Seabird

Ashiya to Nagasaki - Part One

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It does not seem that we have gotten very far. If you check the “Live Tracking” button on the web page you will see that we are docked in Nagasaki, which means we traveled about 450 miles in 3 weeks. We still have about 1250 miles to go to get to Hong Kong.

Nagasaki, as it turns out, is the reason we have not moved on after over a week of sitting in the harbor. Originally, we talked about going to a folksy little Dutch village called “Huis Ten Bosch”, about 50 miles north or Nagasaki. The accommodations for the boats were questionable there so we kind of tossed a coin and ended up skipping Huis Ten Bosch and going directly to Nagasaki from our last port, an anchorage called Hirado. It turned out to be a GREAT decision. After we got here the dockmaster decided that, instead of two of us at the dock and two at the rough sea wall, he would allow all four of us to use the floating docks, complete with electricity! We took a side train trip to Huis Ten Bosch and, although it is an interesting place in a “touristy” kind of way, it cannot compare to Nagasaki.

Nagasaki is a wonderful, vibrant city and the marina is right in the heart of it. We have all agreed that it is, so far, our favorite location except for Ashiya, which we all agree is the overall favorite. It is filled with great restaurants, museums and monuments, the most touching being the Atom Bomb museum and the Peace Park. We visited Hiroshima, but it seems that Nagasaki was particularly hard hit because of the geography. Nagasaki is situated in kind of a “bowl”, surrounded by mountains on all sides, and in a fairly small area. When the bomb exploded, it nearly obliterated everything in the city to the size of small pebbles in many areas. In the picture below, note that at one time there was a city there.

ca. 1945 NARA

One of the advantages to not just “passing through”, as many tourists do, is that you get to meet and know the local people. As in all of Japan, the people you meet are warm and helpful. Two days ago we went into a shop to look at some clay dishware at a shop owned by a gentleman named Tagawa who was 10 years old when the bomb exploded near his home. He told us his parents were both killed but that he has many American friends. It was truly a lumpy throat kind of moment.

Desperate Housewife

It is difficult in Japan to find daily labor for mundane tasks like cleaning the boat at a “reasonable” cost. In Nagasaki, it seems, there is no help for these tasks at ANY PRICE, the evidence of which is in the above photo! Just to be fair, all three of us are equally “desperate” and do the same tasks ourselves [see below - Tina on Grey Pearl]. Having said that, it is far rarer to see the upper photo !! Kind of like finding a four leaf clover.

It looks like we will be leaving here on or about Wednesday, June 9^th and heading on an overnighter to a small island 250 miles south of here called Amami. It is only about 200 miles north of Okinawa and hopefully where the “balmy” weather begins.

Ashiya to Nagasaki – Part 1

Our two main stops between Ashiya and Nagasaki were Hiroshima and Fukuoka. A good part of the cruising was in the Seto Naikai, or the “inland sea”. If you take a look at the map above, you will see that it is nearly enclosed an all sides by land and for the most part, easy and smooth cruising. The difficult part of the trip is dodging the ship traffic. Here is a picture of a typical day in the Inland Sea as seen on my radar.

EVERYTHING that comes into Japan by boat that needs to go from West to East in Japan, it seems, must pass through the Inland Sea. When you add to that the considerable ferry boat traffic, it adds up to a situation not unlike the LA Freeway at rush hour!

Both Carol and I are familiar with the “Rules of the Road”. I have always assumed that it was the same everywhere. Recently, after a particularly hairy close call with a ferry boat, I asked a local friend who has the right of way here. “Steve san” , he said, “small boats have no right of way in Japan”. Was he EVER right! On the second day of our trip Seabird was last in line of our group and we noticed a 300 foot ferry coming up behind us to our starboard. At the time, we were passing through a narrow passage between two islands and, since he made no indication otherwise, we assumed he would pass us to the starboard and continue on through the pass. While he was next to us, with no warning whatsoever, he suddenly turned to his port at about 30 degrees, squeezing us between his vessel and the rocks to the port of us. I had nowhere to go so I slipped the transmission into neutral from full cruise, waited a LONG second and slammed it into reverse, quickly moving it to full throttle. My hope was that I would simply stop dead in the water and let him pass in front of me. Unfortunately, hydrodynamics were not on my side. As he started to cut us off, the ferry started to suck us into his path and Seabird spun around 90 degrees so that we were perpendicular to his port side and closing fast. Time flies when you are having fun, but I assure you that I was not. The whole incident probably happened in about 15 seconds but it seemed like minutes, culminating when his stern passed our bow with only about 10 feet to spare. Sorry I don’t have any photos of the incident……… but I was kinda busy. Not quite a “pee in the pants” moment, but close!

Travelling by boat in Japan is not without problems. In the US, you simply get into your boat and go wherever you want. In Japan, even with our “Domestic Boat” status, every stop we make is a major project involving the Coast Guard. They are extremely courteous and polite, but we are questioned and asked to fill out paperwork at every port. One night, at about 9pm, while at anchor in a sleepy little harbor (Kasado Shima), a bright spot light pierced our windows into the salon. Carol and I were watching a movie and were a bit startled by it. Japan is a relatively safe place so we were not anxious about opening the door to see who was out there. It turned out to be the Coast Guard and they requested to come aboard to inspect our paperwork. Language, unless you are fluent in Japanese, is ALWAYS a problem in situations like this, but, we smiled, they smiled, we all bowed many times and after they were satisfied with our paperwork and answers to their questions, they took copies of everything and were gone. Interestingly enough, they did not feel a need to board the other boats and they just passed them by and took a few photos.

Hiroshima

I won’t get into Hiroshima too much in this blog as we have visited there before and dedicated some text to it in a previous blog. We had a bit of a different perspective this time as we were docked at the local marina as opposed to staying in the hotel. We had a lot of fun there and the marina people could not have been more gracious. As in most of the other ports we have been into, perfect strangers came to the boat in groups and offered us gifts of food. I don’t recall that happening in Miami!

We ran into my Brother in Law and nephews while here as they were performing on stage. They were great as usual. One of the songs that they wrote and recorded is called “Voices Sweet” which is about finding their relatives in Japan. While in Hiroshima, we finally met them and had a great time at lunch. They do not speak much English but we have found communicating with the Japanese fairly easy and they appreciate any effort you make to use their language.

Birthday boy and girl

One good thing about traveling in this group of boats is that we are always looking for a reason to celebrate something. Fortunately for us, Hiroshima was no exception and we got to celebrate not one, but two birthdays! Mine came first and Sharry (from Starr) had hers shortly afterward. For mine, we had a group dinner at the restaurant near the Marina and for Sharry, we had one at one of the restaurants in the Mitsui Garden Hotel. For Sharry, we had the more “esoteric” type dinner of Shabu Shabu, which is where they put the boiling soup on the table and you dip the various items into it and cook it. I could say that I actually baked the cake for Sharry but it would be refuted by everyone that knows me! Mine was a pizza and Italian food place and Sharry actually did bake the cake for me!

My next update will be our trip from Hiroshima to Nagasaki and MORE on Nagasaki. Too much for one update!

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GSSR 2 - Departure from Ashiya

Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

GSSR 2 Underway!

This is just a very short blog entry to let everyone know that we have now left our winter port of Ashiya and have begun the journey that will lead us to Hong Kong.

This is a relatively tiny journey compared to last season's odyssey that took us from Seattle, Washington, up to Alaska, out to the furthermost of the Aleutian Islands, to Kamchatka, Siberia and on to Japan. This years trip will be at a more leisurely pace and with much warmer weather. We are currently located in Takamatsu, which is a fairly large port about 75 miles to the west of Ashiya. It was kind of an interesting and complex trip, as it turned out and not without some unwelcome danger along the way. I will get into that in a few days in my regular blog entry.

In the meantime, our "Live Tracking" feature on the home page is fully operational again, so if you are inclined to see where we are at any given moment, simply click on it and follow the instructions on the page.

Until my next entry....

Steven

April 2010 - Ashiya, Japan

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Weather has been downright crappy since we got back to Japan. I don’t know why, but we were expecting a bit of balmy weather and sunny skies. People here tell us that “normally”, March and April are fairly nice months with moderate temperatures and sunny skies. We have had ANYTHING but that until this weekend. We actually had snow and hail one day. All that changed this weekend for the annual “Cherry Blossom Festival”. The Cherry Blossom Festival is really a big deal here in Ashiya as well as the rest of Japan. Of course, the blossoms themselves are the main attraction, but people of all ages come out to stake their spots along the “blossom trails” as early as 4am! By mid afternoon you see thousands of people with their blankets having picnics, Japanese style, of course, musical groups and rows of food kiosks that sell everything from the stuff you love………. to the other stuff (yech!).

The real reason we returned to Japan so early was to oversee the installation of our transmission for the main engine, which had been our winter long project that we had been nudging along by phone and email since December. We had been dealing with two sources: Mill Log Marine in Kent, Washington and Mizuno Marine in Osaka, Japan. Mill Log had been rebuilding our PTO (Power Take Off) which drives the hydraulics from our transmission and Mizuno had been overhauling the transmission itself. In early January, we got word from Mill Log that our PTO overhaul was complete and they had shipped it to Jeff over at Pacific Yacht Management in Seattle, who was getting together a container full of stuff for all three boats which was to be shipped by freighter in January (a whole ‘nother story, filled with expense).

We arrived here on March 2^nd and after contacting Mizuno, we scheduled our transmission to be installed the following Monday. I actually enjoyed the process of watching the teamwork to install the transmission. I have put the photos in sequence to give you a sense of the project, but it is one of those adventures that “you had to be there”. I was truly AMAZED at how fast they got the transmission into the boat. They had the scaffolds built outside and inside the boat and the transmission was in place in about 3 hours.

I have come to admire the efficiency in which the Japanese mechanics operate. They go right to work and there is not a lot of wasted motion. Their politeness and desire to please the customer are typical Japanese.

The PTO arrived just in time to install the hydraulics on to the transmission. I cannot let this moment pass without thanking Mill Log Marine for such a job well done. They billed me very fairly for the work that they did and billed me nothing for all of the help they gave me over the phone and by email (hours of it!) to deal with the transmission that was being fixed in Japan. Without them, I could not have gotten the job done.

Everything seems to be operating well with the exception the exhaust temperature, which is still too high. It is running about 200 degrees over what the manufacturer says it should run. Right now we are checking the injectors to see if they are calibrated properly. The plot thickens on those too. I just found out that there are two separate sets of specifications for the injectors on my engine. I am in the process of finding out which one is correct. That said, on the high temp of the exhaust issue, 99.9% of boat owners do not even have exhaust temperature gauges!! Maybe I should just unplug it and the problem will go away!

