Coast Guard Alaska Premiers Nov. 9

 The weather channel has a new series called "Coast Guard Alaska" which premiers November 9th.  A good majority of the show is based out of Kodiak since that is where most of the SAR (search and rescue) takes place.  However, the shows film crew has been at the Sitka Air Station this past week so hopefully they will show some of Sitka's Coast Guard.  For a sneak peak you can go to    http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/coast-guard-alaska?role=    


Kolt is an AET3 - Avionics Electrical Technician 
The rescue swimmers you will see are AST's - Aviation Survival Technician
Some of the crew you will see on the helicopters are AMT's - Aviation Maintenance Technicians

The bigger helicopters you will see are HH-60J Jayhawks, also known simply as 60's, which is what Kolt works on.  They are the same as a blackhawk & the Sitka air station has 3 of them.  These helicopters can fly for up to 8 hours at a time.



The Kodiak Air Station has 60's, but they also have the smaller helicopters HH-65B Dolphin, which are usually referred to as 65's or dolphins.  The Dolphins are usually all orange where as the 60's are orange & white.  These smaller helo's can only fly for a couple hours & can land on the larger cutters.  They usually go underway with the larger cutters on long deployments.  



The third type of aircraft that the Kodiak air station is home to is the HC-130H Hercules fixed wing planes.  They are commonly known as C130's or Herc's.  C-130's are used primarily for long range over water search and rescue missions & International Ice Patrol missions, as well as cargo and personnel transport.  They also have the capability of air dropping rescue equipment to survivors at sea or over open terrain.  















So for those of you who are fans of the show "Deadliest Catch"...... these are the guys who risk their lives to save those fisherman's asses when they are in trouble.   

Things we miss.....

So we've been here in Alaska for a little over 2 months now & it is setting in that there are certain things we love that we will not be able to enjoy here...... like good restaurants, entertainment, & shopping.  So far I have gone through major withdrawals from Chipotle, Olive Garden, & Panda Express.  Good thing Kolt can cook because the restaurants here are not very good.  Everything in Sitka is small businesses & locally owned.  The only chain businesses here are McDonalds & Subway.  Out of the 15 or so restaurants here, we have found 3 that we like.  We have yet to go to the movie theater but that might change when "Breaking Dawn" comes out.  There is nothing else for entertainment here really other than the bars.  Not even a bowling alley.  I have given up completely on shopping here & have resorted to online shopping & sending a list to Mandy so she can shop for me, haha.  I have already encountered problems with online shopping though.  Ordering clothes are a pain b/c if it doesn't fit I have to pay to ship it back.  We needed a few extra pieces of furniture once we got settled in, but I couldn't find stores that would ship furniture or big/bulky items to Sitka.  We ended up buying a new dresser for almost $300 & still had to put it together ourselves.  I did manage to score a used computer desk for $30 from a co-worker.  Another downside to online shopping is that I get so excited about the things I buy but then I have to wait at least a week for it to get delivered.  We still need to get an ironing board & I have found 1 store that carries only 1 kind & it is $55.  That is one of the items that I cannot get shipped to Sitka.
Daylight saving time ended today & so we are now 2 hours behind Arizona.  It will be dark by 4:30 now & we will continue to lose daylight everyday.  The weather has gotten a lot colder & we got a little snow on Friday.  It is supposed to snow again this week but we are also getting a lot of rain. 

Here are a few pictures from one of Kolt's recent fishing trips out on his friends boat.  

   

We have a boat!

Kolt's dreams have come true...... he has his very own boat!  Even though the two main people he goes hunting with each have boats, Kolt needed his own.  We bought this 1996 Bayliner Trophy from another Coast Guard family who is transferring out next summer.  The boat's previous owner bought it from another Coastie so it is "staying in the family."  Kolt has been out on the boat but I have not so we are planning the maiden voyage this weekend, weather permitting of course.  I am very excited to actually get off the island, even if it is just to be in the ocean.  We will take Gunner with us & see how he does as well.  This boat met all of Kolt's requirements as well as my only request...... that the boat have a cabin so that I can escape from cold weather.  We probably won't be taking it out much the next few months with winter approaching so Kolt is planning on "improving" a few things & then he will probably be living on it come spring.  

   

USCG Rescue Demo

Events in Sitka!

