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North Sea Fishing with the Professionals
6 days - May-Oct - From US $ 2,981

Join the crew of PD-47 for a week of exciting commercial fishing in the North Sea.  PD-47 is a euro-class side beam trawler, a modern, ruggedly built steel vessel built to operate year-round in the North Sea.  Like the vessel, the crew is mostly Dutch, but sometimes includes other European nationalities.  In general, all crew members speak  some English.  If you have watched the Discovery Channel series "The Deadliest Catch", much of what you experience on board PD-47 will be familiar, though a bit less dramatic and with perhaps less inherent risk.  But, still plenty exciting!

A generally friendly group, the skipper and crew will take you into their lives for the week, share their knowledge and stories, and ask about your life.  To the extent they deem it safe for a "greenhorn", you'll be encouraged by the crew to put on foul weather gear and participate with them on deck in the exciting activities of catching and processing fish in large quantities.  You'll also be welcome to join the skipper on the bridge to see how the skipper picks fishing grounds to maximize the catch and avoid undersea obstacles. how the ship is navigated mostly by radar and GPS, how the nets are carefully brought on board under control from the bridge.

When the nets are down catching fish,  the mood on board is fairly relaxed and the emphasis is on eating, sleeping and exchanging friendly banter in the dining room.  But, when the nets are hoisted, the activity becomes more serious and very professional.  Emphasis is on safety, but also on quickly emptying the nets, repairing the nets if necessary, and lowering them again to resume fishing.  The final step in this cycle is sorting and processing the fish, moving them with all possible speed and freshness into cold storage below decks.