Since returning to Kotzebue from our honeymoon, Paige and I have been busy. Of course there was a lot to get caught up on with work, but it is "summer" time in Kotzebue, which means we have to take advantage of our weather while we can.
I work for the Northwest Arctic Borough and boroughs are the equivalent of counties up here in Alaska only they tend to be the size of mid-western states. Anyway, one of the many responsibilities of the borough is search and rescue. For this reason the borough has extremely expensive and fancy scuba diving equipment that includes underwater communications, dry suits and full face-mask, but no scuba divers. The mayor told me that I was welcome to help myself to the equipment anytime I want....so I did. I tested it out just off one of the beaches. Not much to report other than the equipment works and that I now have scuba dived in the arctic ocean. I doubt many scuba divers can claim that. Now that we know it works we will hopefully be able to take the equipment out and explore some of the underwater areas. The intent is that it/I will be used for search and rescue if need be. (This last winter we lost several community members, many to drownings, few have been found).
After being back at work for a week Dr. Ryan (which still needs to be changed officially) went on a village trip to Point Hope. Point Hope is not a part of our borough but since it is closer to Kotzebue than Barrow our medical providers serve them. Point Hope is on the coast and north of us by about 150 miles. Point Hope is one of the oldest continually inhabited sites in North America and is a part of the same borough as Prudoe Bay, for this reason, Point Hope receives a lot of oil money and can afford things the other communities their size and larger could only dream of. Paige spent a week up there putting in 12 to 13 hour work days providing oral heath care to the community that only has access to a dentist a couple times a year. Before leaving, some of the community members provided Paige with mer eggs.  |
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Kotzebue is
located on the tip of the peninsula right about the label for “Noorvik,” for
some reason it isn’t labeled on this map. Kivalina and Point Hope are on the
coast north of Kotzebue.
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While Paige was in Point Hope, I had to make a business trip to Kivalina. I am part of the Economic Development Department at the Borough. I mostly focus on energy problems in the region (this is a big problem in every one of our villages). Kivalina, is also located on the coast and is north of us about 80 miles. It is a small village of about 300 located right on a sand spit. They have witnessed over the last 15 years a rise in sea level and erosion that will soon force this whaling community to move on to the mainland. While this will soon become a necessity, it will surely impact their traditional whaling culture. On my flight to and from Kivalina we had really low cloud cover so we flew at about 400 feet above the ground, at times less. This elevation gave us a great view of the scenery including several grizzly bear sightings.
In other Kotzebue news, I did my first solo flight almost immediately upon our return from Greece. This was a fun and exhilarating experience that Paige came out to see. After doing a couple touch and goes with my instructor I landed, he got out, and I began to taxi for the runway. Before I knew it I was up in the air thinking to my self "well, only one option now and that is to land." I did 5 touch and goes and was signed off on soloing. I have spent most of these past few weeks practicing power on and power off stalls, turns, climbing turns, slow flight, and cross wind landings all on my own. I feel extremely comfortable with the airplane now and am looking for to my next task which is a "cross country" flight. But I will have more on that next time. I didn't know about this, but apparently it is a thing for the flight instructor to cut a piece of your shirt off after they solo you. Needless to say, I was a little surprised to see him coming at me with a knife! Anyway, I am down a shirt and a go for solo flights. Since that solo flight have added about 15 hours to my flight log including two cross-country flights, one of which was also solo. Here is a video of my first solo landing...
Paige and I have been in Kotzebue for over a year now. Which means we are back to net fishing. One of the first activities we partook in. It was a late start, but the fish count has been climbing. Catching 40-60 fish at a time is not uncommon, but is a lot of work. They are heavy, need filleting and transporting. Also, as a perk of being a resident of a year or more I received my instate hunting and fishing license. Caribou has a bag limit of 5 day and you don't even have to tag them, season is all year. My license includes a bull moose without antler restriction (cow moose too if I don't get a bull by December). I can also shoot bears, fox, rabbits, wolves, and so on. No limits. My goal is not to have to buy meat all winter! But we will see. Anyway Paige and I have been having a blast this summer and while we have been busy this July we only have more exciting plans for August! Stay tuned.