I swear I have not abandoned the blog.  Since I started working full time again, there are not enough hours in the day.  We have almost everything unpacked & put away except pictures & what not to hang on the walls.  The guest room is still a little chaotic, but ready none the less.  So anyone who wants to visit, feel free to start making plans.  We have already started to lose a significant amount of daylight & as of right now it’s dark by 6:00pm.  I am really enjoying my job & the people I work with.  Driving to work every morning I get to see the most beautiful view of the ocean with fresh snow capped mountains & I can't help but to think about how lucky we are to be able to experience living in Alaska.  We have adopted Kolt’s new friend, Cooper who lives in the barracks.  They are just alike & enjoy doing the same things like hunting & fishing.  People on base refer to them as “the twins” now because they act alike and go everywhere together.  Last weekend while driving home from a nature walk, we spotted some whales in a part of the bay where they are frequently seen.  After pulling over & getting out of the truck, we realized they were Orcas (Killer Whales), which are more rare than humpback whales.  We watched them for at least 20 minutes, following their spouts & spotting them when they came up.  There was a large pod of them, at least 7 that we saw at one time, & we assume they were hunting.  Like us, most everyone who was traveling that same road at the time had stopped & pulled over to witness the orca sighting as well.  I wasn’t able to get any pictures or video but hopefully next time.  Apparently an Orca sighting like this one is rare & the girls at work thought we were very lucky to have experienced this.  I was just excited to see whales since I haven’t seen any since we have been here. 

Over the past month or so, there have been several events in town that we have been to.  Even though we haven’t expected events to be as exciting as they would be in the lower 48, we jump at the chance to do things that get us out of the house.  A few weeks ago there was a “Circus”, which was not your typical circus with animals & what not.  It was a one night event with three different show times & lasted about an hour & a half.  It was a Polynesian Cirque de so-lei with hula dancers, warriors spinning & blowing fire, & a hula-hoop dancer among other things.  A couple weekends ago there was an air-show in the Coast Guard Hangar.  This was not a typical air show like what Davis Monthan AFB puts on every year.  This was a couple aircrafts, fire trucks, & police cars parked inside the hangar with a bake sale, hot dog stand, & some little things for kids.  October 18th was Alaska day, which is almost a week long celebration in honor of the day when Alaska was bought from Russia & became a part of the United States.  For some reason, Sitka is one of the few places in Alaska that actually celebrates this day & most of the businesses in town were closed.  The bank where I work stayed open on Columbus day so that they could close for Alaska day.  They close off downtown, which consists of one road about a half a mile long, & there was a parade which surprisingly was very normal, minus the horses & floats that are usually seen in parades.  The Coast Guard was in the front of the line & as they made their way through town two of the Helicopters from the air station did a fly by.  It was by far the best Coast Guard involvement I have ever seen in parade.  After the parade was over, the Coast Guard did a rescue demo in the bay by the bridge.  A helicopter dropped a dummy into the ocean & then flew back & lowered a swimmer.  We watched the swimmer “rescue” the dummy, put it in the basket, & then was lifted into the helicopter.  Then they lowered the harness back down to lift the swimmer up.  I took a video but couldn’t zoom in because I was using my phone & not my camera.  I will post the link to the video, but it is hard to see some things.  The video is kind of long so the only way I could post it was via youtube.      

Some New Pictures

Hiking Indian River

Us on a bridge over a waterfall

Looking down at the waterfall

Rainbow over Heart Lake

 

We have furniture!

Our household goods FINALLY arrived last Friday.  The movers came at 8:30am & left around 2pm.  They unloaded everything while we directed them on where to put it & then they also put the beds together.  It is so nice to finally have couches & our big tv & kitchen stuff to cook on.  The air mattress we had was actually pretty comfortable so I wasn't really excited to get the bed, haha.  We spent the whole weekend unpacking and putting everything away.  After all was said & done, the only thing missing was the glass top to our patio table (which we planned on selling) and the only things that were broken & a total loss were the computer desk & a living room end table.  There were a few things that had minor damage, but we have come to accept that with us moving every few years, it's inevitable so no sense in getting upset over it.  Since most of our stuff has been in storage for a couple years, we had to wash EVERYTHING!  We also realized that we need more furniture than what we have.  We only have one dresser for both Kolt & I & it is now time to get an additional one.  The movers broke the computer desk so we now we need to get another one for the desktop computer.  Our kitchen has very little cabinet space & we decided to get a hutch to have more storage space.  The prices for furniture here are outrageous.  We have one furniture store in Sitka & another store that sells a small selection of furniture that you put together yourself.  While unpacking everything, we have come across quite a bit of stuff that we no longer need or want or that we have several of & have managed to accumulate about seven boxes of stuff to sell in a community yard sale.  However,  WE HAVE FURNITURE!!!  So come visit us!