We had the pleasure of hosting our Seattle based maintenance crew a few weeks ago. Jeff, the owner of Pacific Yacht Management of Seattle and his crew, Nick and Doug, can fix just about anything on a boat. I had a list of about 10 items needing repair, Braun had a few items and Ken had the lion’s share of stuff which needed to be attended to. We installed a new Perko 19” spotlight (see the photo below), a new battery charger, installed some new digital gages and power monitors, and diagnosed a nagging freezer problem (the condenser fan was operating backwards!) and quite a few other items that we had planned on. Jeff’s guys are great to have around and I was very impressed with their ability to solve problems quickly and move on to the next project. I highly recommend them to anyone in the Seattle area needing work done. It was not cheap to fly them over to here so you can bet that I appreciated the overall value they provided. Below is a picture of the crew getting ready to munch on one of our Japanese favorites...Okonomiyaki, prepared by chefs Yashushi and his wife, Taiko at their restaurant.

SMOKE in the ER

In the middle of one of the repairs, I smelled a familiar smoky smell. As soon as I smelled it, I knew what it was: the stop solenoid on the main engine. We had had the problem while traveling through the Aleutians last year, and I thought we had fixed it but evidently not correctly enough. The company that had done some work on my dashboard in the pilothouse had reconfigured the breakers so that the Fireboy system no longer operated from the start battery but from the house battery. Anytime you shut the 12v power on the boat, it shut down the Fireboy system and actuated the stop solenoid on the engine and kept it on until it fried. Anyway, we fixed the problem for good this time, but I will ALWAYS keep a spare on hand……..

On the lighter side of things, Carol’s birthday crept up on me after we arrived here. I wanted to do something special and I operate well under pressure so I waited until the last minute to do my thing. I commandeered my friend Paul and his lovely wife, Emiko to help plan a surprise dinner for Carol. Check out the photo of the birthday cake with "Happy Birthday" written in Japanese. I invited everyone that I knew here, which consisted of Jeff and his crew, Paul and Emiko and Olivier and his wife Yuri. Emiko arranged for a private room at a local “Italian” restaurant, Bellini, and away we went. Carol was very surprised and was thrilled to have all of our local friends together for a dinner, and the food was just spectacular. It is Italian, but with a Japanese flair. To top off the evening, the Maitre D sang a song in English to Carol. His voice was smooth and soothing and probably a little TOO smoothing for Jeff as he fell asleep at the table. Too bad I couldn't add the snoring sound to the photo!

Sumo Wrestling

A whole group of us went one night to Sumo wrestling. I really didn’t know what to expect other than what I have seen in small video clips of two huge guys banging into each other. I always thought that they were just fat, but was I ever wrong! I met a friend from New Zealand who knew a lot about these guys. They are bred from their teens to be Sumo Wrestlers and it is a centuries old sport which remains basically unchanged. Their training is very intense and they are solid muscle, covered by a layer of fat, which makes them look the way they do. There is a definite pecking order amongst them based on the individual records and skill level. Their diets consist of HUGE portions of a Japanese dish called Chanko-nabe. It is sort of a stew made up of chicken, Tofu and fish along with lots of vegetables- to the tune of 20,000 calories per day!! The young, inexperienced guys take care of the top guys. They have to help groom them, wait on them hand and foot, and for all their effort; they get the scraps of food that are left.

You would think that with all that high calorie food and by their appearance that they are lumbering oafs. That could not be further from the truth. They are extremely fast; hit each other with the intensity of a freight train and you can hear the impact of the collision way back in the nosebleed section that we were in.

To give credit to their more romantic side, my understanding is that these guys are very famous, make a ton of money , are highly regarded in Japan and get ALL the best women. I was told about one guy who weighed 500 lbs and married a 90 lb model!.........Yeah, I asked the same question and I did get a VERY interesting and candid answer based on fact but I cannot print it here…….. So anyway……….whew……..

Also on the romantic side, I don’t know if I mentioned it before, the Seabird is docked directly in front of a wedding chapel that hosts between 4 and 10 weddings per day. It looks like a cross between a HUGE mansion and a church and they churn out brides like you wouldn’t believe. The highlight of the wedding is when the marina sport fishing boat pulls up in back of our boat and the bride and groom walk up a portable staircase on to the bow of the boat for a short ride from our end of the marina to the other end.

The plan is for the three ….oops, now four boats (and maybe more) to leave Ashiya at the end of April. We are thrilled to have the fourth boat, Starr, a 75 foot Northern Marine, with our good friends Don and Sharry on board, to cruise with the GSSR group through the Inland Sea. Starr arrived a week ago after taking the southern route from Seattle to Hawaii to Japan.

Our plan is to stop in Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Okinawa and Taiwan before arriving in Hong Kong in late July.

Speaking of Taiwan, Ta Shing, the Taiwanese company that manufactures many of the boats for Nordhavn, including all of the GSSR fleet, sent two guys from the factory to visit us for a few days. We are considering having them do some improvements on our boats while we are there and they were kind enough to send Al and Mr. Tong up to Japan to see us! It was great having them here and we are looking forward to visiting their factory in Taiwan as well as getting some expert work done while we are there.

Finally, it is always nice to see friends from the US. Our friends Rick and Sandy stopped here for a few days on their way to Taiwan and Hong Kong. It was great to see them and we introduced them to the finest Sushi in Ashiya. They arrived just in time to see the Cherry Blossoms in bloom! While in Hong Kong, their flight got delayed on their trip to Germany from there because of the Icelandic volcano. They ended up coming back to Tokyo to spend a few more days before flying back to the US the other way. They love Japan as much as we do and Rick got a chance to practice his patented "secret" chop stick trick again for the sushi chefs!

Sorry for the loooong blog, but I tend to get distracted and forget to post them in a timely fashion. Our next update should be from Hiroshima.

Oh, one more thing... some people have asked to make the photos in the blog larger. All you have to do is click on the photo and it enlarges.

Steven

Winter 2009-2010

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This is my first update since just prior to Thanksgiving and the reason is that we had left Japan by air back to the US for ………vacation?? It has been a nice getaway for Carol and me. We spent time with our families, caught up with old friends and, of course, went to a boat show!! We put the boat "to bed" in Ashiya, Japan for the winter months. The temperature there is fairly moderate and rarely gets below freezing so we did not winterize the boat and left it in the water. We hired a person to continuously check all three of the boats periodically and report back to us on any issues. So far so good.

All of the time here in the US has been spent between California and Florida. Here in California, we have spent time with Carol’s father which has been just great. It is always fun to visit with him and we spent Christmas with him, Carols two sisters and three of my nephews. I was kind of in charge of their entertainment and we went on ATV’s in the desert and go-carting too. Supposedly, the intent was for me to be a positive influence on the boys but that ended when I got into a fierce battle on the go-cart track with some other drivers that ended with me being escorted off the track. My nephews thought it was kind of cool, but their mother was not amused. She inferred that I would never be trusted again….

We traveled to Florida to see my Mom and my sisters. We surprised my Mom with a 90^th birthday celebration. She still plays golf several times per week, drives her car, is as sharp as ever and fun to be with. We then traveled from Miami to Stuart to Vero Beach to Ponte Vedra to Naples to Vero Beach to Bonita Springs and finally ended up in Miami at the Boat show. I think we slept in 9 different beds in the three weeks we were there!

We are just now preparing to return to Japan and prepare our boat for the next segment along with our good friends, Ken and Roberta on Sans Souci and Braun and Tina aboard Grey Pearl.

If you read Ken’s blog you know that we have a ton (literally) of stuff being shipped to Japan. Pleasure boating in Japan is nowhere near as big as it is in the US, so spare parts and boat stuff in general are hard to come buy. Boat stuff for little ships like ours is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find. Braun has this friend who ships stuff overseas all the time and advised us to get a small (20 ft) container and load it on to a ship with all of our stuff inside. We all shipped hundreds of items to Seattle over the winter to load into the container which ranged from coffeemakers to anchors, gallons of oil and coolants, computer parts, ropes, screws, hose clamps and a PTO. What’s a PTO?? I will get to that in a minute. It requires its own story.

Thanksgiving

Just before we left Japan, we spent a lot of time thinking about how we should spend Thanksgiving. The biggest hurdle was the Turkey. I am not even sure there is a word for Turkey in Japanese and I had NEVER seen one in a store! One day Carol looked at me and said “COSTCO!!!!!!” Sure, why not? Anyway, we made the multi vehicle trek (bus, train and another bus) to Costco (in Japanese, they call it Cost-ee-co). ..Cute…. Well, sure enough, they had plenty and we invited some friends over for the feast.

Our good friend Olivier, who is a pastry chef by trade and a great overall chef, suggested we brine the turkey which involved soaking it in our wash down bucket in salty water for a day and then cooking it. We were a bit wary but it came out just fine. Olivier also made the dessert, which rates a picture of it'sown (see above)!

We also invited our friends Karin (from Bristol, CT) and Paul and his wife Emiko. Everyone brought something and it turned out to be a wonderful feast shared with great friends, which is what Thanksgiving is all about!

Mechanical issue

The extended downtime for boats is a great opportunity to get things fixed or refurbished and we wasted no time in fixing what has been a perplexing problem for the past year and a half. Boats are a bit like your children and after you have been around them long enough for extended periods, you can sense when things are not running right. Some of the symptoms were glaring while others were subtle. First, before we left from Seattle on the trip, I noticed that the engine, when started from cold, was running rougher than normal and we were spewing an inordinate amount of soot from the dry exhaust. Once warm, the engine would run fine (seemingly), but would not idle correctly when in gear. It was almost as if some big huge guy was down in the bilge with his hands around the shaft, trying to stop it from turning. We also had a substantial amount of vibration while at cruise speed.

While in Seattle, we had the boat hauled, the shaft and propeller removed and inspected. We also had the cutlass bearing removed and replaced as well as aligning the engine. We also had the injectors replaced, the fuel pump rebuilt, the compression checked etc etc. All of this had a minimal effect on the performance and I was being convinced by many that there was nothing wrong and that I expected too much from the drive train. They said it was running fine and it was the cold weather (or maybe my imagination?). Based on that, we left for Alaska.

