 kinds of fishing; fishing for salmon off off the back of the slowly moving boat, with down riggers and cannon balls ( not that kind) and then there is bottom fishing, off the sides of the stopped boat, with a different set up and that is for snapper and halibut and whatever else lurks down there. Then there is "Tony fishing" in which you go with Tony at 7am in the "little" 21 foot boat that they haul behind the big boat, and you sail off, not to be seen again until dinner. The man is a fishing guru. You will return with your limit of snapper, halibut, salmon and cod. He laments the days when he was a younger man and would also dive for abalone. (He's 77 now.) He does set out crab traps though.

So the rods were set up...and we waited....