“How Could People Survive Here”
Sat Aug 27th – We arrived in Seattle for a few days of school clothes shopping. This is a tradition for us, we always end our big summer boat trip in Seattle getting the kids new clothes for before school starts in just a few days.
Having been out on the water for 30+ days you get used to nature and the wilderness. Seattle is always somewhat of a culture shock after the experiences on the water. As we arrived in Seattle and walked up to the city there was all kinds of city life going on. Ava took it all in then looked up to Julie and I and honestly said “how could people survive here!”.
We don’t have cable TV at home, so one of our traditions is to download the whole season of Deadliest Catch and watch it on on our summer boat trip. This year Ava and Skylar really got into it (not super appropriate for Ava but with a 15-year-old brother there is only so much you can do). They loved the new guy Sean Dwyer on the F/V Brenna A. Ava especially thought he was the coolest guy ever, and loved that he treated his deckhands nice, didn’t smoke, and “didn’t swear much”.
I knew the boat was moored somewhere in Seattle during the off season so I decided to see if it was in town. A quick search on the internet revealed the boat had just come home a week ago and was now moored at Fisherman’s Terminal. On Sunday around noon we caught an Uber to Fisherman’s Terminal to try and catch a glimpse of the Brenna A. Keeping our intentions a secret from the kids we told them we were going to lunch. After lunch at the terminal we set off on a “walk around the docks” in search of the famous boat.
Not more than 5 minutes, Julie spotted the boat! Then we told the kids what our real intentions were for coming here and Julie revealed that she spotted the boat. Ava got super excited and just stared at the boat in awe while we took some pictures. As we got closer we noticed a familiar face in the pilothouse. It was the real Sean Dwyer and he gave us a wave! A minute later he actually walked off the boat and down to say hi. Ava turned red with excitement while she told him all the reasons he was the best Capitan on the show. “Well, I just really like you because you don’t smoke, you don’t swear, and you don’t slap people in the head if they fall asleep at the wheel!” He laughed, said “thank you” then continued to talk with us for a good 10 minutes about all kinds of things. He was a very nice guy and we were grateful he took time to meet us. Ava was especially excited, she couldn’t quit talking about it, saying “I met Sean Dwwwwyyyyyer, I met Sean Dwwwwyyyyer” in a little tune.