I still felt, with all the work done, that the engine was running poorly. My exhaust was hotter than normal and the entire engine room was hotter also. Just as we were approaching Ashiya, Japan, I decided to check every item in the engine room with my laser heat gun. I found that the PTO, which is a device located on the aft side of the transmission and used to power the hydraulics, was running about 100 degrees above normal. When we got to Ashiya, I had local mechanics pull it off and we found a shot glass full of metal ground to the consistency of coffee grounds and big chunks inside!

We sent it back to Mill Log Marine in Kent, Washington and had it rebuilt. They commented to me that it would be smart to pull the transmission also, as the core issue may be inside there. Ok, now we have a BIG job…..but they were right to suggest it as it turns out.

We gave the job to Mizuno Marine and their excellent mechanics who took great care (see pics) to make sure that there would be no damage to the inside of the boat as they pulled the 700lb transmission out through our salon! We decided that as long as the transmission was out, we may as well do a complete job and are replacing all of the bearings, clutch plates, seals and oil pump. The worst thing that could happen is to get it all back together only to have to tear it apart again at some point.

Inside they found not only worn clutch plates, but a bearing had spun in the housing. I contacted an old friend of mine at Sikorsky Aircraft who works in engineering and he suggested how we should repair it by boring the housing oversize and inserting a sleeve.

The biggest problem now is that the PTO is on a ship not due to enter Japan until the middle of March. With a little luck, we should have everything back together shortly (hopefully before we arrive!!).

Upcoming Trip

All of us are getting a bit anxious and excited about the next part of the trip to the Inland Sea, Okinawa, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The trip to Taiwan should be especially exciting as that is where the three boats were built, by Ta Shing. No Nordhavn has ever returned to the factory and my understanding is that they are very excited to see us. Jeff Merrill, who works for Nordhavn, plans on catching up with us in Japan and travelling with us to Taiwan.

So……..Here is our approximate path for the coming cruising season starting in April and ending in July. The total length is about 1600 Nautical Miles.Click on it to Enlarge>

Until next time….

Steven Argosy

MV Seabird

Ashiya, Japan update

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We are only 4 days away from Thanksgiving Day (depending on whose time zone you use) and I just realized that we have been living in one place (Ashiya, Japan) for almost three months! We have seen and learned so much here that it is difficult to put it into a blog entry short enough to hold anyone’s interest long enough to finish it.

One of my primary goals in living here was to try to learn the Japanese language, which has proved to be a daunting task. It is almost impossible to live here and function without knowing at least the basic words and phrases as most do not speak much English at all. Compounding the difficulty is the written language, which consists of three different alphabets of letters and symbols which, to the untrained eye, mean nothing. Most of the packaging in stores is written in Japanese and Carol and I have no idea what the contents could be! Sometimes we just guess and that gets very interesting at the dinner table!!

We have been making progress on the spoken language. It is different than western languages as the literal translations, because of the culture here, are VERY different. For instance, when you meet someone and they introduce themselves to you, a common response from you would be “Yoroshiku Onegai Shimas” which is a SORT of “nice to meet you”. However, if you were to look up the real meaning, what you have just said is “I beg you for your kindness”!! To simply translate the words “nice to meet you” into Japanese would get you a quizzical look and a polite smile and they would have no idea what you meant!

In October, we traveled to Beijing to meet our Visa requirements to leave Japan temporarily after 90 days. We found China interesting, visiting the various temples, shrines and of course, the Silk Market along with the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Upon returning to Japan, we caught a train to Hiroshima to meet up with my Sister Carla, her husband Lloyd and my two nephews, Alex and Nick, who live in Hawaii. They have a band (Manoa DNA) based in Hawaii and are extremely popular here in Japan. They travel here once per month to play and I am amazed at how popular Hawaiian music and hula are here. Check them out on their website www.manoadna.com . Alex wrote an original song (Voices Sweet)about tracing their ancestry to Hiroshima and finally meeting them. The song had many in the crowd close to tears.

Hiroshima itself is a must see in Japan. You might be surprised when visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, near where the A Bomb was detonated in World War II. They are very candid with the historical facts, who was to blame and so on. The big theme there is to work to end the proliferation of the weapons. It was a moving experience to have visited there.

One of the most fun places we visited while in Hiroshima was the island of Miyajima. It is one of the many islands in Inland Sea and reminds me a lot of visiting small island towns in the US. The first thing that startled me was the population of small deer. They are not in the woods, but actually hanging around town amongst the people. In Miyajima, they are kind of like dogs. The wander about town, looking to snag something out of your pocket and do not mind being petted.

We took a tram up to the top of the mountain where these monkeys with BRIGHT RED skin are scurrying about. They are nowhere near as domesticated as deer and really hate it when you stare at them.

WHAT THE HECK IS OKONOMIYAKI??

One of the many people we met here were the owners of a small restaurant in Ashiya that serves Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a popular griddle fried food that consists of batter, egg and cabbage. Selected toppings and ingredients are added which can vary greatly (anything from meat and seafood to wasabi and cheese). Okonomiyaki is sometimes translated into English as "As-you-like-it Pancake". However, this may be misleading. Though it does consist of batter cooked on a griddle, okonomiyaki has nothing of the sweetness of fluffiness of pancakes, not to mention that it is usually filled with octopus, shrimp, pork, yam or kimchi. At the table, there is a hot griddle in the middle where the food continues to cook and keeps it warm. You kind of just take your chop sticks and grab some for your plate. It really is a lot of fun

What also makes this restaurant fun is that aside from the food being great, the owners are so much fun. Everyone who visits us here is treated to dinner at their restaurant.

THE MAGNIFICENT SHINKANSEN

Traffic in Japan is much as you would think. It is an Island not much bigger than the state of California and has a population of 127,000,000 people. Please note also that a good chunk of the country is mountains and people do not live there, the concentrations being around the cities. Travel by car is expensive with tolls and congested. Japan has created an infrastructure of trains to ease the problem. The local trains go just about everywhere, are VERY safe and incredibly clean. It is not uncommon to see 8 yr old children riding the train by themselves or with friends.

For longer distances, people use the Shinkansen (Bullet Train).

There are hundreds of these sleek, speedy trains about Japan and are used by people traveling hundreds of miles instead of using aircraft. The inside is like a business class airline seat, whisper quiet and the train travels at nearly 200 mph! You can make reservations if you like or simply show up to buy a ticket at the train station, hop aboard and go! Even more impressive, the Shinkansen has an on-time record of being within 6 SECONDS of the scheduled arrival time in over 10,000 trips. The pricing is not cheap and in many instances is equivalent to airfare, but with none of the hassle of security lines and getting to and from the gate.

For our real local travel to stores and such, we purchased 2 bicycles. For these, Carol and I went the cheap route purchasing single speed bikes referred to here as “Mama Chaddies”. I have been afraid to ask what it means, but I suspect it is refers to the fact that mothers are commonly seen riding these around town with a couple of kids in tow and groceries hanging off the sides. I would hesitate to call these bikes macho by ANY stretch of the word, but I am only here for six months and can take the hit.

As I mentioned before, we have had a few visitors from the US. It seems like (and is) a long trip but the intrigue of Japan seems to lure people here and I don’t blame them! In October we had Carol’s brother Tom and our friend Holly come to visit. Neither had been to Japan before and we had a busy couple of weeks visiting various towns with temples, shrines and restaurants. Carol and I just love the food here. Holly was a sport and tried just about everything. Tom, I believe, may not ever acquire a taste for Japanese food and would end up very skinny if he lived here. We had lots of fun but I wished the weather had been better for the time they were here.

Just last week we had our friends from Seattle, Don and Sharry come to stay with us. They are seasoned cruisers and recently took their boat, Starr, from Seattle to Honolulu. They are planning to visit here next year and absolutely loved the country of Japan. They adapted very well to the culture and have long been Japanese food lovers. It was great to see them.

A few weeks ago we were invited to visit Nagoya by two people we met here in Ashiya who were interested in our boats and our trip. We hopped on to the Shinkansen and were greeted by our host, Nori and his father. They own two Grand Banks trawlers and had just come from Seattle where they met with Nordhavn representatives. I think some day they may buy one. In any case, they were very gracious hosts, inviting us to their home for lunch and dinner, introducing us to their families and giving us a tour of their businesses and their town. They have shown interest in cruising their boats with us in the springtime as we have nterest in visiting South Korea, where they are citizens.

Lastly, and most important, the marina staff and the boat owners here have made us feel so at home. If there is anything we need for the boats, the management is quick to act and very accommodating. We have also met quite a few of the boat owners and they have graciously invited us to barbeques and yacht club events. Much of this was at the boating seasons end so we hope to reciprocate in the springtime.

Oh, one more thing: The Japanese children are about the cutest you have ever seen. This is just one of the photos we have taken.

Happy Thanksgiving to all from Japan!!

Steven and Carol

Yokohama to Ashiya

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We just survived Typhoon number 2 while in Japan last night. Ken and Roberta on Sans Souci and Braun and Tina on Grey Pearl have long gone back to the US, storing their boats here for the winter months.

You usually get three or four days of warning before the Typhoons hit you here and there are many good websites that show the storms, their projected tracks and the intensity. They all are a bit different but if you look at them all, you get a pretty good idea if you are in trouble or not. This one started heading toward us with 195 mph winds and the projected track was about 100 miles to the east of Ashiya but a day or two before its arrival the track had shifted about 40 miles to the east and became a concern as the Typhoon winds were projected out from the center at 90 miles. Time to batten down the hatches…..We have been through the drill many times over the years and knew what to do. More lines, more fenders, tidy things up and stow any loose items on the decks that could (and will be) blown around by the winds. We were in constant contact with Braun, Tina, Ken and Roberta and offered to secure their boats too. We did these two days before the arrival of the storm so we were ready. These types of storms tend to take FOREVER to get here and time starts to slow down to a crawl as it approaches………..agonizingly slow! About 8pm on Wednesday it started to get breezy and several hours before that the rain started to come down fairly hard. We had Carol’s brother Tom visiting us and a friend from the US, Holly also. We all went to town (Ashiya) that afternoon to pass the time away and got back just as the rain started. About 11pm it really started to blow and the boats were really moving around and by 3am, we were starting to rock and roll!! I never got out of bed as it didn’t seem too severe, but Carol got up to look around and saw that Grey Pearl was REALLY moving about and the rain was horizontal. The highest wind we saw was only 57kts which was a relief! By morning everything started to calm down and we saw that there was no damage to any of the boats, just a bunch of debris which had blown onto the boats from shore. I would say that the choice of this marina was a good one!!

