Northern Song

Harley Ethelbah – Owner & Captain

Harley started his maritime career over 40 years ago. His family moved to Petersburg when he was a young boy because his father had accepted a position as a wildlife biologist in the Tongass National Forest. The family quickly adapted to Alaska’s premier fishing town, Petersburg, deemed Little Norway due to the large population of Norwegian families that moved here in the early 1900’s. Naturally, Harley quickly became enamored with the incredible marine life.

At 12 years old, he started fishing commercially with a local fishing family, and when he turned 18, he purchased his first vessel. Since then, he has been an Alaskan commercial fisherman, seining, drift-netting and diving for everything from salmon and halibut to black cod and sea cucumber. He also owns and operates a boutique seafood operation that brings the fish from his vessels directly to the customer’s table. The vacuum-packed frozen products, which have been bled on the boat for superior quality and flavor, are sold to restaurants and home cooks throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Harley’s depth of experience spans not just Southeast Alaska but the entire West Coast of the United States, from Morro Bay, California to the Bering Sea. Over the decades he has owned numerous vessels, from 18ft Herring skiffs he operated off the coast of Nome, Alaska to 120-foot vessels in the Bering Sea. His more recent commercial fishing boat is a 58-foot combination fishing boat and can be seen in Petersburg Harbor where she sits awaiting her next black cod or halibut trip. Harley says, “Southeast Alaska is big, and you just don’t show up to the party without a guide and or a boat. There are no roads leading into Petersburg and the only way to get here is by plane or boat. This is an incredible part of the world. I look forward to sharing it, thru the eyes of a fisherman aboard Northern Song.”

Ryan Walker – First Mate

Ryan is from Bellingham, WA, and has been a deckhand and captain for a fishing lodge in Elfin Cove, Alaska, for several years. He is also a commercial fisherman and long lines for halibut and black cod. He has fished aboard boats with Captain Harley and recently obtained his 200-ton captain’s license. Ryan loves traveling, Alaska, and the outdoors! He may be skiing, mountain biking, riding dirt bikes, hunting, or building something exciting in his free time. He has an extensive background as a mechanic and fabricator.

Stephanie Hayes – Mate

World traveler Stephanie, also known by her crew mates as “The Most Interesting Woman In the World,” started her life in Romania, became a championship figure skater in British Columbia on a quest for the Olympics, and then spent much of her young adulthood working on fishing boats everywhere from Scotland to Maine. She speaks half a dozen languages, earned a Master’s Degree by the age of 23, and can identify almost everything in a tide-pool (and will happily do so for guests). She has collected many interesting and exciting stories from her adventures around the world that she is always happy to share with guests.

Katie Ludwig – Chef

Katie is a Canadian chef from a town an hour west of Toronto, Ontario. Her love for food and cooking began at a young age. Her Nan (also Katie) shared her wealth of knowledge and family recipes with her when she could walk and hold a wooden spoon. Katie loves to travel and scuba dive. She has traveled to Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central America, which has broadened her cooking horizons and given her new flavors and ingredients to unwrap and understand. She attended Stratford Chef’s School, a private French culinary institute in Canada. She completed her yachting qualifications in 2021 in South Africa. She then spent 1.5 years exploring the Caribbean chain between sister ships, including the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and St. Maarten.