Daily Life in America's Biggest, Most ISOLATED Fishing Port (Alaska)

Dutch Harbour in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. It's beautiful, isn't it? One of the most contradictory places I have ever visited. Some of the most violent water on the planet. It is brutal out here. On the one hand, this here is the number one commercial fishing port in the United States. Oh my God, what is all of this? Fisheries, canneries, ships, fish, money, fish, money. Is it actually worth the money to come out here? On the other hand, it also happens to sit on the edge of the world. A place so remote, so raw, so beautiful. It's almost hard to believe anyone lives out here. The journey to get here and the difficulties that you have is part of what makes it special. In today's video, I take you all the way out here to this rarest of places. A thousand miles from Anchorage on the edge of Alaska, so far west that it eventually becomes east. This is Dutch Harbour in the Aleutian Islands. Kind of being here on the beach, very exposed. It just makes you wonder. Okay, I have rented a car. How many miles of roads do you have out here? Probably eight miles. Eight miles of roads in total? I love it. You could say that for the rental contract. Let's go check out my car. There it is, so cute. Well, this might just be my home over the next couple of days, depending on the weather. Still not sure if I'm going to camp or car camp. Tent camp or car camp. I don't know yet. Okay, let's go check out Dutch Harbour. Driving in those first moments, I had to ask myself, what am I doing here? I don't know anyone who lives here. I've just traveled over a thousand miles west off the coast of Alaska. Four days on a ferry, sleeping in a tent, going all the way out to the little-known Aleutian Islands. And eventually I got here. And by here, I mean this fishing port called Dutch Harbour on the island of Analaska. In a way, I still feel like I'm searching for a home, even all the way out here. And so I wonder, is this a place where I could ever live? Here or in another spot that's so remote, so rugged, and so isolated? In a way, it feels like the dream, but I can see how it could quickly become a nightmare. Well, I guess time will tell. I'm going to check out the local store. Yeah, that looks about right. An entire counter of seasickness medication. And this section here, this is all rain gear, which also makes a lot of sense since the Aleutian Islands receive more than 250 days of rain per year. But a local told me that it's probably more than that. You have to understand that this store is about a thousand miles away from Anchorage, the capital of Alaska. The only way for goods to come in here is by ship or airplane. So I was half expecting to find a very limited selection of products. All right, here's the real test. How much are bananas? $1.79 per pound. Squash, $4.50, $2.50 per pound. There's even avocados. $10 for this. Actually not that different from the continental United States. I really shouldn't be that surprised because, you know, Dutch Harbor is a really busy port city. It is the number one port in all the United States by volume. So I really shouldn't be surprised that there is so much choice in the supermarkets here because there's a lot of people that work here, you know? A huge workforce that, you know, wants to go and do the same groceries that you and I do. Well, even more surprising, or perhaps not so surprising, is that there is a Safeway here. If you're not from the United States, you should know that Safeway is a pretty big supermarket chain. I'm assuming that in that store, anything and everything you could possibly want. There is one thing that Dutch Harbor is really famous for, and that is commercial fishing. As the number one fishing port in the USA, it brings in record numbers of fish every year. And of course, the money waiting to be made from the business of fishing is what brings a lot of people to the island. If you happen to be American and to eat fish, there is a high chance that this very fish that you're eating was caught in these very waters out here in the North Pacific and the Bering Sea. When I was doing some research about Dutch Harbor before arriving here, I read that there is a race that happens here every July, and it so happens to be today. It's not a big race. It's just two miles up to the summit of Mount Balihu, which is this mound right here, which actually looks surprisingly intimidating. It's like 1,600 feet, like 400 meters. And I'm gonna run it. And I brought some donuts to buy my way into it. Hello. Is this the race? Yes. Awesome. Can I take part? Of course. And here's your shirt. Yay. Check this out. I get a t-shirt too. Yay. All right, the race is about to begin. It is steep. Still a ways to go. Not recording much because I'm trying not to die. It is steep, steep. But I am second after that guy, which is cool. So I'll just keep going, I guess. Okay, close to the top now. Thank you so much. What a view. All right. Oh, it's all the way down. Hello. Well, I ran the race and I met some locals there, but we'll come back to that in just a few minutes. Meanwhile, before I continue hiking and driving around the island, I