Getting back to Ashiya, our home for the winter months and which marks the official end of the Great Siberian Sushi Run……Our trip to get here from Yokohama……...

We had some weather concerns and there are really not a lot of places to stop along the coast of Japan. There are a lot of commercial ports that allow you to dock, but since they are used to large ships, the fees are extraordinary. For instance, one stop that I mentioned in a previous blog cost each boat $600 for one night!!! We have learned from that experience that it is nice to know people…. Our friend Kohta, who we met while in Yokohama, arranged for us to dock at a small float in Shimoda, a fishing port about 70 miles from Yokohama. The price was right (free!) and the owner of the marina and his wife were wonderful hosts. We were once again taken out to a local Japanese restaurant and treated to a traditional dinner. I think that my days of sitting cross-legged under a 1 foot high table are in the past. Getting down was not the issue…..getting up after dinner was!! We did, by the way, end up voluntarily paying a minimal fee for the slip as we felt it was right to offer that. We also gave gifts to our dinner host and the owner of the dock. I guess it is a Japanese tradition to make sure gifts were wrapped and I did not do this. They were accepted graciously but Carol reminded me of my faux pas.

The next stop was Omaezaki, which is a small fishing port. In the past, we would have paid $600 to tie up for the night and had to have a local agent do all of our paperwork, but now we knew better. Our friend in Shimoda called his friends at the fishing dock here and arranged for us to stay for free! It was a beautiful trip with flat calm seas arriving only to find that none of us knew the name of the fisherman that we were supposed to contact. We then walked from building to building trying to find someone to help, only to fall into the trap of the local authorities (We had a hard time reading the sign on the outside of the building). They spoke as much English as we spoke Japanese, but somehow, between Ken, Braun and me, we got the message across that we wanted to stay for a night at the pier. They got across to us that they could only offer that if we were running from a Typhoon or had a mechanical breakdown, the latter being REALLY stretching the truth. There WAS actually a Typhoon nearby and with a wink and a nod, including the authorities; they allowed us to stay for free.

First thing the next morning we headed for our next port, Hamajima, where there were no available docks and questionable anchorage. We inquired with our agent, Furuno San, who called the Coast Guard, who then recommended an anchorage in a small indentation on the coast. Looking at it on the chart and with Google Earth, it looked to us like there was no protection from the waves, but we decided that we would look at it upon arrival. When we got there, the anchorage recommended looked more like a straight piece of coastline and there was no way we were going to anchor there. Inside the harbor, near the small boat pier, there was an interesting looking anchorage and we decided to give it a try. Sure enough, there was just enough for the three of us and VERY good holding for the anchors. Not soon after we anchored, the Coast Guard zipped out to Ken’s boat to let him know that a Typhoon was coming and we should leave. We deliberated back and forth and decided to leave at first light, chased by yet another Typhoon.

Furuno San recommended a small port called Katsurra, a picturesque harbor that was well protected, although a little hairy getting into. Because of the impending bad weather and the beauty of the town, we ended up staying for several days. I will post a picture here, but pictures are such a small part of the enchantment of Japan and do not do it justice. It’s really about the people and their kindness, friendliness and humility. Language is an issue, but between the smiles, the bows and the “Konichi Wa’s”, we understand each other just fine.

After leaving Katsurra, we made another call to Furuno San, who was able to set us up with slips at a marina called Suntopia, in a small town about 40 miles from Ashiya. We deliberated a bit about continuing on and getting to Ashiya late in the day but….

We were concerned about not making in before dark to Ashiya
It was our final GSSR destination and we wanted a short, fun ride, getting there early in the day

Going into strange ports used to really bug me because of the unknown, but we have been doing just that for the past 5 years and although we still need to be careful, it does not bother us as much anymore. This one was a little hairy though, to say the least. The chart did not match the actual harbor in any way and there were buoys missing. Adding to that, the sun was just setting and was aiming directly in your face where we were supposed to enter the harbor. Kens charts were actually worse than mine so I volunteered to be the Sacrificial Nordhavn. In all fairness to Ken, he has the record for holding that position on the GSSR! Okay….since I could not see very well but it was getting dark and the visibility was getting worse, I pushed the boat into forward and headed for what I expected to be the opening (and I was right!). Not much excitement after that except for a couple of naked people hopping out of the hot tub at the entrance. We docked, had a great night’s sleep and looked with anticipation on our impending arrival the next day in Ashiya.

We left Suntopia Marina at about 10am on an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, calm day. The trip took about 4 hours and we arrived at the marina early in the afternoon. We were greeted by a small boat and guided into the harbor to the main dock, where we were to tie up and get slip assignments. The marina was filled with a scattering of smaller sail and power boats but NOTHING like our fleet. I got the impression that they really did not understand our needs as far as electricity and space as we bantered back and forth through Furuno San, our agent and interpreter. We settled upon a Guest Dock on the far side of the marina, which you can see if you look at the Our Location icon on the website. We docked directly in front of a wedding facility, which is huge and does nothing but host 2 to 3 weddings per day. We had not been docked for one hour before we realized that there was inadequate electricity for the three of us at the dock. There was plenty of dock space and lots of electrical posts, but they were made for the boats at the marina, not us. Sans Souci ended up moving to another dock and that ended the problem, which was ok, but we really were hoping to be docked nearby each other. Hopefully by next springtime they will have hooked up the unused leg of power for the dock.

I must say that the staff here at Bellport Marina has been just great to work with and they have done everything they could to make our stay comfortable. We picked the right place!!

This marks the end of the Great Siberian Sushi Run but not the GSSR. Yep, the “Wrong Way Gang” actually made it! The trip was a total of 5938 nautical miles. It was a challenging trip at times but I can say from all of us, it was a blast. The most amazing thing was how well we all got along. I cannot recall a single major disagreement between the three couples and we all remain good friends. We are already formulating our plans for next year as a group. There will be no more cruising until April of 2010 but I will be posting a few blogs with our goings on here in Japan and our plans for next year.

Thanks for all of your support throughout the trip. The hundreds of emails were appreciated and we looked forward to them every day.

Yokohama Bayside Marina

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Yokohama was really a terrific place and we had mixed emotions about leaving there. Our last few days there were spent dithering about securing lines and fenders preparing for the impending Typhoon that was supposed to hit. The Marina had come and politely asked us to move to a more secure location within the marina complex. We quickly agreed and moved our boat to the other side of the marina.

The track that was projected was to hit anywhere from direct to 30 miles to the east of us. Not having been there long, it was difficult to gage how the marina would fare. If we were still in our home port of Mystic, we would have been better able to gage the impact as we had been there for 45 years (I was a kid when we started going there). We were not too nervous as it seemed to us that we were fairly well protected in the marina. Since the storm turned out to be kind of a dud, I won’t spend much time talking about it. 30 kts max and a bunch of rain. The picture above was in the “height” of the storm. Not too impressive, huh?

Before that, Carol and I traveled to Tokyo for a few days with Braun and Tina on Grey Pearl. When we first arrived here we had talked about renting a car but after being here, there was no question that the train was the best way to get around. The train system in Japan is TRULY AMAZING. First of all, they are spotless. Second, they are on time and when I say that, I mean like…almost to the second! They are quiet, comfortable and go just about any place you want within Japan. One thing I saw that really amazed me was the amount of small children that rode the trains by themselves. It is not uncommon to see 10 or 11 year old children in a small group riding by themselves. The reason for that is neither they nor their parents has any fear for their children’s safety. It almost seems that criminals of any sort do not exist in Japan. Actually, I am not THAT naïve. I am sure that they do exist somewhere, but it is neither common nor evident in the streets of the towns or cities. I am not sure why this is so, but I suspect it is because of the culture here. When you commit some wrongdoing, you bring shame upon the entire family, not just on yourself and to do that to your family is almost unforgiveable. Anyway, you do feel very safe here.

Another thing that I noticed was the absence of trash containers within Tokyo (and every town in Japan that we visited). At first I found it annoying until I noticed something else……the absence of the trash itself….. anywhere in the streets. In Japan, you are expected to take your trash home with you. Can you imagine what LA or New York City would look like after one day if they implemented that in the US?

The people we met in Japan, as a whole, on the streets and socially are humble, polite, warm and very helpful as well as interested in you. Just as we were getting used to it, we visited the Tokyo Fish Market.............and then.....

.........All of those things I had come to appreciate disappeared in an instant. The market has to be seen to be believed. We arrived there at 5:30 am just as the mayhem commenced. Or maybe I should call it Organized Chaos. There are hundreds if not thousands of sellers and buyers scrambling around inside this HUGE building hauling, cutting, buying and selling every kind of fish that you can imagine. The prices were also amazing. I am told that a single Giant Tuna goes for as much as $35,000 or more. People were rushing around everywhere and if you were in their way, the screamed something at you in Japanese, which I could not understand but I am confident that it was not “excuse me sir, may I pass you by?” I am sure it was more like, “outa my way idiot!!” or the Japanese equivalent of that. Conspicuously missing from this huge area filled with fish guts and blood were bugs. I did not see a single fly in this multi acre area, which to me is amazing. No bugs and not much fish smell either. They also had these tiny little trucks (see below) that barreled around the narrow aisles and through the intersections. The only way I can describe it is to have you imagine New York City at rush hour with all of the traffic lights out and no one stopping. They weaved in and out of lanes and incredibly enough, there were no collisions. However, they do not stop for pedestrians – you just have to jump out of the way ……and quickly!

We also discovered while there that the beef is quite different than in the US. It is heavily marbled with very fine lines of fat throughout the meat. It is almost mushy. Ok --here is a test. Guess which is the correct answer as to WHY the beef is like this ( the correct answer is at the bottom of this blog entry).

A) The cattle are kept in tiny restrictive bins for their whole life

B) The Cattle are fed Beer

C) The cattle have a masseuse that massages them for their whole life

Ok, I will not make you wait until the end……the answer is: ALL OF THE ABOVE! It must be nice to be a cow here as long as you don’t know what the end will bring. I never asked if they got a TV to watch or an Ipod to listen to.

We had dinner with a few wonderful people from our past while here. Ashida San, who is a friend of Carol’s father from many years ago, picked us up at the hotel and brought us to a restaurant called Ginza Ten Ichi. It was a small tempura bar that even if you could find it, you would not get in as you have to know somebody. The food was just incredible and it was terrific to see Ike and his wife. Ike is 83 years old and still works every day in his business. His car? ……a 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham (the big one) that he has driven since new. I did not see it but I can just picture it careening around Tokyo and the looks on the faces of the drivers of these little cars as it barrels toward them.

