The Salt Life...Behind the Helm...

The ride out was dark as it usually is when we go crabbing. Everyone is asleep but me. Just the sound of the diesel rumbling as I watch out for buoys and ropes in the water by the headlight of the crab boat. Everything else is quiet and peaceful as the sky takes on the colors of the sunrise behind me. Pink, purple, and orange appear in the sky. That's a good sign of the day. I keep checking on the chart plotter and all the gauges. For me it's as natural as driving a car.

I've been doing it so long and piloted so many different boats, it's hard to fathom how some people have such difficulty operating a vessel... but then again, they're not all doing it every day. I'm one of the very few female boat captains on the islands, of the fewer that pilot commercial fishing vessels if not one of the only ones, and one of the even fewer that hold a 100 ton master captain license. I'm rather proud of that. This boat isn't the biggest I've piloted but it's definitely one of the most challenging. It doesn't have a keel as most do, which allows me to get into shallower waters but limits the amount of winds we can work in, because the wheelhouse catches the wind and it gets blown easily across the water if you don't have good control over it. Today will be a good day for me, but I'm pretty sure the boys are going to complain about the heat since there's no wind at all. It's pretty amazing how different the water is down here compared to up north. Unless it's windy, there's no waves here until you get offshore and even then is less than a typical day up there. I remember going out on the boat from even when I was really little, and when we went fast there was always a lot of bounce from the chop of the waves. The water up north is a much different color and definitely not as clear as it is down here, but it's also a lot deeper and there isn't as much chance of running aground. Which explains slightly why it happens down here so frequently by less experienced boat operators. I'm a firm believer that everyone should be required to pass a basic safety course before being allowed to operate a vessel. Which would include things like anchoring, navigation, and basic safety. Most people don't realize how dangerous a fun day on the boat can be until something not good happens. When you're on the water as much as we are, it's not even an "if" something will happen, it's a "when" will it happen. Being as prepared as possible is just the best way to leave the dock. Plenty of extra water is always a good plan. "Honey.... Are we there yet?" Scott was hesitantly waking up, trying to savor those last minutes of sleep cuddled up with our 25 pound Brazilian Terrier, Patrón. He manages to look so comfortable on such a small space. The passenger seat in the wheelhouse is only about 4 feet long, yet he manages to make it look like the most comfortable sleeping spot. Even more amazing is that we occasionally take naps there together, not while I'm driving of course. He's the owner of the vessel. We've been together 6 years, and started a small seafood business together around the same time. Commercial fishing to catch the seafood is a big part of our business. He's been doing this his whole life, and not long after he brought me aboard, is when I started thinking we should take the next step and we created our little company. One of the things he loves about me is how much I love being on the boat as much as he does . He taught me how to do every position on the fishing boat. Clearing traps, winching traps, and about all the fish we catch. Lots of interesting information. Piloting the boat is the part I already had experience with, but it's definitely not the same as recreational driving. With all the years I have behind the helm, it took another 5 to get good at driving the fishing lines. There's just so much more to pay attention to and more situations you have to maneuver. You have to be aware of everything aboard the vessel, around the vessel, in front of, behind, under, and above at all times. All while paying attention to the water, tides, and even the skies miles in the distance. Scott looks at me with his beautiful blue eyes waiting for my answer. He is such a handsome man. I'm happy that he became part of my life when he did and not earlier. Things may have been different for both of us for the better if we got together when we first met, instead of so many years later. But everything happens for a reason and some things are for experience and learning. His sandy blonde hair reflects the color of the sunrise, and the his tanned skin glows in the early morning light. Patrón joins his gaze at me, and it's one of my favorite parts of the morning. "About 3 more miles," I reply. He smiled slightly and stretched his strong arms out in front of him as he sat himself up, as Patrón stretched and slid over towards the front window, his favorite place. Scott lit a cigarette and opened the bottle of water he had next to him, as he slid his feet into the white fishing boots he had on the floor in front of him. His magnificent solid figure comfortably leaned back against the wall of the wheelhouse as he blew smoke out the window. "Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day." His voice is deep and soft. "It's always a beautiful day in the Keys" I responded, as I set the throttle down to que our crewman that it was time to get ready.

"Hey How's it goin?" Moose came up from the downstairs bunk and poked his head in the doorway of the wheelhouse. His dark sunglasses already in place above his red hair and beard, complete with a black baseball cap. "Good morning Moose" I reply as I sip my coffee. "Good morning Morgan" he smiles back with one of the whitest perfect smiles I've ever seen. This is our second good morning of the day. The first is when it's still dark, we board the boat and leave the dock. But then they go back to sleep, and now it actually looks like morning.

"You ready man?" Scott asked getting up and gave me a kiss before joining him down on the deck. "Ahhh yeah." Moose replied as he put his white slickers on over his clothes. Scott put his slickers on as well, and they got their gloves on and arranged the deck ready to work.

