My life at Sea, Part 12 (Finale)

Hey guys, finally getting around to doing one more dump of photos from my previous job before I start getting to some from my new job. I definitely miss this job, but I'm excited to be home more often. (I still have more Japan and boat pics I can post though.) Had to start out with this awesome view of cruising around with a nice little rainbow off to the side.

Our Fish Master sent us over to deliver this very important package to the Cosmos Kim. They didn't stop or turn into the wind, so I had to kinda improvise. I just came up to a hover next to the ship and then slid sideways over the bow and my spotter dropped the package to the crew. I later found out it was just a pair of pants lol.

Of course they turned right after I dropped the package lol

Skirting some heavy rain on the way back to the ship. Might've already posted this but I can't check without discarding everything I already did lol.

Andy working on balancing the tail rotor after a long day of flying.

Enjoying a cigar on my birthday after we're done for the day. Side note but that hammock is one of my favorite purchases I've made in a while.

Watching the radio operator doing his thing during a set. That red band on the radar is the heavy rain that you can see out the windows.

One of the engineers doing his hourly checks in the engine room

The same engineer prepping a fish hold for a catch that is about to be brought onboard

It's pretty crazy watching the fish come down the chute. Was much louder than I thought it would be and very messy.

Saw this cool looking ship and decided to go check it out. Later learned that it was a natural gas ship. So they might not have been the biggest fans of me flying up to their floating bomb

Flying over my ship, just after an early morning takeoff.

The captain caught one of my takeoffs.

Put the GoPro in the net with 45 tons of skipjack. It's some pretty cool footage but every time I try to upload it, it fails.

Some more cool but sketchy weather to skirt around

Flying around some weather

Flying by a car transport ship

Passing the Cosmos Kim again. I'm not sure if this was the pilot or mechanic that was looking at us through his binoculars and waving at us.

After the free school season we found an area that had hundreds of these smaller, juvenile fish. It was impressive to say the least. I bet we probably saw 2-300 schools stretching as far as you could see

Not a bad sunset at all

Flying overhead and thought that seeing the wake on a calm morning was pretty cool

Passing the Cosmos Kim yet again lol. We saw them a lot this trip.

Towards the end of the trip, our sister ship, the Genpuku Maru 18, broke it's engine and was dead in the water for a day and a half before we could reach them. Once we got there, we spent a day drifting while our engineers went over to help them. It was the perfect time for the crew to clean the sides of the ship and everyone to go for a little swim.

The captain checking the ship while we were drifting. They discovered some deep cuts in the hull and decided to take the ship back to dry dock for repairs.

Once we got our sister ship running again, I got sent to fly. Snapped this pic of the Genpuku Maru 18 and the Genpuku Maru 81 running together.

Trying out some new GoPro angles. I'll have more YouTube videos up eventually once things calm down with training and the holiday rush at my new job

One of my favorite shots

Short final to the boat

I think this was the last school we caught before going back to Japan.

The crew always makes me laugh a little bit. We'd fish all day long and then after work, they would break out the fishing poles and keep fishing.

The sharks were smart this night and just kept waiting for us to bring the tuna up to them so they could just steal it right off the line.

Sharks stealing the fish after the crew spent about 10 minutes reeling it in.

Touching up an old pic of my buddy Josh before he went home. He passed away recently while on vacation in Costa Rica.

New profile pic for sure

Circling some fish. We call this a foamer because all the splashing around creates what looks like foam on the surface

Also had to get low to snag some better footage of whales before I went home

Getting into port for the last time was a bittersweet feeling. I left for two days in Tokyo the next morning.

I got two nights in Tokyo before I flew home on Halloween.

Had to visit the Tokyo Skytree. Went all the way up to the 450 meter observation deck. The views were incredible.

Wandering around after the Skytree

Ended up in a cigar lounge to celebrate the end of one job and the job offer I received the same day.

Finally made it back to the Sensoji Temple. I'll have to post more pics of this later on.

Coming in on approach to Denver over the Rocky Mountains. It was pretty exciting to see the familiar mountains again.

The best part of being home, seeing my dog again

He's such a little cuddler. Very happy to spend some quality time sleeping next to me