Travel Day (by boat!) to Hooper Bay

After a week in Chevak, today was our day to head over to Hooper Bay...not all that far from where we were (we could actually see it in the distance), but since there is no road system it meant we would have to do the usual and hop a flight on over here.  Our boss told us to catch the mid day flight.  Simple enough..... or so we thought.

We called in the AM to check the routing (inter village flights work much much much differently that the typical plane/airport system most people are used to) and realized they were flying from Hooper Bay TO Chevak and we needed to  go the other way, but because of the way the other passengers were flying, despite having reservations, we pretty much got screwed and had no way to get to where we needed to go.  We would have to wait for the evening flight but from the sounds of things we were heading in the not so common direction and it was likely the same thing would occur.  Not news we wanted.  I expressed our trouble to one of the maintenance men, Larry, and he made a comment that maybe we could go by boat.  I've wanted to travel by boat out here so badly but it's kind of hard to make it happen.  I quickly jumped on the opportunity to ask if he knew anyone who was headed that way and it just so happened he was thinking about going out halibut fishing as the weather was awesome- probably one of the warmest days they will have all summer (high 60's....maybe even a whopping 70).  He then told us to keep trying to figure out the flight stuff and if we couldn't by high tide he might be able to drive us in his boat.  We ditched trying to figure out the plane situation and started the communications to do the boat gig.  You see, it isn't as easy as it all sounds as there is the culture/language barrier on top of all crazy logistics.  We kept asking when he would take us in his boat....

"at 2 maybe 3 maybe 4 or even 5"
"So, when should we have the guy with the truck (there's usually only a couple trucks in the village- everyone drives 'Hondas' or as we would say four wheelers) bring us to the river?"
"when the boat is ready"
"what time will that be?"
"when the tide is high"
"how far from now is that?"
"when the boat is out of the mud"

ummmmm ok......next situation to tackle.... when we arrive by boat, how will we get to the school we will be staying at?.... talked to what seems to have been about a hundred people (ok...maybe i'm exaggerating a wee bit) to finally get a number with the guy who drives the truck in the next village.  Just gotta call him when we get there..... sure hope it's the right guy and the right number.

This is the guy who drives the truck in Chevak- he was super helpful and awesome.  When we made a quick stop at the store before going down to the river some kids handed us this baby bird (some sort of goose?).  They sometimes carry live animals around like they are toys- and it's totally normal here.

At last, we paid for the gas (after a wee bit of a debit card malfunction) for Larry and made it to the boat with our stuff and hung out as the tide came in.  Climbed in the boat with Larry, a teacher from the school named Mike, some other native guy I didn't know and two Chupik ladies... I'm pretty sure one was Larry's wife.  After a very muddy start, we were on our way to the Bering Sea.

Just waitin' for the tide to come in.

My staff partner going through the mud to get in the boat.  Rubber boots ARE a necessity.

Riding down the river to the Bering Sea :)

My awesome staff partner riding along

The boat ride was simply fabulous.  I mean, I enjoy flying in the bush planes cause I still think they are really cool, but this was a way different way for me to travel to work.  The weather was so sunny and as we cruised out of the river past several fish camps we got to chat with them about all sorts of things.  And we stopped along the way to check some nets for fresh fish for bait.  What fascinates me is that they brought in a bunch of salmon without even really wanting or meaning to and then were going to use the other fish (which to me are big) as bait for halibut.  As we were out and headed to Hooper, the ladies started pointing and saying something-- a seal!! I've never seen a wild seal until today.  I then instantly shifted from asking about the salmon and halibut fishing to questioning about hunting seal and whale...they do it all out here.  Oh, and any wood they need for winter burning has to be found in the form of driftwood.  Talk about a lot of work to do!

Checking nets for fishies.... wish I had gotten a better photo of this process but this will have to do

A bunch of the fish they pulled from the nets...the big one even flopped for the picture

Visiting with Mike about being a teacher in a village- and a cross country coach!  If for any reason any of you ever go to Chevak you need to find this guy- I wish I had met him sooner.

Cruisin'

I made a couch out of our stuff- it was cozy!

At last we made it to the school (it is GIANT....even compared to schools back home) and are settling in tonight.  Went for only a short walk in the village before the rain sent us back indoors.

Tomorrow is a day off and I have a new village to explore- yay!