need to get a permit from the organization which owns much of the land here. So I can get it online except there's barely any internet here. So I'm going to have to go and find somewhere to get internet. Apparently, up until last year, Dutch Harbor only had dial-up internet. If, like me, you're old enough to remember what that was like, you'll be relieved to know that nowadays you can get Wi-Fi even in a place as remote as the island of Analaska. Someone told me that the local library here has Wi-Fi. So I'm going to try and connect to it and get my permit. So getting the permit online is just one thing that I need to do. Another thing that is like far more pleasant is that I think I'm going to get some videos and photos of Wilk on my WhatsApp, which I'm so, so, so excited about because I miss him like hell. All right, I'm going to go to the reception desk and ask if I can use the Wi-Fi for a little bit. Let's go. Hi, hi. I'm just a visitor here. I've heard that there is a chance that I might be able to use your Wi-Fi for a little bit. Is that okay? All right, I am so ready for those pictures of Wilk. Let's do it. Whenever I travel, I mostly rely on different kinds of public Wi-Fi to connect to the internet, which is why having a VPN like Surfshark is so, so, so important to me whenever I travel. It basically allows me to stay secure and safe, make sure that all of my private, banking, sensitive information is encrypted and doesn't get into the wrong hands, especially those naughty photos and videos that I'm about to show you of Wilk. But in all seriousness, in situations like today, where I have to make a payment online for something using a public Wi-Fi that I don't know and I don't know if I can trust it, Surfshark VPN allows me to stay protected and encrypts all of my sensitive financial information to make sure that I stay protected. Aside from internet security, I also use Surfshark to access streaming services in other countries, block ads and annoying pop-ups. And one other thing that we may not always think about, but I use it for privacy too, like to make sure that my webcam is protected. If you sign up for Surfshark today using my code AVAZOOBACK, you will get a massive discount and three months for free. This is the link and you can also find it in the description below. There is zero risk. If you don't like the service for any reason, Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. All right, let's get back into the video. Armed with my permits, it was time to go and explore the island. Oh God, I wish I had Odyssey with me. Not too optimistic about the camping setup inside this car, but we'll see. A couple of days ago, there was an earthquake on a nearby island. They even issued a tsunami warning here and I slept through it. But now, kind of being here on the beach, very exposed, it just makes you wonder, you know, what if? So I know it doesn't look like it, but it's already like 10.30 p.m. So I need to figure out my sleeping arrangement. I already know that these front seats don't recline all the way back, which means that I'm going to be sleeping in the boot. Now, Fred is nowhere near as spacious as Odyssey. I'm not sure how to decide. I'm right here. I felt like such a little kid last night. Like outside, the wind really picked up at some point and it started raining. But I was here in my little car nook inside Fred with my book that I just started to read and I read half of it. I couldn't put it down. It's so really rough outside. Oh, Aleutian Islands. It may seem hard to believe because of just how remote the Aleutians are, but people have been living here for over 8,000 years. The Unangan have survived out here by fishing and hunting, dwelling in incredible subterranean structures and creating rainproof gear long before the North Face came along. And here's an interesting tidbit. Among the Unangan, it was actually considered a punishable offense to complain about the weather. In a place with such a harsh climate, I can definitely see why they'd have that as a social boundary. But the history of the Aleutians took a different turn a couple hundred years ago. So you might be thinking that this church behind me looks a little bit out of place because it's a Russian Orthodox church and we are on an island in Alaska. But this place is just so interesting. Basically, the United States wasn't the only empire that wanted a slice of this pie. The Russians actually came here in the 18th century and they started trading in furs with the local population. And the locals, the Unangan people, also known as the Aleutians, because Aleutian Islands, they had been here for 9,000 years living continually on these islands for 9,000 years. Can you imagine what that must have been like? That actually makes it one of the oldest continually inhabited places in the entire world. Which I just think is absolutely nuts. If you visit Dutch Harbour, you really have to meet some of the people that make this place go around. The fishermen, the people who work on the ships, the people who go out to sea. So I've come to one of the main harbours to see if I could talk to someone about what it's really like to be a fisherman in the Aleutian