Doi San is a good friend that I met because he is a consultant to the manufacturing industry. He came to my business several years ago to teach us efficient manufacturing methods. It is one of the reasons that I was able to retire when I did. He has this incredible little Nissan sports(see below) car (Nissan Skyline GTR) which he picked us up in and was not shy about putting it through the paces on the narrow roads! Doi San and his wife Yoshi took us to a magnificent traditional Japanese restaurant in Yokohama that you would never, ever find on your own. It was great to see him again.

Toward the end of our stay in Yokohama, we were asked if we would be able to attend a reception in one of the rooms at the marina. I did not realize until we arrived that it was in our honor!! We met lots of local boat owners and members of the yacht club. I still have a hard time grasping the graciousness of the people here and how genuine it is.

On the same day (we did have a few scheduling issues) Carol and I were invited to a barbeque at the home of some friends of my sister Carla, who live in Yokohama. Shiho, the daughter of Carla’s friends, traveled by train to pick us and bring us back to the barbeque. It was a great night filled with wonderful food and music (live, I might add). Shiho and her father are both excellent musicians.

One of the people we met at the reception at the marina was Kohta, who is a local businessman here in Yokohama. He is an avid boater and just took delivery of a brand new 62 ft raised pilothouse cruiser. He is a big Nordhavn fan and we met because he had admired Ken’s boat from afar and someday wanted one for himself. Kohta is an owner of many businesses, including a restaurant in Yokohama called Tycoon. He invited the six of us to be his guests for dinner there and when we got there we were a bit taken back by the décor. It was a replica of a restaurant he had visited in Ft Lauderdale (an outdoor one), all inside a former warehouse with 40 foot ceilings. He even had the swinging tables that he duplicated from what he recalled while in Ft Lauderdale. The food was great but once again, the hospitality was the high point of the evening. We have not been able to reciprocate the generosity here. The standard response we receive when we offer is “no, not here, you have no chance…you are in my country and you are my guests”

Kohta was of great help after we left the marina for Ashiya. He made calls to friends who he knew who had docks and offered us free space or almost free all the way down the coast.

The group of us (Seabird, Grey Pearl and Sans Souci) decided that before we left it would be a nice thing to have an open house on our three boats to thank those who were so kind to us during our stay at the Marina. Everyone here is so appreciative of the littlest things you do for them that we thought they would be absolutely thrilled to be invited to our boats. We were not wrong. After many many “Argato Gazymus’s” and endless bows, we were satisfied that our new friends were just thrilled and thankful to have been invited.

Yokohama was supposed to be a short stopover for us, but I think I speak for all three boats when I say that we would not have been disappointed if we had made the decision to stay for the winter. Many thanks to the Yokohama Bayside Marina management and staff for making our stay so memorable. It was, however, time to go and we had a small window between Typhoons to move out and head towards our winter home, Ashiya, a small bedroom town located between Osaka and Kobe.

Next…..our trip to Ashiya, our home for the next 6 months and the final destination of the GSSR.

Hokkaido to Yokohama

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In the end, we spent 6 days in Hokkaido, just as we had planned. Although we enjoyed being there and the people were wonderful, I look back at it as a bit of a letdown after all of the anticipation. As I said, the people could not have been nicer and more gracious. Our local agent, Shiba San, did everything he could to make our stay enjoyable and visited every day to make sure that we had everything we needed. It was just not what we had expected . First of all, to get any place in town, it was a $40 cab ride each way. There was simply nothing around the marina that was within walking distance. We had planned on taking a side trip by train to Sapporo, but Carol had broken her foot and had to take it easy. In addition to that, we had lots of work to do on the boat after being at sea for 5 days. We had lots of cleaning and minor repairs to make before leaving on our next leg. Some of the others went to Sapporo and had a great time and hopefully we can visit there sometime soon. Grey Pearl had it first departure of crew, Kel. We are all sorry to see him depart.

As I mentioned above, Carol had a miss-step and broke her foot while in Russia. We were fairly confident that it was broken but decided to verify it after we got to Japan.

While in Hokkaido, we had our wonderful Japanese agent, Shiba San, take us to the local hospital/clinic. It sure is different than in the US! First of all, there are two waiting rooms. One that you just go in, sign up (by the way, the form is so small that I know that there could not have been all of the disclosures and liability limitations as in the US) and wait to be brought into the next “waiting room, which was about 15 minutes. Here, you have to remove your shoes (even me) and put on these slippers that you pick from the shelf. The largest size is about a man’s size 5 slipper and I take a 10 and a half. I am glad that there were no cameras to catch that moment! Anyway, Carol was taken in and examined in about 10 minutes, then had x rays done which confirmed the break. Since it was not broken all the way through (third metatarsal), they recommended no cast and just to be careful for about a month. We asked if we could have copies of the x rays and they agreed, but told us there would be an additional charge on top of the other fees, which up until this point were undisclosed. We held our breath waiting for the bill. After all, Japan is an expensive place to be. The total bill came to 8500 Yen, which is approximately $85 in US dollars. I would hate to see what that would have cost us at home!!

In preparation for leaving to our next stop, we were delving into the various weather reports that were available to us. There was a Typhoon well to the south that was supposed to move out to sea and it looked like it was actually going to, which was great news to us! We had decided to leave the following morning after our discussions but Braun became concerned as he thought he saw something in the latest report that indicated a bit of bad weather. We quickly arranged another meeting of the owners and as quick as that new weather system had appeared, it had disappeared again leaving a great opening for departure. We left at 3am the following morning in the dark, as we had a fairly long one day passage and we wanted to arrive at our next stop, Hachinohe, during the daylight hours. The sun rose around 4 am and stayed out the whole day. The trip was simply magnificent. It was flat calm and as we headed further south, the temperature of the water was increasing also. Before leaving, we said goodbye to our guests Wayne and Carol. Below is a picture of Grey Pearl in the flat calm seas we encountered after leaving Hokkaido...My kind of day!!

We arrived in Hachinohe at about 5pm, two hours before sunset. Hachinohe is an industrial port and we were not expecting a 5 star dock by any means, but man, talk about a dumpy location (literally!!).

We docked against a very rough concrete pier and the last boat there had been either loading or unloading piles of manure or the creatures that make it!! There were piles of it next to the boat and did it ever stink! I only got off the boat to see what time we were leaving the next morning and Carol did not get off at all!! To add insult to injury, the cost of this dock for one night was about $600 PER BOAT!!! We also said a sad goodbye to Wayne and Pat Davis who left Grey Pearl there to head back to the US.

AHHH….Finally!!!

We left Hachinohe with about the same feeling of disappointment as we felt in Hokkaido, but maybe even one step worse. Is this the place we spent all those months planning for and endure the cold of the Aleutian Islands for ?? ALL of those feelings were simply erased in an instant upon our arrival to our next port, Onahama. The trip from Hachinohe was another spectacular, smooth trip and the outside temperature rose to about 80 degrees. It was almost like cruising again in the BVI or Central America. We did have one period of about 5 hours over a two day period that was rough, so we contacted our agent, Furuno San, in Tokyo and asked him if there was another place we could stop along the way. We asked about Onahama and he told us that it would be the same situation as Hachinohe. Not wanting to pay another $600 to tie to a rough pier, we kept after him until he finally agreed that there actually WAS a marina that we could go to and he could arrange it for $100 per night, which sounded like a bargain to us!! We figured it must be a real dump but at least it was not a shipping pier. As soon as we made the arrangements, the seas calmed down. It was very strange. It was not predicted, but the winds had picked up to about 20 knots, right on the nose and made it a little sloppy but it disappeared as fast as it arrived. The marina and facility at Onahama was just breathtaking!

All of a sudden, we feel like we had really arrived in the Japan that we were hoping for. The water was 82 degrees, the air temp about the same and the water was as clear as the Caribbean. The Marina facility itself was first class with a cute little restaurant. There were lots of local people on the beach having picnics under their tents and swimming in the crystal clear water.

We left reluctantly the following morning and headed to Yokohama, an overnight passage. One of the difficult things about cruising coastal Japan at night is the occurrence of crab pots and Long Line fishing buoys. They are simply everywhere! We were fortunate to have another calm trip and could see most of them with the radar, but we did actually hit one. It was difficult to see and it was too late when I noticed it. Fortunately, we have weed cutters on the prop shaft and we simply chopped it up! We felt great anticipation as the sun rose and we closed in on Tokyo Bay. This was a real milestone for us for some reason. I guess it meant that we had REALLY arrived. Yokohama is a big city and we were all looking forward to a dose of civilization, but really did not know what to expect as far as a marine facility. Well, talk about a pleasant surprise. The climate here is just tropical in the summer and the marine facility is really gorgeous. It has about 1400 slips and they are filled with all kinds and sizes of boats. We saw numerous Hatteras, Viking, Bertram and many other familiar American brands of yachts. I would say that the average size is a bit smaller than in the US, but there were quite a few boats in the 50-60 foot range. Once again, we were greeted so warmly by the people at the marina. As soon as we tied up, they asked if they could meet with us to explain the facility to us. Our slips are surrounded by a huge shopping complex with kind of a New England flair. Tons of restaurants and shops to visit. Carol is VERY happy here (and so am I).

We had arrived at a unique time at this facility. There was a special celebration that we were invited to that evening. It was called “the burning of the ropes”. My understanding (I hope I get this right) is that the ropes on the old fishing boats were of an “honored” status and when they get old and need to be replaced, they have a ceremony, thanking the ropes for their service and then burning them.

It is quite a celebration with drums and dancing, followed by a fireworks display. The management at the marina were kind enough to give our group the only “reserved” table at the celebration, which included about 500 people. To our surprise, we were introduced and asked to get up in front of all of the people to make a speech!! I was really shocked. I had nothing prepared but figured, hey, what the heck? I figured that out of the 500 people there, only about 10 understood what I was saying! Braun Jones, who attended high school here and spoke the language), said a few words in Japanese and I think it was appreciated. I know I was impressed!

Ken and Roberta were off to Tokyo to visit with their son, Chris, who lived in Japan and attended college here. He was here for a few days while we were in Onahama and Hokkaido. He was great to have around as he is fluent in both speaking and reading Japanese. It was VERY helpful at dinner as we had no idea what we were ordering, which is dangerous. I noticed on the other side of the table they were cooking a whole squid (not even cleaned) and a whole fish whose eyes, as it was cooked, seemed to bulge almost to the point of popping. That was right in front of Ken, who is a confirmed steak only eater and was kind of spooked by the whole performance.

