King crab has slowed down quite a bit. The season started out hot as a pistol but has really cooled off in the past few weeks.

The tides have really been strong and it makes it very hard for the crab to enter the pots. A lot of boats are already done, but we have one of the largest amounts of quota in the fleet. We have a couple more weeks of grinding it out before we get to head home.

I’m excited about the holiday season coming up, and hoping I’m going to get to spend a few months at home before having to return for opilio crab or snow crab as it is commonly called on the market.

My alarm clock has an iPod attachment, and it is set to wake me to “Homeward Bound” written by Simon and Garfunkle (Hopefully the “songwriters” on here will approve). However, over the last few days, the other deckhands and I have been discussing what it is we are going back to.

I’ve been in Alaska since August 4th. That’s a long time to be fishing and away from home, and a lot of stuff changes. Paul Newman has died. So has Bernie Mac. The big three automakers are all in big trouble. Tuscaloosa is the epicenter of college football once again. Auburn is struggling.

Every time, I’ve come home from sea, my mother has told me how much I’ve changed. I would like to add that it is for the better, although she thinks I’m meaner. (Mother I’m meaner than ever now.) But it is so strange coming back home for me too, because it is a totally different world each time. -Paul