For my final week on the Healy we arrived in Unalaska, better known as Dutch Harbor. It is the largest fishery in the United States by volume of fish caught, as well as the home port for Deadliest Catch. It was also invaded by the Japanese during World War II, with pill boxes and bunkers scattered across the island and its hills and beaches.
Being part of the Aleutian Peninsula, this place is very remote with a population of around 4000 people. This allows for an abundance of wildlife to flourish, including wild horses, seals, whales, ground squirrels, foxes, otters and bald eagles everywhere you look. The weather was decent so I was able to do a short hike and see plenty of these animals up close and personal, with great views of the town and surrounding landscape.
On the Healy side of things we had to close out the cruise as this leg of the season was coming to an end. I got to learn about data transferring and backup, as well as shutting down our sensors while we were in port. After leaving Dutch, I learned about starting a new cruise and was in charge of doing the freshwater flush and flow setup for one of the water walls, as well as cleaning out the filters(being in port allows for a lot more bio-fouling).
This was an invaluable experience and window into life at sea and science research instruments, and I would like to give special thanks to my mentor Howie, as well as Christina, Joe, Maria, PSN Boo, PSN Brian, Captain Serumgard, and the Healy crew.