Sooooo…..we are REALLY enjoying it here in Yokohama. We plan on being here for about 3 weeks and during that time, if we can find a room for less than $750 per night, visit Tokyo, which is about an hour from here by train.

Until Later….

Kamchatka

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We are well on our way to Japan by the time you read this. We have been out for three nights and have two to go. I expect we will arrive in Hokkaido by late Monday or early Tuesday.

Russia was actually fun for us. Completely the opposite of what we had heard to expect also. We heard that the town was infested with criminals, dirty and dreary (well, it IS a bit dreary). The people we met were friendly and genuine, always willing to go out of their way to help. The whole deal was frightfully expensive considering we only stayed for 5 days and I am sure we could have booked a 5 star hotel in any city in the US for a fraction of what we paid to dock in Kamchatka. The accommodation for yachts is VERY rough.

We went out to dinner most nights and actually found some decent restaurants. One was a Sushi restaurant. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The other was a place called the Korea House. Carol and I went there with Ken and Roberta and I would have to say that the food was about the best we have had on this whole trip so far. It was not cheap though. You could compare the prices to good US restaurants but the food is also equal or better. Braun, Tina and the Grey Pearl group came in just as we were finishing. They were told that they had no room for them at any time that evening. We had to resort to the old trick of losing our people one at a time at our table and replacing them with one of theirs!! Eventually there were six at the table where at one time there were only four, so they figured it out, but after a bit of begging and good tipping, they relented and let them stay.

COME IN TO MY PARLOR, SAID THE SPIDER TO THE FLY
We were supposed to have round the clock security next to our boats, which we paid for in advance, but unless they were garbed in stealth, I could not say that we had any guards at all. What we did have were two barking (large) dogs, kind of mangy and growly. One of them we made friends with quickly after I fed him biscuits and after that, he welcomed us with whimpering and wagging tail. The other dog, we were warned to stay away from and I had no problem with that as he bared his teeth every time you got close. Both dogs were on leashes and runners so movement was limited. One night we decided to feed the nice dog. I, of course, had these old biscuits from a few years ago and our friends had these gourmet dog treats that I was even tempted to eat. So we each fed the nice dog.

Soon, the other dog, (the mean one, which you can kind of see in the background) noticed that his buddy was getting all of the treats and decided to change his tune and became a tail wagging whimperer too. One of our group, feeling sorry for him, walked over and started tossing him the treats. His whole personality changed and he started inviting her to come a little closer, keeping his fangs well hidden under a kind of phony looking smile. When she came closer and started feeding him from her hand, he lunged out attacking her arms, snarling and biting. We heard the scream as she came around the corner with blood pouring from her arms. Most of the damage was superficial but there was a large, deep fang puncture that would not stop bleeding. We got her onto the boat and after a bit of work, we controlled the bleeding. We immediately called a US doctor in who said that she needed to clean the wound well (we already had), apply an antiseptic and get her on antibiotics right away. Between the three boats, we have enough medical supplies to take care of a small platoon and we of course had about 10 different antibiotics to choose from. The doc prescribed the strongest of the lot and saved us a trip to the hospital. She was in pain for a few days but is feeling fine now.

A Few Observations:

I have to say that the Russians (at least in Petropavlovsk) know how to hold their liquor. At night, it is very common to see many people walking down the street with various forms of liquor and doing a little bit of staggering.

I will say that the standard of living for Russians has improved DRASTICALLY in the last 25 years. The town is crowded with private automobiles. Conspicuously missing were Russian made vehicles. 95% of the cars we saw were Japanese. I saw a few Mercedes and BMW’s but they were an exception as were American cars. Before I forget, I imagine some of the guys reading this would want to know about the Russian women. Well, forget the old stereotype of the heavy woman with the baggy dress and the babushkas on their heads. Well, you did see a few of them, but for the most part, they are very attractive, slim and stylish. The new generation of Russians, both male and female, are very attuned to what the latest styles and fashions are in the West. Internet is readily available and they are not living in a cocoon any longer.

Carol and I went to the Open Market one day and I was really surprised at the great fruit and veggies that they had. Prices were reasonable and the quality was quite good. They had clothing, games, meat and fish also.

FUELING FOR DEPARTURE

One of the reasons we went to Russia was we were concerned about going all the way to Japan without fueling. Our agent, Sergey, had arranged for us to fuel up and to our surprise, they brought the truck right to the dock! I think the price worked out to $3.35 per gallon which is less than we were expecting. The nozzle was somewhat larger than the fill on Sans Souci so they had to improvise by t aking a piece of old fire hose, clamping it to the nozzle and then putting another, smaller nozzle on the end of that. It took the better part of the day to fuel up two boats and Grey Pearl had to wait until the next day to get their fuel. We had to filter it after it got into the tank as there was a bit of sediment in the fuel but it worked out just fine.
Language turned out to be the biggest problem. Almost no one spoke any English at all. We all learned a few Russian words and phrases and that helped us. I think it is mostly the young people that are learning our language but we did not meet many of them. Of course, our Russian agent, Marina, spoke very good English and that helped a lot. We were fortunate to have her at our beckon call. She even offered to go to the restaurant with us just to translate when we were ordering.

We are looking to our arrival in Japan with great anticipation. We are just a few days away and are already making plans to spend a few days in Sapporo and traveling around Hokkaido in general. We have an agent there that we have not met other than a few phone conversations and numerous emails. He seems to be arranging everything for us in advance which is a great help to us. After our time in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, we plan on a three day voyage to Yokohama, which is only a short train ride from Tokyo. We also have slip reservations for there, thanks to Furuno San, our agent. I am not sure how long we will stay there but I would imagine it will be at least a week. All of us are very excited about visiting Tokyo. After that, we head south once again to our final destination in Japan, Ashiya, located between Kobe and Osaka. We have reservations to keep our boat there for at least six months. It is a first class marine facility with American style electricity and brand new floating docks. Ashiya will be our base of operations for traveling about Japan by Bullet Train and air. As winter sets in, more than likely we will be leaving the boat and heading toward warmer climates, but we as of yet have no firm plans.

Next update…..from Hokkaido, Japan

Arrival in Hokkaido, Japan

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I am happy to announce that we have arrived and are "sitting pretty" in our berth in Hokkaido, Japan marking one of the final legs of the Great Siberian Sushi Run. It was quite a long passage from Kamchatka, Russia but not the longest we have ever made, nor with the fewest people. Two years ago, Carol and I went 6 days from La Paz, Mexico to Ensenada, Mexico with just the two of us. The difference here is that we were traveling in rugged country. Although there were the Kuril Islands about 20 miles to our starboard side, there was absolutely NO PLACE to duck into if you got into trouble (unlike Mexico). All of us (Seabird, Grey Pearl and Sans Souci) agonized over the weather reports, using as many sources as we could find to gain information for the best passage. Over a 5 day window, even with the best forecasting, you would almost be guaranteed to have something other than what was forecasted. For us, we were CHARMED!! The weather could not have been much better. We either had flat calm or, at times, a bit of swell, all from the stern or stern quarter, which is good on our boats. I will say, that if I had built this boat new, that I would have put 12 square foot stabilizer fins on the boat instead of the 9's that are on it. It is a heavy boat and it takes a lot of "fin" to keep it level in a following sea.

This is the first passage that boredom has set in. It seems like the 5 days went by very slowly and the biggest excitement was chasing the birds from the bow who, also, obvious to me, were equally bored. I now wish that I had kept my sling shot from when I was a kid. I could have lobbed a few soft shots toward them as they are easily spooked. As it turned out, a few toots from the horn kept them off during the day including what seagulls generally leave behind (get the picture??).

The last day of cruising before arrival created a tiny bit of drama, all of which was while I was off watch and sleeping. When we turned the corner to the last leg of the trip to enter Hokkaido, we cut the corner kind of sharp (about 8 miles off shore) and ran into a pile of crab pots. Fortunately, Sans Souci, in the lead, spotted them on the radar, and without knowing exactly what they were, maneuvered out to sea. Ken was not sure what he was looking at, but used his best judgement as they did appear as hard targets. As the sun rose, you could see them again, as both radar targets and visual ones. I am glad that we missed those guys!

Carol was looking off into the distance and asked me what that was next to Sans Souci, about a mile ahead. We looked through the binoculars and spotted a guy on a jet ski. Ken called and announced that his guess is that was our escort into the harbor! And it was!!!! We pulled into the harbor to find no less than 15 people anxiously awaiting us on the dock!

We tied up and had a flurry of activity for the next two hours with government agencies and our own hired agents. The paperwork was extensive but Carol had done the majority of it in advance. It was interesting in the differences between Russia and Japan. The Russians seemed almost casual about the paperwork and the Japanese were VERY formal about the details and wanted to make sure everything was correct. After several hours, all 14 of us climbed into a van and were transported to immigration, where we were photographed and fingerprinted. We really all wanted to just relax..........then came the welcoming committee with the flowers and everything! We really felt welcome here. Very few spoke English, but it was obvious that they were excited we were here. The electric power here is 50 cycle european style, which all three boats are equipped to handle in one way or another. We (and Grey Pearl) simply use the 50 cycle power to run our water heater, cooling system and a battery charger, which charges our batteries continuously while we run our 110 volt off of our inverters. It works reasonably well and we did the same while in Russia. Interestingly enough, southern Japan uses US style 60 cycle power.

Everything in Japan seems so formal. There are lots of rules and EVERYONE seems to follow them. For instance, I wanted a cell phone and a USB 4G internet card. It took nearly 3 hours to buy them and even at that, I was refused an internet card because only Japanese are allowed to buy them for some reason. Fortunately for us, we have several options on that, the best being "Kens Internet Cafe" which we used when close enough to log in wirelessly.

Boating in Japan seems quite a bit different than in the US. I think that the Japanese spend more time working and do not have enough time on their hands to do much pleasure boating. I cannot think of another reason why there are so few larger boats. The marina we are at is small and the average size of the boats here is less than 30 feet. There are larger ones (see below) and as you can see, they are different looking than what you would see in the US.

