Alaska as seen from a crab pot

These are crab pots stacked and ready for the season. If, like me, you're a fan of "Deadliest Catch" 

- the Discovery Channel's mega hit reality show (now in season 11) about these lunatics

catching crabs in the Bering Sea, then you'll understand why I was thrilled to see these famous boats in Kodiak Harbor.

The Time Bandit is owned and fished by the guy with his arms crossed in the picture above (along with his brother to his right).  Fishing for crabs is an extremely dangerous job. But, if you do it well (and live to sell your catch), you can make a LOT of money.  It's not uncommon for the deckhands to bring home $80,000 for 3 months of very hard work. Keep in mind, it's extremely dangerous work involving manhandling crab pots around pitching decks in 35 foot seas.

I've been hooked on the show for 11 years and I've always been curious as to what the pots look like up close.

solid steel, heavy and unforgiving to the unwary

I also wondered how the crab enter the pot.

Before they dump the pot into the ocean, a crew member climbs into the pot, lays on his back, and attaches a bag of dead fish to the top of the pot for bait.  This is what he hooks the bait bag to (chrome ring). They do it so fast it's hard to see what they actually do.

You'd think that crab would be cheap in Alaska.  After all, lobster in Gloucester is $2 a pound. Guess again.  The crab I saw was $35 a pound, same as everywhere else. The reason is that you aren't allowed to buy crab right off the boat.  It has to go through the big crab processing plant.

Speaking of processing plants, they don't always look like you'd imagine. Take the Star of Kodiak (in "downtown" Kodiak no less), for example.

If you're prone to seasickness, this is the ship for you.

It "floats' in cement. That red truck is driving out of it. The Star of Kodiak has quite an interesting background.  It started life at the end of WW II as the SS Albert M Boe, the last Liberty ship ever built.  In 1954 she was sold into commercial service as a floating fish cannery plant. In 1964, Anchorage Alaska suffered a massive earthquake - the biggest one ever recorded.  A 9.2 monster.  Even though Kodiak is 200 miles away from Anchorage, it got trashed too.  Parts of Kodiak today are 30 feet higher than they were pre-quake. All of the fish processing plants were totally destroyed. The Star of Kodiak was quickly rushed into position and service resumed in a matter of days instead of months. It's owned by the Trident Seafoods Company and can process an astonishing 1.1 M pounds of pollock and 400,000 pounds of cod PER DAY! They must have a world class cleaning crew because it doesn't smell at all. Try sniffing a Red Lobster dumpster and you'll know why I was impressed.