Deadliest Boat Tour

Your Next Vacation

Alaskan King Crab legs aren't something that I strive to eat. I know a lot of people who enjoy them. More power to them. And perhaps if I lived in Alaska, I'd enjoy them too.

I try to be a conscientious consumer who is aware of our influence and abuse of our environment, and that means paying attention to the concept of food miles. Food miles means the distance the food you eat traveled from the field/ocean/pasture to your plate. Eating locally grown, non-processed foods helps lower the mileage, supports farms/producers in my community, and is better for our environment. This means, I strive to purchase local whenever possible. Here in North Carolina that means Blue Crabs reign, if one were to need a tasty crab for dinner. And no fancy boats or 700 pound traps are required. A simple chicken neck, a piece of string, a net, a pail, and a comfortable perch near any body of saltwater should be able to produce a nice crab dinner for an entire family.

But there are some who can't resist Alaskan King Crab legs. This interest is most likely recently heightened by the past 3 seasons of Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch. Watching men risk their lives in the Bering Sea during freezing winter months, in ocean storms that could topple their vessels, or sweep a man out to sea and to his death, to bring in their share of crab isn't something that interests me. But there are rabid fans of the Captains and crews out there. And from a restaurant insider, I'm glad to see more and more consumers becoming aware of what exactly goes into producing the dinner on their plate. This show is one way to "enlighten" them, so of course, I can appreciate and respect it. Plus, you have to respect any job where a person risks their lives like that.

With that in mind, I recently heard that during the 2006-2007 season, the crabber, Aleutian Ballad, was in the shipyard for a major overhaul and retrofit. They acquired passenger seating on the main deck as well as seating on an observation deck, plus live tanks to showcase their haul to tourists, with crew interaction and narration from the ship's owner, captain, and crew. I wanted to post it here for a few friends who are glued to the Discovery Channel. If you care to check out what's probably the best up close and personal view of our US commercial fishing industry in action, and watch real fisherman pull in the bounty of the sea from a comfortable seat on board their ship, check out www.56degreesnorth.com.