The Deadliest Catch is a fabulous show on The Discovery Channel. It chronicles the lives of some of the craziest people on earth. They are the crab fishermen of the Bearing Sea. This is off the northeastern coast of Alaska.

This amazing fleet of men, and one woman, must suffer threw long hours, no sleep, no food and no breaks. They must also face rough water and the possibility of being tossed overboard at any instant. Everything they do is life threatening. All too often you witness someone having to climb on the outside of a 20ft stack crab pots while hanging on for your life trying not to fall into the ocean.

If you fall into the Bearing Sea you have only a few minutes to be retrieved before you will freeze and drown. The average life expectancy in the ocean with a survival suit on is a mere 4-5 minutes. It is only 2 without one.

This show is adrenaline pumping from the beginning to the very last second. Being as it is a reality style show it is very unpredictable. The fact that these are real people putting their life on the line every moment keeps you hooked.

It follows several fishing boat through out the whole season of King Crabs and Ophelia crabs. The king crabs season begins in October and is further south than the Ophelia. The Ophelia season begins in January. This is in the further north in the Bearing Sea.

The king crab season is full of cold water, 30-foot swells and having your life in your hands at every moment. The must bait, toss, and retrieve strings of 50-300 pots in a single stretch. It seems to be never ending.

The Ophelia season is full of frozen water, ice packs, and snow. On average most of the crew members are going threw hypothermia at all times while on deck. They are dangling off the tops of stacks of crab pots trying to break ice chunks off the pots just so they can throw them back into the bottom of the ocean. They must also risk having the ice take over their fishing ground and steal their pots. The ice will form over their markers and the pots become un-retrievable.

Crabs, both kinds, are very unpredictable. Thy try to predict were they will be based on previous years records, but it is still hit or miss. You will either be in the gold mine or the desert. Crabs are also a migratory creature. Just because you had 75+ crabs in the first 5 pots of the string, does not mean the rest will not be empty.

I have a lot of respect for the crabbers of the Pacific. It truly is the deadliest job on earth. I highly recommend this show. It is very addictive.

Learn more about this author, Cee Peterson.
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