Crossing The Bering Sea with Jon Bowermaster

2 dsc 0223
The man who never stays home, Jon Bowermaster is off again on another adventure, this time crossing the Bering Sea from Tokyo to Alaska. For Jon, this trip is a return to his roots, a place where ten years ago his Oceans 8 project got underway while exploring the Aleutian Islands with three friends in sea kayaks.

Now, a decade later, he returns to the region to explore the culture of Japan, before moving on to the remote northern islands of that country. From there, he’ll set off to Kamchatka, and then on to the Aleutian Islands once again, where he’ll face “some of the most beautiful and roughest waters on the planet.”

Bowermaster is already in Japan, having arrived late last week following a nearly 14 hour flight from New York. In his first dispatch, he comments on that very long flight, and arriving at his destination at last, just to be told to stay seated so everyone could be checked for the Swine Flu before exiting the plane. A sign of the times I suppose.

The second dispatch followed a few days later, with Jon, and his companion Alex Nicks, visiting the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, the world’s largest auction house for tuna. As someone who takes a deep interest in the health of the world’s oceans, the market is of great interest to Jon, in no small part thanks to its size. The place is massive and sells more than 400 different types of sea food on any given day.

Finally, the third dispatch was sent just yesterday, and it offers up even more details on the tuna auctions themselves. The auction comes fast and furious, with the giant fish being completely bought up in less than half an hour. With in minutes of the purchase, they are on a chopping block, and being cut to be sold in a variety of ways.

Check back in the days ahead, as Jon and Alex work their way through Japan and then return to the water, where they’ll be exploring the remote places that we love to hear them report on. It should be another interesting set of blog posts.

Kraig Becker

3 thoughts on “Crossing The Bering Sea with Jon Bowermaster”

Comments are closed.