Last night we went out for dinner with Ken and Roberta at a Chinese restaurant in a Hotel. Why a Chinese restaurant when we were in Japan? To be honest, we were all extremely tired and went to the first restaurant that looked good. One interesting note about the restaurant. I dont know if it is common in Japan, but there is a button on the table (a big one, like the Staples Easy Button) that you push when you would like the server to stop by. We ran out of water and wine, did not see her, so Ken, feeling wild and wooly, pushed it to see what would happen. The waitress came CHARGING down the hallway to our table like it was an emergency! I felt bad telling her that we just needed water and wine. Anyhow, after dinner we wanted the check. Once again, the waitress was nowhere to be seen. We all looked at each other and then shrugged our shoulders. Okay lets push the button again and see what happens. Beep. Once again, the waitress came charging down the hall to our table, with a big smile on her face. She went trotting back and arrived shortly after with our check. We had just gone to the bank to exchange dollars for Yen. Carol found it very amusing that Ken and I were pulling these long skinny envelopes out of our pockets to pay the bill. Some people are easily amused.

After a good nights sleep and adjusting to the 4 hour time difference, most of the GSSR group left for a visit to Sapporo, which is about an hour train ride from here. Carol and I may do it on Friday but we need to get a few things done on the boat first. We have some repairs to do, oil changes, cleaning, etc. Our dryer stopped working also so we need to get that repaired.

We plan on staying here until Monday when we leave for Yokohama, just outside of Tokyo. That will be a very different experience for us and we are looking forward to it.

Until then....it is REALLY nice being at a dock again!!

Arrival in Kamchatka, Russia

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Nothing big to report here. Just a shortie to let everyone know that we arrived safely in Kamchatka, Russia from Attu. It was 3 days but in REALLY NICE weather. By that I mean calm seas. It was still somewhat foggy and a bit cool, but we did notice the water temp rising to 56 degrees and the air temp to 55 degrees. The docking situation was no surprise. Getting on and off was an issue in the beginning as you can see the large tires in the photo below.

We ended up rafting three boats out but we do have electricity and internet. The check in situation was really no surprise either with the typical Russian paperwork nightmare. We had nine people come on the boat from various agencies and stacks of paperwork that fortunately, we completed prior to our arrival. We were only short the "Deratization Certificate" (that means we have no rats on board- not that we know of anyway).

Today was Navy Day in Kamchatka. This is where the military shows off all of their latest hardware. Two of the new warships were docked about 25 feet in back of us and I noticed that they were giving tours. I could not imagine they would have let Americans on board, BUT THEY DID!!! It was kind of interesting and no one asked any questions other than one of the government guys who asked how much Braun's boat cost.

It is amazing to me how European Russia has become. The automobiles (except that they are all Japanese models), the clothing, the cell phones etc. I will have a better sense by later in the week, but it looks to me like Communism is dead and can never return. All of the young people here have nice clothing and internet, so they do know what is going on in the rest of the world. It is too late now to change back because they seem to really enjoy all of the new amenities that were non-existent 20 years ago. (Check out the photo of the Gold's Gym below!)

We are supposed to get fuel tomorrow and leave for Hokaido on Wednesday morning. Our agent keeps hedging on the exact time so my opinion is that they have "difficulties". EVERYTHING here requires tons of paperwork and it sounds to me like it is the holdup.

More later....

Attu, part two

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We are now several hundreds of miles to the West of Attu, the last of the Aleutian Islands and have crossed the International Date Line. That itself is kind of weird as just prior to crossing the Dateline, at Noon, it was Thursday. A few minutes later, after we crossed the line, it was 12:02, but now it was Friday! We are 350 miles to the East of Kamchatka, Siberia and should be there on Sunday. The trip across has been incredibly smooth with almost no wind and maybe 1 foot seas and some swells. I hope it keeps up. We sleep SO much better when it is like this.

After our arrival in Attu, we contacted the US Coast Guard, who has a small contingency there to operate the LORAN station. For those of you who thought that GPS has been around forever, it has not and was preceded by a system of radio signals on land based stations across the US. They send out TD’s, or Time-Distance signals. They are similar to Latitude and Longitude signals except they are only for local US waters and run diagonal to the Lat Long lines. They are also incredibly accurate for repeatability, but somewhat INACURATE as far as true position on a chart as compared to where you actually are. That means if you have been to a spot before and have the coordinates written down or saved somewhere, you can come back to the same spot over and over again. If you, however, are trying to negotiate your way up a river for the first time and are relying on the coordinates you get from your Loran receiver, you are likely to end up on land!! Loran was due to be phased out with the advent of GPS, but evidently GPS is easy to scramble and should an enemy of the US be able to knock out a few of the GPS satellites, it could be a disaster for marine transportation. LORAN is nearly impossible to scramble and is a great backup for GPS. I might add that they are still considering closing the station and leveling all of the structures.

The Commanding Officer of the station in Attu, Scott, could not have been more gracious. He sent one of his men in a truck to the beach near where we were anchored and had beached our dinghies and drove us up to the station which housed all of the LORAN equipment as well as the troops and gave us a long tour. These guys do not have it bad at all!! They have great living quarters, a movie theater and two chefs as well as satellite TV and internet. The soldiers that we spoke to all volunteered for duty here and really liked it. They get to go home once per year for 30 days once per year after being there 6 months. They also have two dogs who have been there for many years and bark at every new arrival for several days.

Attu was one of two islands invaded and captured by the Japanese in World War II. The other was Kiska, an island that I wrote about in my last report. They invaded the island and shipped all of the Aleuts who lived there to Japan, declaring them Japanese citizens. Of the 40 or so that were captured, 16 died in captivity and the others were sick and malnourished when they were finally freed at the end of the war. In response, the US bombed Attu for more than a year before finally sending an invasion force to retake the island. This was no easy mission. In order to keep the mission secret, the troops were loaded into the ships with light clothing and leather boots. They arrived ill equipped to handle the still harsh weather of snow, ice and freezing cold. Their feet were soaked from the time they arrived and many of the casualties were due to exposure. We are told that they braved the elements and took the island after 19 days of fierce fighting. Many of the Japanese were given injections of morphine and then killed by their own superiors rather than be taken prisoner.

After touring the headquarters we were driven up to a monument that was created by the Japanese. It is a HUGE angular welded assembly constructed entirely of Titanium in a design that I would describe as something that was delivered by aliens from outer space and plopped down on the mountaintop to send signals to their home in outer space. It is surrounded by the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen. There are stunning peaks and valleys all covered with greenery, flowers and meandering rivers. This was my favorite Aleutian stop, but it may be because we had clear blue skies and 65 degree temps (you heard me right!!).

You may have noticed that I only mentioned guys who were stationed there. I was not being politically incorrect. There are no women there. My understanding is that there used to be but after a few “immaculate conceptions”, they stopped sending the women to Attu. Hey, look, they guys were there for a year and I can just imagine how in demand the few women were!!

Anyway, we had to get back to the boat after visiting the station and the wind had picked up considerably. We were able to get into our 14 foot inflatable easily as we had a stretchy line that allowed it to be anchored a bit off shore and then pulled in to embark. If you recall, Kens boat had a mishap with a large fish and the big dinghy was still in disrepair. They ended up taking their smaller boat (a 9 foot inflatable) and beaching it. After I got my crew back to the boat I got a call for assistance from Bill Harrington, saying that he, Ken and Jeff were trying to make their way back to the boat (and it was getting very rough). The engine also kept stalling. I jumped into our inflatable and drove about a mile to transfer Bill and Ken to my boat, allowing Jeff to take the little guy back on his own. We stayed with him for most of the way and without the other two in the partly flooded dinghy, it seemed to run ok. I think they were very happy to see me.

Shortly after getting back to the boat, the wind really picked up (to around 35 knots in the harbor, and we were really kind of questioning whether or not we should leave. We decided to trust the weather guys and pulled anchor. Braun had mentioned that he thought the wind was kind of a tunneling effect into the harbor. He was right. As soon as we left the harbor, the seas became flat and they still are as I write this. I hope that the rest of the trip is uneventful to Kamchatka. If so, my next update will be from there.

Best Regards,

Steven Argosy

Attu

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We have finally made it to Attu, Alaska, the last island in the Aleutian chain. We are waiting for our weather router to guide is to the best day to cross, which is a three day trip with no place to duck into should the weather turn bad.

The trip from my last update took us to Kiska, which is 180 miles to the east of Attu. We stopped in Kiska, which, other than being a beautiful, calm anchorage, to see the World War II relics that were abandoned by the Japanese during the war. The coolest thing by far was an old two man submarine, rusting and sitting on shore.

My impression is that they (the Japanese) blew it up before abandoning the island. It is largely in tact except for a large hole in one side that could only have been made by an explosive on the inside. It is about 75 feet long and about 5 feet in diameter and a 3 foot conning tower toward the forward end. It looks like a regular, US sub but much smaller. The inside was absolutely packed with batteries with a small compartment for two guys and a single (or maybe two) torpedoes. Conspicuously missing is any device to back up the batteries or even charge them. It was obviously a suicide mission as if they ran out of power, they simply sunk.

We also visited some underground caves that they hid in from time to time. I decided not to go in (I hate confined spaces that could collapse, for some reason). Although it was made from dirt, it was hard as concrete on the inside.

For a desolate outpost, there were really quite a few boats in the harbor. Aside from us, there were two sailboats (about 35ft long) that had just sailed from Japan. I feel like we are in VERY luxurious accommodations after seeing them. They joined us on the hike and gave us some great information that will be useful when we get to Japan.

Jeff and Kurt took off that night in Ken’s inflatable with David, a guy we met in Adak, who was a Pilot on a large freighter anchored with us in the harbor. I guess the intent was to catch a large (50lb) Halibut. We didn’t find out until the next morning but it was a bit more than they bargained for. They caught a few smaller fish in the 20lb range and then felt a (large) tug on the line. It took some time to get it to the surface, only to see a 7 foot long, 250lb Halibut hanging there, waiting to exact its revenge on our fishermen! They tried to gaff it and punctured a hole in the inflatable, deflating one of the rear pontoons. The fish then took off with the gaff and the line fouling the propeller and dragging the boat toward the reef, nearly submerging the boat. All three guys had to lean to the other side of the boat to stop it from going under. It was foggy and getting dark and all they could think of was the fisherman in Adak who drifted at sea for 3 days before they found him. I guess they finally subdued him by clubbing him and then slitting his throat (or so they thought). They towed him back to the freighter only to find him kicking and fighting again. Fortunately they did not try to bring him in the boat after they clobbered him. I think it would have knocked them all out of the little boat (and THIS water is COLD!!). I think there is quite a bit more to the story but I need to talk to Jeff or Kurt in person. The next morning, prior to our departure, Grey Pearl, Seabird and Sans Souci creeped up to the back side of the freighter and were all given large bags of cleaned Halibut. I will try to post pics on the website blog of Kurt laying down next to the fish. It looks like a giant flounder, but bigger than him!!

