Mark Boyd's Photos - Vacation in Alaska

Raft fishing in Alaska

While on my first ship, I took leave in Alaska with my partner, Kevin Twing. Twing was born and raised in Alaska and he knew where to go! We packed up a raft and dropped it in the creak (the name escapes me) and went rafting for about a week. We caught more rainbow trout than we could eat.

Just as the beer ran out and we were deciding whether we would cook up one of the freeze-dried meals we brought, his dad (a bush pilot) flew overhead and dropped a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and two pints of Fosters beer!

We each caught a big king salmon during that trip. We were not aware, but his dad had built a smoke house in his back yard while we were gone. I am not much of salmon fan, but that fresh-smoked salmon was fantastic. It was a big hit when we got it back to the ship, too.

I saw more wildlife (photos may come later) during that vacation than in several other trips combined. I have not even started scanning the glacier and other flying photos.

Halibut fishing in Kodiak, Alaska

My high school friend, Kirk Ausburn, was in the Coast Guard and happened to be stationed in Kodiak at the time. He invited me to join him while I was so near by, so I took a little puddle-jumper flight out to Kodiak.

We went out in his boat and, eventually, caught three huge halibut. Mine was the baby, weiging in at 60 pounds! Unfortunately, I seem to have lost about two rolls of film from that trip, but here is what I was able to find.