Islands. So if you've ever watched the show The Deadliest Catch, you might recognise this harbour because this is where a lot of it was filmed. This is where the boats from that show get parked. This is where some of the crews hung out. I've only seen snippets of it. Something tells me that at some point later on, I'm going to end up checking out one of the local bars. Which, again, if you've seen the show, you might recognise. Before coming here, I did some research and I read that working here on the boats is one of the hardest jobs in America. Do you think that's the case? In the wintertime, for sure. Like king crabbers, draggers, these big boats, it's awfully dangerous. Wow, really? Despite the fact that there's some technology and stuff. Yeah, but you can't... Your mother nature's going to kick your ass either way. Right. Since it's such a difficult job and there's a lot of risks and stuff, is it actually worth the money to come out here, do you think? Yeah. Yeah? Absolutely. Okay. Right. That's what brings people here. You know, they're either running from something or running towards something. It just seems that people coming to this state, to Alaska in itself. Yeah. That's a good point. And I think he's absolutely right. People don't really end up here by accident because to be in a place this hostile, to be doing a job this difficult, really requires you to want to be here. And you know, the funny thing is that while, you know, on a cold winter's day, we might come back home from our cushy desk job and, you know, put some fish fingers in the oven and then eat them while watching Netflix. These guys are out here on those crazy seas in the middle of winter catching the very fish that go into our fish fingers. Which kind of puts it all in perspective, I think. It's a very, very difficult job and it's brutal. It is brutal out here. And suddenly, out of nowhere, I got invited to check out a real commercial fishing vessel. Oh my god, what is all of this? Frank introduced me to how commercial fishing actually works. It shoves the hook through it and it shoots the hook out that end of it. All this machinery here captures the fish in deep water and brings it on board with hooks and lines and pulley systems that I could really barely wrap my head around. Each of these skates hold 250 hooks. Clearly, fishing these days is a lot more complex than nets and fishing lines. On average, we do anywhere between 65,000 and 85,000 pounds with them. Oh my god. In eight to nine days. And all these tools is really what enables people to consume fish in such high quantities back home. So you got a washer and dryer on board? Yeah. And you've got like a full kitchen, basically. Got a rice cooker, got a coffee maker, fridge, freezer. You got an oven? What kind of food do you make? Comfort food. Oh, nice. Yeah, I've got a little built-in nurse as they say. Since I got on the boat, I put on a belly. Yeah, he was impressed when I cracked the back last night. Meat, potatoes. The captain, Josh, eventually agreed to do an interview with me. This was such a rare opportunity and such an honor to speak with a captain who's been fishing in these waters for almost 40 years. How much salt did you get every year? Not much. Not even a month. That's some of the most violent water on the planet. Of course, the South Seas, the Antarctic, the seas around Antarctica are pretty violent. North Atlantic is a violent place. But this would be probably number three on the list of places where you can really get in and make a mess of it. You have to be super careful traveling there. We usually don't go near those islands unless we're fishing. We travel way offshore here. We go out in the deep to avoid the, well, they're called tide routes. When you have enough current and a wind pushing against it, it'll stand the waves up. Yeah. And they're basically just vertical walls of water. They're not rolling like ocean breakers. When you go through them, you're smashing your way through them. That's how you blow your windows out, rip your radars off, and snap antennas. Oh, my God. Alaska, especially particularly the Evolution Islands and the Bering Sea, have some of the largest marine biomass anywhere in the world. I mean, it's just shocking how much biology is in the water here. I mean, you have so much knowledge, obviously, about the whole ecosystem, essentially. How long have you been doing this job? Sadly, 35 years, 36 years, I guess. It's 1987. Do you enjoy it, being out here? Why? Well, I guess I do. After all these years, it's been a solitude, obviously. You know, I spend sometimes 300 days a year on the ocean, which is kind of great. Obviously, you were here for the last week or so, just socked in where you can't hardly see the boat ramp in front of you. Yeah. How do you deal with that, like mentally? I don't know. I think I'm going a little cuckoo myself. Yeah, it seems like it takes a special type of person to spend so much time out here in the Aleutians and on the open ocean. So I'm about to meet more of these characters at the local pub. Well, here it is, the infamous Norwegian rat. What originally brought me out here was I work as a fishery biologist full-time. This is my