really?? do pirates still exist today?? do they dress like pirates or are they basically mafia thugs??

 

i think you should go for it. if you come back alive, at least you'll have some interesting stories to tell the grandkids... i wish i had done it when i was in college.

 

Where do you think drug traffickers get their boats? Most don't buy them at the local marina.

 

Cool, I want to be a pirate instead now!

I appreciate the comments and concern guys. Like I mentioned before though, the job where you're on the side of the boat reeling in the nets isn't the only opportunity there. What got me thinking is that one of the old office admins at my place of work use to go there every summer for a month. She was an older lady too so I'm sure all the jobs aren't crazy and deathdefying.

As for the experience, Alaska hires about 20,000 people every summer and just about every single job opportunity requires no experience at all.

Initially, I thought it was slightly short of a one way ticket myself, but the more I hear people talk about it that actually went, the less dangerous it seems. Anyhow, if anybody knows somebody that was there, please share.

BTW, OLDMAN, Your avatar looks like Castro (or atleast a cartel of some sort) It's funny reading your post on pirates then glancing over to the avatar. Is that really you this time or just another old man picture?

 

That's the real me.

 

Cool, do you have any daughters? I know I'd be pretty scared if I took a girl out and her dad answered the door looking like that when I was in highschool.

 

No. My son and his significant other just had a daughter.

 

congrats

 

I haven't done it before but my girlfriend's brother currently works in the seasonal fishing business in Alaska. His starting pay for the first year is only $7 an hour but that goes up with subsequent years. From what he tells me (and let me disclaim that what he tells me is all I know about this), you don't start making real money until a few years in. This is for fish though. I don't know about crabbing.

From the pictures he brings back and the stories he tells me, my impression is that there isn't a whole lot to do outside of work, though. They mostly drink a lot. The areas they work are pretty remote and the workers live in community complexes with about 4-6 people per room. I don't believe the work week is our standard 5-day week, I think it's often longer.

I personally wouldn't do it but that is mostly because I'm lazy and can make the same or more money sitting around on my ass in an office. But it does seem like quite an experience, and my girlfriend's brother seems to like it. He just returned for his second season last weekend.

 

When you are on the boat and fishing you are working as long as you are getting fish, you don't stop until you are done. At least that's the way it was when I was fishing off the Carolinas.