We cannot come into a working fishing port like this without learning something that applies to cruising. Walking the docks, we were once again struck with how much larger the anchors are (not to mention chain) than what are used on yachts of comparable windage.

This is a Forfjord anchor, which has what must be 95% of the commercial fishing market sewed up. These are heavy anchors, with large fluke area. As the lives of these fishermen often depend on their ground tackle, and they work in winter when sea and wind can be significantly above hurricane force, you can understand why, when they find something that works, they stick with it.

Quaker Maid has been making a living for her owners off the sea since the 1930s.

Her anchor is similar to a Danforth. It weights 750 pounds (310kg). If she were a trawler-style yacht her anchor would be a third this size.

All of the wooden and fiberglass hull fishing boats have some form of metal strip on their bow, for protection against ice and logs.

We saw these fans on a number of yachts and fishing boats. They operate with convective air flow rather than electricity, and help to circulate warm air around the cabin.

Most of the Alaskans we’ve met are hunters, both for food and sport (but everyone we’ve met who hunts for sport eats their prey).

We were visiting some friends when we noticed Sean Cunning skinning this bear. Turns out he is a hunter and it is bear hunting season right now. This is a 350-pound brown (grizzly) bear, out of his den maybe three weeks. Sean hunts with a Kalen bow and aluminum arrows.

The bear was stalking him, rather than the other way around. The bear charged from 20 feet (6 meters) away, and Sean missed his first shot. He got lucky, though, because the arrow glanced off a rock, making a loud noise. The bear stopped his charge and turned to look at the source of the noise, which gave Sean a clean shot through the lungs. We should add that Sean was on his own. Hmmm.

He was butchering the bear for meat, and the hide will be stretched and put onto a hoop. If you happen to catch your own bear, Sean recommends storing the meat in milk.

You all know bears are dangerous, but were you aware that sea lions are on the hunt for humans? The local paper carries a story this week about a sea lion that attacked a fisherman in his boat! He was just standing up from sitting on his railing while off loading a halibut catch, when the sea lion lunged up out of the water and took a bite out of his derriere. This character is well known to the locals and has become increasingly aggressive. We noticed him swimming between us and our neighbor, and as he went by he rolled over and gave us a malevolent stare.

Which brings to mind the Petersburg police blotter from this week’s paper.

• A caller reported the neighbor has guests over with a vehicle which has large mud tires and is spreading mud all over the road.
• A complainant said someone is cleaning carpets while she is trying to get her kids to sleep.
• A caller reported a dog going into a store.

And that’s it for our report from Petersburg, Alaska.