part-time side gig to make some extra money, but working in fisheries is what brought me out here. So what kind of people come all the way out here? This place is pretty remote. It's pretty out there. It is very remote. So mostly the biggest thing here is fishing. It's a lot of fishing and then jobs that support the fishing industry, like this guy right here working on a tugboat or things like that. And then, yeah, there's a lot of science that goes on out here and tourists. I mean, it's beautiful. There are all kinds of brain mammals, animals, birds, flowers and things you don't see anywhere else. So yeah, that's true. What do they do for fun? For fun? I mean, I feel like you have to like outdoors things. Yeah, we come to the bar, there's a lot of drinking. And then we have bars out there and we forget about Haro. Love it. But yeah, if you like the outdoors, it's great for that kind of recreation. Hiking, you have some awesome trails, fishing, camping, all that kind of stuff is great out here. Any life advice from a local? Life advice, I'm not sure about that, but this is definitely not the place to come. If you want to date and find your soulmate, I'll tell you that. Any life advice from a local? Yeah, I mean, this is where we hold church. So if you're looking for advice, you're at the right spot. Love it. Thank you, guys. The local pub is always such a great place to meet the locals. I even got to chat with Lauren, who is a local painter, but he also does another important job out here. So I work as a fisheries observer, and so I come up here and help try and keep the fisheries sustainable. Do you think Dutch Harbour is for everybody? I kind of hope not, you know? I mean, it's certainly not, but if everybody were here, it would be a different place, you know? We spend a lot of time and effort making every place easy to get to. And what that does is it just makes the whole world homogenous. And so the journey to get here and the difficulties that you have is part of what makes it special. Have you ever been here during the winter time? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I like it. It's weird, though, because it's miserable, but it's not that cold. It's miserable because it's right on the edge of snowing or just barely snow from rain, and it's sideways. So it's mostly the wind and the wet that's problematic. So what do you think is the main attraction for people to come here, but also stay here? You know, the turnover here is pretty high. What's interesting is you get people who live here for a few years and then they rotate out. You do have people who live their whole lives here, but in terms of the workforce, they come and go pretty quickly. And a lot of it's a lot of people from other countries because it is such a harsh environment and everything's really expensive. And, you know, just getting to and from the island's really expensive. And so a lot of people do it for a short time. But a lot of the people you meet that have been fishing have been doing it for 40, 50 years. Like you'll meet captains up here that have been up here since they were 18. They're in their 60s. So for those people, what do you think keeps them here? Money. Adventure, I guess. I don't know. There's a charm to it. And it's, you know, there's really a nice feeling of not being connected. You know, like it is nice as the internet comes in and like you get to be closer with family and stuff when you are out here. But then also like it's so hard to disconnect in the world that we're in now that there's an element of that that's really nice. And then also you're working with your hands. And there's something to be said for that. Like there's a fulfillment that happens there that doesn't necessarily happen if you're sitting at a desk and you don't get to see some sort of physical outcome from your work. Yeah, and there's an interesting sense of community that happens too. Because people don't necessarily understand what it's like until they're here. You know, like you might see it on a show or something. And, you know, the shows always portray like the really rough elements of life up here. And you kind of forget the like the more interpersonal and like the connections you actually build. And when you're doing things that are difficult with somebody, you inevitably build a connection with them that is that's going to be more deep than if you just, I don't know, just happen to be sitting in a park at the same time. Or working together at the same desk. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Worst thing about living out here? It's too hard to get back and see family. Best thing about living out here? The landscape. So Dutch Harbour on Alaska out in the Aleutian Islands. The whole time that I was there for a week, I wondered whether I could ever live there. It's a tough place. Raw and rugged and windswept. But despite the harsh environment, I definitely felt a sense of community there. I mean, I guess if you live so far out there, you need other people by your side. And while I don't think this is the place where I ever see myself living permanently, Onalaska is definitely one of the most stunning, wild, surprising places I've ever visited.