Paul Garcia (Courtesy: Dawn Garcia)

The Bering Sea fishing fleet lost a shipmate last fall, when 45-year-old Paul Garcia died in Unalaska. KUCB’s Annie Ropeik has this remembrance from friends and family.

Fishing in the remote waters of the Bering Sea can be an isolating experience. Crews spend months at a time away from home, working long hours in rough conditions.

But for Paul Garcia, the job was a way to connect with people and places that were way outside the norm. His brother Chris says it was a perfect fit:

"When we grew up, we were kind of wilderness kids. Wherever we moved, it seemed like we were out there in the wilderness collecting frogs and birds," Chris says. "And then we both started working on fishing boats, and have been drawn to kind of a vagabond kind of a lifestyle. We both really enjoyed being ... out in nature on jobs, and going places that not everybody goes."

Paul Garcia, front, with his brother Chris on Mt. Rainier. (Courtesy: Dawn Garcia)

Their sister Dawn says all four of the Garcia kids were adventurous from the start, growing up in northern California and then moving to Ohio. Paul was an avid hiker, and taught Dawn how to bodysurf. But she says one of his favorite thrills was a little much, even for her: he was a licensed pilot who loved aerial acrobatics.

"I never got that opportunity to go flying with him, but I would have really liked to do that. Although I told him no rise and stall, which was a big one that he did, and then the flips and stuff like that, I wasn’t really into that," she says, laughing.

Dawn says her brother was full of energy, always looking for something new to learn. He was a photographer and guitarist, and made his living selling underwater flashlights and doing landscaping work.

Paul went all over the world with friends and family: on trips to Southeast Asia with his brother, and, with his mom, a safari in Africa and volunteer work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The Garcia family, L-R: Dawn, Paul, Chris, Katherine and Ava. (Courtesy: Dawn Garcia)

Paul didn’t start fishing up north until his late thirties. His first job was as a deckhand on the F/V Alaskan Command, where he stayed for five years, eventually moving up to be a mate. Capt. Tom LaPointe says Garcia was a hard worker -- and a selfless shipmate.

"And you don’t get that a lot in the fishing industry," LaPointe says. "We’re supposed to be a bunch of really tough, macho, inconsiderate men. And the reality is that we’re not like that at all. We’re just people like everybody else. And [Paul] could recognize when someone else was having a hard time, and try to help them."

LaPointe says Garcia became one of his best friends, and developed close ties on shore, too -- like with Veda Webb, who owns a ship and office supply store in Unalaska.

"Even if he was just driving by, he’d stop and say, 'Can I get you a coffee?'" she remembers. "I mean, even if he wasn’t coming into the shop, well, he’d always stop by."

Garcia’s last job in the fleet was aboard the Lilli Ann, a freezer-longliner. His sister Dawn remembers him asking her for meditation advice and books on tape during that time. Usually, she says the isolation of fishing didn’t bother him -- but some periods were tougher than others.

"With Paul having a little trouble with his down times, I felt really -- wanting to help lift him up at all times," Dawn says. "And most of the time, he was way up there, but when he was sad, it was… we just were even closer, because we were able to talk about that together."

Garcia had struggled with alcohol use in the past, but Dawn says he was doing everything he could to be healthy.

Paul fell on tough times last fall after his job on the Lilli Ann ended. He passed away at the end of November in his room at the Grand Aleutian Hotel. Family members say that Garcia died after drinking a toxic amount of antifreeze. It came as a shock -- but Dawn says it doesn’t change how she’ll remember her brother.

"When you sat next to him, you just wanted to give him a hug. He was very warm and loving that way," she says. "And I think that’s -- to me, aside from his challenges, the most amazing thing about him was he always believed in everybody else."

Garcia leaves behind Dawn, Chris and his eldest sister, Ava, along with their mother Katherine and many friends.

A memorial service will be held on March 28 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Aventura Sailing Association, 24707 Dana Drive, Dana Point, CA 92629. RSVP to Katherine Garcia, kjgarcia@cox.net.

Donations in Paul Garcia's memory can be made to the Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial, P.O. Box 17356, Seattle, WA 98107, or to Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County, P.O. Box 88337, Tukwila, WA 98138.