Happy 60, Jason! What a great time to be able to just take a step back, do art, and reflect.
I hope you have a great crab season. Stay strong!
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Am proud of you man. Keep on pushing.
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I really enjoy your writing Jason, congratulations on your 60 days! And those crabs look fab! I never ate them bc you can’t buy good ones here where I live 
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60 days man! So good!
I’m glad you found a boat with a sober captain. Just please keep your guard up. Sounds like he’s new to sobriety and that can be tricky, but it can also be good. Remember that YOU ALWAYS COME FIRST!
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Wow, it’s been over 60 for you! That flew by! Stay the course and keep going. I’m proud of you brother! You know you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to!
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Great job on getting back to where you want to be-crabbin’ and sober!! What kind of crabs are they?!
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Dungeness crab
Tomorrow is my first day off due to weather. Ive been working really hard. We are getting em! Got 40 thousand pounds so far. Im waiting to unload. Ive been working for 28 hours straight. Im exhausted.
My hands, and wrists are throbbing. And swollen. Every muscle in my body hates my guts.
In a week my muscles will be more used to it and we will be working less.
Its all about the opener. You fish as hard as you can. While your sleeping somebody else is catching all the legal crab. And all you catch is small ones that are the same amount of work, but no pay.
Normally i would be snorting oxycontins by now, and drinking beer and whiskey until the pain stopped.
This year is different.
Im not going to drink! Im not going snort any oxys. I tried to do a little meth last year, but that made me crazy!
Im making good money so its easy to afford that style of self medication right now.
I saw my oxy guy at the dock. Hes ready to make some money too.
Not my money. I got goals im going to invest that money into.
If i went to the bar, im pretty sure the meth guy would be there too.
Good thing i dont drink anymore and dont hang out at the bars.
.
Temptation is everywhere. Such is life!
Theres huge adrenaline in crabbing! Thats the only drug im going to do this crab season!
I check in here whenever i can. I browse the titles on the thread and i remind myself that the party is over.
I am a real alcoholic. Chapter three of the big book of alcoholics anonymous tells my story.
I wish I like the people in aa as much as the book. I must be tired, im feeling a little mean.
Ill save that topic for another day. Maybe tomorrow after i sleep. Glad i dont have to worry about bar fights tonight. Drinken crabbers… beware…
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Good to hear from you Jason! I bet you’ll sleep good tonight. Glad you’re doing good!
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Massive, massive respect to you Jason.
Wishing you the best of sleeps, despite your body feeling a mass of fiery muscles and creaking bones 
Two nights onshore and i havent even been tempted to drink.
In the store yesterday as i walked past the beer aisle i felt repulsed. This is new. I like it!
I got some good sleep, and i felt high on life yesterday. As I was getting ready for our next trip i felt extermely greatful to not be intoxicated.
I am on call for as soon as the weather drops, w
hich gave me another night onshore. I had zero desire to drink.
In the past id be drunk until left. Id sneak a few beers in my backpack and a pint to get through the trip. Repeat.
This morning Ive been thinking about some of the hangovers and misery from detoxing on the ocean the I put myself through.
Ive saved 1500 dollars. A night at the bar i would have blown at least 500 each night. Thats what crabbers do when the fishings good!
I would have bought 500 bucks worth of oxys too. Then id face that detox after crab season. Ive been lucky enough to quit those after crab season. Ive seen alot of fisherman get strung out on those. Its not good.
I feel really good this morning. Im stiff but will be good once i get moving around. Im excited to get back out. I know our gear is going to be loaded with crab.
I love my new crew! The skipper is clean and sober. I have to guys on the back deck with me. One is clean and sober, the other im pretty sure is using meth. He had this sudden change in energy half way through the last trip.
Hes good at his job.
I like this crew alot better than the boat I quit.
We are 15 thousand pounds ahead of that boat too! Which is awesome!
I was considering not crabbing to put my sobriety first. Im glad I didnt. I got this. I made it through to hardest part.
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I’m glad it’s going good for you Jason! How far out do you guys go? It must be hard to sleep on the boat if it’s rough seas…although if you’ve worked all day you probably just drop off, lol.
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This was a test pot. We’ve been seeing alot better pots. This was a short soak ti see. Looks good, so we put a string there.