The deck of the crab boat is flat, with just the large grey diamond plated engine box raised in the middle that takes up a good part of the white non slip deck. About 5 feet behind the engine box at the stern of the boat, closer to the port side, is the puller box. On this boat it's about a 4 foot high, 2.5 foot square pillar which holds the winch mechanism. Inside the enclosed box are the hydraulic hoses and motor parts, that run the winch, located on the outside port side of the box. The winch is a round wheel that spins to pull the traps up onto the boat, with the controls to turn it on and off on the top of the box. The power to the winch is up next to me in the wheelhouse. There's a groove on top of the wheel for the rope to go through.

The winch-man's, also called the "puller" position is at the hauling station port side of that box, next to the wheel, and in front of the trap table. The clearing position is on the starboard side of that box. There's about 2.5 feet between the puller box and the stern gunwale of the boat, enough room to slide the traps from the trap table to the clearing table. The clearing table is a wide aluminum table permanently mounted on the stern gunwale, starboard of the puller box that goes from the trap table to the starboard side of the boat. The trap table is mounted on the stern gunwale port side from the puller box, and it stands straight up and down on the back of the boat until it's triggered and then it lays flat towards the winch man. Needless to say, the winch-man has a pretty dangerous position. They both do, but in my professional opinion, that one is the easiest to get injured at.

Scott is literally one of the best winch-men in the fleet. He's super fast, accurate, and fluid in every motion. When it's just him and I on the boat, I love watching him move. I have a rear view mirror mounted above the windshield, just like in a car, so I can easily watch everything that goes on behind me without turning around. Scott likes to clear the traps as much as I do, so that's what he does. Moose is our winch-man.

We've had Moose with us for a couple of years now after I went on a firing spree for about a season or two. Mainly because we had crew showing up drunk or trying to smuggle alcohol to drink on the boat. Others just weren't up to par and had the wrong attitude. Some of them, I really would have liked if it would've worked out. I run a tight ship, and Scott likes that. We have completely opposite personalities, which is the perfect balance for a power couple. It took several years for us to find the balance where we stopped butting heads of who's the boss. We established hierarchy early on, but third party views of the ones I put my foot down on caused majority of the head butting. Who's the boss? Of the business, Me. But not in our relationship. Our relationship is on the 100/100 level. If your not both on the same page looking together in the same direction, it just won't work.

Scott is very peaceful for the most part, and has a big heart which he wears on his sleeve. Me on the other hand, I'm very headstrong and although I also have a big heart, I'm rough around the edges and able to put my foot down really easily. And honestly I'm either known as a sweetheart or a total bitch depending on the situation or who you talk to. I'm pretty sure this has a lot to do with our culture differences during upbringing. I grew up in the fast paced suburbs of New Jersey, where if you stop to think for too long you get ran over. While he grew up in the laid back islands of the Florida Keys. I'm also older by a couple of years.

The balance is perfect, but is one that can go either way depending on the couple or situation.

My view is simple. Scott and I can go out by ourselves and easily pull 500-650 traps by ourselves, and be back to the dock by 4pm. If our crewman is slowing us down and isn't making things easier and faster, then we don't need em. Moose came to us with some experience, but he wasn't ever really properly trained. He pretty much had the idea of how it all worked, and was able to get the job done, but we noticed right away that he struggled a bit. He definitely needed to get the dance smoothed out. He's a good person, a very hard worker, and has the strength of a team of oxen. We like him, so we took the time to sharpen his skills. Scott took it slow for awhile and showed Moose minor adjustments to his methods to make his job much much easier, much much faster, and much much smoother. Already having the knowledge to be able to clear the traps, Scott was able to show him simple motions at the winch to improve his skills. It's amazing how such small minor adjustments can have such a major effect. During training, I took the time to stop the boat at each buoy while Moose perfected his motions. It took our first season together to work out all the kinks, but now we're a well oiled machine.

Moose stood in his position at the winch, Scott at the clearing table. The bait ready to go in the traps, the grader box all set up, the crab box ready for the harvest. I reached the end buoy and spun the boat around lined up with the trap line. Patrón got in his position with his paws up on the ledge of the windshield looking out the front window, where he loves to watch everything around him. Moose adjusted his baseball cap and sunglasses and looked forward over the port side of the boat, gaff ready. The sun is just peeking above the horizon giving enough light to differentiate our buoys from everyone else's. Everyone has different buoy colors with their license number branded into it.

