Commercial Lobstering
Without a doubt this experience and job was the most difficult experience in my life. All aspects of life, aboard the 85ft Lobster Boat are difficult. Time, weather, the sea, and the knowledge needed to stay alive don’t come easy. Nothing is easy. Only chastising oneself for being there is easy. The Lobstermen I worked with were hardy good men. They had to be. The first thing you learn is where your knife is to cut a rope if you get snagged. Endlessly making the movements of Grab the knife with your right, rope with your left, and cut. The sea is a bitch. Nice and smooth as glass or as evil and rough as a women scorn. Ruthless to the point of tears or beautifully sublime. Each time you do awaken from a slumber your muscles are sore, (painkillers are never beyond arms reach), smell of rotten fish, mind cloudy and always, your stomach is unsettled to the point of having to force feed yourself. Your fingers refuse to straighten as you try to open a Redbull. God I loathed and love it.