My hands are to wet to film most of the time.
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Its cat naps out there. We are within five miles from shorw this year. Our furthest gear is abot 20 miles from home. When we do anchor up for a nap the deisel motor hummin puts me to sleep. If its rough its hard to sleep. This boat doesnt stay out in extreme conditions unlike the last boat i was on.
My previous employer would work us up to sixty hours straight. This one we did 30 and hit home pprt just as the waether hit. I was impressed.
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A few years ago I waitressed at “Pinchers” here in Ft. Myers; it’s obviously geared towards alot of crab dishes. I actually had to go to a whole day class on crabs, lol. Interesting stuff; but it’s so much work to get to the meat.
They are are of work to catch too. But they are delicious!
We did an all night grind. Had a break in the weather. Its wasnt very nice out there.
Waiting to offload. Then get some rest
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They definitely are delicious! Years ago, I think I was about 21 or 22 and I drove to FL from MA; we stopped in Maryland and that was my first crab feast… I loved how the tables had newspaper on it and a big hole in the middle where you would push all the shells, lol.
My uncle used to be a lobsterman and I remember when I was young he was like 48 or so and his doctor told him his shoulder is like an old man’s shoulder.
Take care when out there and maybe get a massage on your time off, lol!
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One of the reasons i quit the last boat was because of the wear and tear on my body. I fished it for two years. I was getting chewed up.
The pots are heavier than 99% of other dungeness crab boats. It was a 500 pot permit. We call the pots mankillers.
They weigh 130 pounds plus 150 pounds of rope and bouys. Or they have 150 pounds of crab and become 280 pound wrecking balls in heavy seas.
The boat is extremely seaworthy. It was brand new when i started fishing it. It was designed/engineered for his gear.
He also liked to see how tough the boat is while i was working for him. We fished weather that sent most other boats home. The boat is tougher than the crew…
This year im working on a boat with lighter gear, 300 pots instead of 500, we dont fish extreme weather.
Previous employer worked us sixty hour straight. That can be good for you. I didnt even know it was posiible to work that long until i did. But once youve done it, he will keep making you do it.
We’ve landed more crab than my previous employer so far this season. Ive worked one 30 hour grind. Other than that, I’ve been able to get at least 6 hours sleep a day. Which is nice.
Last year, this far into the season i was beat to shit. I could hardly walk because my knee was hyperextended.
I had to finish the season to get the money. I still feel last seasons injuries.
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Tonight is my third night onshore this crab season. I wasn’t even tempted to drink!
Im feeling pretty good! I love my new job! We’re doing good.
Im feeling pretty high on life!
Yesterday the ocean was exhilarating! It was a big swell. We ran our beach gear. Our pots were full of big beautiful crab! Huge adrenaline!
The weather hit just as we got to port. We have another break in the weather coming. 5 hours until we go again.
It will be another day trip. Ocean conditions arent going to be very nice.
I get along with the crew. I like them which is nice. Were having fun.
Its been 70 days since my final relapse.
I feel great! Im excited to go. I was dreading each trip on the last boat I worked on because my coworkers were dickheads 90 percent of the time.
I’d get so frustrated with their shitty attitudes that I’d want to drink.
I had around ninety days sobriety at the beginning of last crab season. That boat didnt stay onshore, so I couldnt drink. The minute I was off the boat, i was heading to the bar.
The insane hours, sleep depravation, extreme physical labor, dickhead crew and pain from injuries were the perfect formula for a destructive relapse.
As we started getting ready for this season, I realized i couldnt do it. I couldnt stay sober if I crabbed on that boat. I quit.
When i got the job, i knew it was going to be a demanding job. I knew my boss was mean. He has a reputation for it.
I also knew if i could last two years on that boat, my resume would look really good in the fishing industry.
I did it. I made it two years on that boat. Im qualified to fish any boat, and poeple know that if I’m good enough to last two years without getting fired on that boat. Im good.
Jobs find me now. I get to pick and choose. Two years of hell was worth it!
Boats that wouldnt give me the time of day a few years ago, now call me. Ive got alot of respect on the dock now.
Being sober is going to open up opportunities that being a drunken deckhand will not.
I see being the skipper in my future if thats what i choose.
I have alot of opportunities knocking on my door. I love it!
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