Drying Salmon
Yesterday we went into Savoonga, the little village on St. Lawrence Island. We went over on the landing craft “Sam Talaak”. We had a little excitement on the transfer over from the Ranger - the surge got concentrated between our boats and made things a bit rough and wet. After a couple attempts, we got over. “You guys must really want shore leave.”
The “Sam Talaak” landed on the beach, and we walked up the gravel/mud road towards town. Immediately a older guy on a 4×4 came up and asked if we wanted to go to the store and gave us a ride. The four of us made the machine struggle, but we made it the 200 yards to the store. It was a good thing he drove us, as the store wasn’t really marked. All the buildings look the same. Gray plywood, corrugated steel roofs, and insulated piping above ground joining them all in a weird network.
The people were friendly, especially when they found out we were buying ivory carvings. Nearly every one we met asked if we wanted carvings, and pulled something out of their sleeves. They must have been watching us arrive, since, besides the small group of Mormons who just arrived, we were the only strangers in town.
I bought a few pieces and a walrus tusk.
Today we are heading to Nome, where we are going to swap our nearly empty barge for a full one. We are then headed to Kotzebue - on the other side of the Bering Strait and above the Arctic Circle. Plan is for me and the other deckhand to get on board a smaller tug and take it up the river to unload cargo for 3 days.
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