"It's a beautiful day to catch some crabs" I announced, turned the winch power on, and started the boat down the trap line. I passed the first buoy close to check the exact direction of the tide, and followed the rope with the boat. Moose gaffed the first buoy as soon as it was in reach, and smoothly turned to the back of the boat, setting the gaff down with his right hand and he used his left hand to slide the rope through the rope roller of the trap table and pull it to the winch. Switched hands and turned on the winch with his left hand as the rope coiled into his right hand. After a few coils of the rope he threw the buoy back out and completed pulling the trap out of the water. The trap slid up onto the table, triggered the switch and laid the table flat. Scott grabbed the trap and slid it over to in front of him as Moose shut the winch off and pulled the rope out of the winch as he stood the table back up, and positioned himself for the next one. I shut the power to the winch to give a little throttle to the engine. Scott cleared the fish out of the trap as I was pulling up to the next buoy.

I repeat the motions of the boat and give power back to the winch. I look in the mirror and watch Scott put the crab claws into the bin, bait and drop the trap back into the water as Moose is pulling the next rope through the winch as I continue forward. Patrón's back feet dance as he looks at the seagulls flying in front of the boat. Scott slides the next trap over and opens the lid as Moose gets ready for the next one. Every movement they make is intentionally precise, and smooth like a dance. We continue down the line averaging 4 - 6 knots as the sun rises higher above the dark glass calm sea creating a shimmering effect like sparkles. Hints of turquoise start to peek through into the morning. A well oiled machine indeed.

The line went smoother than expected and we already had 200 traps pulled by 9:30 in the morning. The guys were having a cheerful conversation as they worked, I'm not sure what about but they laughed a lot. It's hard to even guess since they've become such good friends over the years, like brothers. It makes me happy to see them engage so well with each other. I set the course to the next traps on the plotter and throttled to our cruising speed of 13 knots. "Fabulous job guys! We have about half an hour to the rest of em. How'd we do?"

Moose already had the hauling station hosed clean and was about halfway across the engine box. His tall thick structure looked back at Scott. Moose would've made a good linebacker if he ever played football. He's built like the tank that's designed to run over tanks. When we were moving freezers around, we had a fully loaded bait freezer that weighed easily over 500-600 pounds. Scott and I tried to get it to budge with not much luck and were trying to figure out how exactly to get the forklift in that tight area enough to pull it. While we were creating a harness out of trap ropes, when Moose came up to see what we were doing. I explained the plan and he just gave an "uhhh huh ok" and pulled that freezer out onto the pallet with what seemed like hardly any effort. He had only recently joined our crew at the time and we definitely weren't expecting him to help let alone just yank it out of there. I was delightfully impressed. I could tell Scott was too. We've had plenty of indifference to tasks from previous crewman. They like easy, but not many are up for any challenges.

"Half a box, good grade though." Scott halfway smiled as he reviewed the catch. He added some water from the live well hose and covered the box to protect it from the sun. We take really good care of our product. He inspects the crabs and various sea creatures as he's clearing the traps. We're very conscious of the sea and all it's creatures. It's disappointing enough there's so much unnecessary construction going on on the islands that's destroying the marine sanctuary, as well as the pollution coming from the big sugar on the mainland. That's right up there with the cruise ships dumping sewage and stirring up the bottom and that cloud carries further than they'll ever admit. We noticed a difference during the shut down all the way 50 plus miles away from the docks in Key West.

The water isn't as clear close to shore as it was 10 years ago and the reefs are suffering. There's less lobster and less crab and the regulations they keep adding have nothing to do with the actual problems. Scott is more aware of it than some of the other boats that haven't been fishing and diving here their whole life. The elder captains know it too. The ones who have been fishing here for over 30 to 50 years clearly see the difference, and most know the problem.

Scott took his gloves and slickers off and lit a cigarette as he walked up to the wheelhouse with Moose. "Need a water?" He took four waters out of the cooler, handed one to Moose, one to me, and topped off Patrón's water bowl before taking a sip himself. He brought the empty soda can he uses for his cigarette butts up into the wheelhouse, and sat down next to Patrón. Moose sat next to Scott and Patrón wagged his tail as he got in between them. "If you get tired and need a nap, let me know and I'll drive..." Scott looked at me like he was inspecting my reaction. "No I'm good," I laughed, "I actually was able to get to sleep early." I stayed focused on the route but gave him a smile to ensure him I was fine so he wouldn't keep asking. He always asks around this time because he knows how much I don't really like mornings, but that's usually when I don't have my coffee and am kept up all night dealing with nonsense. "Plus, I have my coffee." I added as I took another sip. "Yeahhh. Yeah she does have that," Moose chimed in with a chuckle, "you know she's ok when she at least has her coffee." They both laughed, then started talking about comical mishaps that happened when they work on the other boats, adding that it probably wouldn't have happened if they had their coffee. "He ran over like 4 buoys in a row, but it probably wouldn't have happened if he had his coffee" lots of laughing "yeah but what about when he forgot the crab boxes on the dock? Hahahha it probably wouldn't have happened if he had His coffee hahaha..." They kept that joke going all the way to the next line. I had to laugh at the scenarios, and I remember every one of them, which made it even funnier.

I slowed the throttle as we approached the next line, and the guys went back to the deck and geared back up in their slickers .