Our trip to Attu was really not fun. We left Kiska at about 1pm as we were told that the weather was going to lie down. How wrong. The winds were kicking up to 35 and 40 knots with what I can describe as “confused seas” coming from all directions. It was 24 hours of mostly crashing and banging and about 4 hours into the trip we were actually discussing turning around for the first time and returning to Kiska to wait out the bad weather. After a lengthy discussion, we decided to continue on, thinking that most of it was current related and it would subside, just as the forecaster had predicted. Well, it did, a bit, for a while but the crappy weather kept creeping back time after time. It was a very long 24 hours. We arrived this afternoon in Attu, sleep deprived and with plenty of queasiness to go around too. Interestingly enough, we arrived to a bright, sunny and warm 60 degree day to a flat calm anchorage.

Attu is the island that the Japanese invaded during WWII. There was an epic battle to retake it by the US troops in a very hostile environment. It is a long story and many DVD’s are available on the subject. The island is still manned by a small US Coast Guard team. I cannot imagine what you could have done wrong to deserve this punishment being stationed here!! No town, no women, no stores, no restaurants. It is really just a huge, beautiful rock covered with green. I am not sure how long we are going to be here. It may be a day or a week, depending on the weather. We really would like a four day window of calm weather to travel to Kamchatka. If we are here longer than a day, I will be traveling about taking pictures to post on my blog (which is the same as this text, but with more pictures) WWW.SEABIRDLRC.COM .

You can see our exact location by pressing this link: http://tinyurl.com/cp8m88 . If you tried to track us recently and found that it was not working, you did not do anything wrong. There was some sort of a software glitch that the SPOT people were working on. They evidently gave us priority service after I told them that there were nearly 3000 people following our 3 blogs on a regular basis (probably 2999 of them are looking at Ken’s). If that didn’t work I was going to tell them to look at our websites and they might find a picture of a person stomping on the SPOT device, which would not have been great advertising for them. To their credit, they took care of the problem within a few hours. Thanks, SPOT guys for your great service!!

Next update may be from Kamchatka, Siberia.

Regards,

Steven Argosy

M/V Seabird

Moored in Attu, Alaska

Adak Alaska

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Adak, Alaska

Well, I promised an entire blog section to Adak, so here it is.

As I said in my previous blog, we arrived in a very strong wind and came around the corner, only to see our docking space was a 25 foot high pier in disrepair. Docking against the pilings would have been nearly impossible, even in calm conditions and there was no way to get off the boat after docking. Should the wind pick up, it would have been a total disaster for our boats. Sans Souci was told that they could raft up to an old barge that had not been moved in years, which was rafted to the pier and had a passable exit to a rusty metal ladder that went through a hole in the dock. Grey Pearl was told to raft onto two old tug boats that had not been used for 10 years or more and had a ramp up to the “dock”. Our only choice was to raft off of Ken’s boat, which we did.

One day the wind picked up coming out of the Southwest and Braun’s boat was taking the waves in the harbor direct to his beam, continually slamming him against his fenders between him and the old, rusty tugs. After a day of this and absolutely no sleep at night, he came over to see us telling us that he had to do something because the situation was getting unbearable. We decided that if Sans Souci and Seabird moved back on the barge, there would be enough room for Grey Pearl just ahead of us. This turned out to be a good thing: First, Grey Pearl found out that the starboard stabilizer was not functioning. It’s good that we found out now rather than the day we were leaving. It turned out to be a few wet connections and was easily repaired. Second, later in the day the wind picked up to about 40-50 kts and the waves were smashing against the tugs with a lot of force. I can just picture Grey Pearl if it were still there – not pretty!

Welcome to the Twilight Zone

So here we were in the middle of the Aleutian Islands in a town that used to house 7000+ people with hundreds of houses, churches, stores, warehouses, schools and even a McDonalds….now with a population of, depending on who you talk to……………of around 74 people. The US Military was the largest group populating Adak and several years ago, they picked up and left. My understanding is that the Aleuts, who everything was turned over to, asked that everything be left as it was. This, aside from all of the buildings, power plants and other infrastructure, included trucks, cars and heavy equipment. It is all just sitting there rusting away. I almost expected to see Rod Serling standing there saying “Welcome to the Twilight Zone”. If some Hollywood producer wanted to do a movie about a town that was wiped out by the plague and discovered several years later, this is the place to film it.

After our arrival, we were contacted by Cynthia, the Assistant Harbormaster to let us know that they were having a reception in our honor at the town hall. At least half of the population was there and gave us the warmest welcome you could ever imagine! They had tables of food that had been prepared at the homes of the people and gobs of interest in what we were doing and where we were headed. They were truly happy to have us visit them. Everyone was offering us their help and said they would be happy to take us on tours of the island. We met Joe, the fuel guy, who arranged for us to fuel up our boats. Carol and Carol were befriended by Mario, who took them on an extended tour of the island. He is actually from New Mexico and is here on a contract basis. He really enjoys it here and plans to sign up for another six months if he can.

If I just showed you some photos or videos of the island (outside of town) and didn’t tell you the climate, you would think you were looking at a lush paradise of greenery, waterfalls and stunning peaks and valleys.

The main (and the only one aside from a small breakfast joint) restaurant in town is the Asbag, which is kind of a bar, grill and pool hall. It doesn’t look much like a restaurant (that’s because it wasn’t at one time) but has the best cheeseburgers in the Aleutians and great pizza. It was a great place to go as EVERYONE in the town is there on a given night.

I decided that this was probably the last place I would be able to dump my used engine oil until we get to Japan so I changed the oil in the generator and the main engine. I was told that the guy in the red building would take the oil as he uses it to burn in a furnace for heat (yeah.. you do need heat this time of year here!). We found Ray inside this HUGE warehouse, filled with heavy construction equipment, bulldozers, forklifts and a full machine shop, most of which remains unused. Ray is a great guy and has been here for about 25 years. He is here under contract for the Aleuts to fix equipment on the island, he knows just about everything that goes on here in Adak and is a great resource to have. Anyway, he was nice enough to let me dump my used oil into his bin and on top of that he gave us a slab of his fresh smoked Salmon to take back to the boat. Carol baked a fresh load of brownies and we walked over and gave them to a VERY grateful, colorful guy.

We had a captains meeting today to discuss our schedule. We looked at weather patterns from several sources and decided that tomorrow (Saturday) would be a good time to leave. By good, I mean by Aleutian Island standards. 20-25 kts right on the nose is about as good as it gets here during the summer months. Our plan is to travel to Kiska, which has great WWII relics and has been left untouched. I am not sure how long we will stay there as we need to take advantage of any weather windows that we get from here on in. I suspect that within the next few days we should be in Attu, which is the furthest west of the Aleutian chain, and REALLY in the middle of nowhere!! Check it out on the map if you can find it. Our next stop after that is a three day or so trip to Kamchatka, Siberia and we hope the nasty weather stays far away from us. We just heard from our Russian agent and he informed us that even though he quoted us in Rubles and the dollar equivalent, now that the dollar is stronger, he only wants dollars. This was not unexpected but we will be arguing with him to the end!

Check our actual location in real-time at http://tinyurl.com/cp8m88

Steven Argosy

Dutch Harbor to Adak

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We had not had very good weather forecasts and it seems that if you look at two or three, they differ greatly. The reason for this is that the weather conditions in the Aleutians are very fluid. The forecast can be for 20 kts and when you get out there, they could turn to 50 kts! We had looked at the forecasts and decided that the smart money was on the seas calming down the next day around mid day and to leave in the morning would have us confronting the remnants of the bad weather and seas. Complicating matters was the tide issue in Dutch Harbor at ours and Grey Pearl’s slip, which was on the inside where the water was shallow at low tide. We had to get out at about 7am to have sufficient water depth, then wait by either rafting to Ken’s boat or finding another place to dock until our departure time of 1pm. Somehow, between 7am and 7:10am, the plans changed and we were leaving Dutch Harbor within 10 minutes!! It was not a very graceful exit but we actually did get everything going on the boat and we left for Unmak Island, where there was supposedly these great hot springs and a nice anchorage. The trip took 14hours and the seas were calm. One of the fun things was the helicopter flyover by a Sikorsky H60 Coast Guard helicopter. I guess Bill on Sans Souci knew them as they were from Kodiak too. Even if they didn't, just a couple of words from Bill on the radio and they KNEW who was on the boat!! We arrived late day and anchored in what we thought was a calm anchorage with just a few gentle swells coming in.

To get to the hot springs (all of us clad in our bathing suits underneath the woolies) we had to launch our new inflatable. Prior to leaving Seattle we decided that our secondary smaller dinghy was, at 10 feet and over 200 lbs, was not practical to haul onto a beach and re-launch. We sold it and purchased a 70 lb Zodiac with an inflatable bottom and an air cooled 26 lb Honda 2 hp motor. It is not fast, like the other one, but certainly proved to be easier to get on to the beach! The crew of Sans Souci arrived shortly after (with Shelby, the dog) and we started on our hike to the springs. It was NOT an easy hike with various problems in carrying bags and dogs. We had to trek through shallow streams, high brush and steep inclines only to find that the springs were going to be another mile away and were scalding hot, at that! The scenery was just breathtaking and was worth the trip ashore, never-the-less. I have probably said this before, but these islands are unlike anything you have seen before. Totally uninhabited, bright green and treeless. I remember seeing a documentary of how the earth was first created with the volcanoes erupting from the sea, then small amounts of green appearing like peach fuzz on the rugged terrain. This exactly describes the Aleutian Islands…You almost expect to see a bunch of Velociraptors or Tyrannosaurus Rex charging across the terrain. I will try to post some pictures on the website later today.

So we decided to curtail our trip to the springs and head back to the boats. We noticed from a distance that the boats seemed to be rocking a bit more than when we left. That began the worst night at anchor that I have experienced. It got worse and worse until it seemed that the boat was rocking violently about 45 degrees in each direction. It was just horrible trying to sleep and everyone agreed the next day that we should have pulled anchor and cruised all night. At least then some of us would have gotten some sleep!

At 7am we all hauled in our anchors and headed to our next destination, a hopefully QUIET and CALM anchorage on Atka Island in Bechivan Cove. We had a beautiful trip and it was refreshingly calm. We traveled overnight and again arrived late in the day (the following day) and anchored in calm conditions, hoping they would prevail through the night. The big attraction in Bechivan Cove is the remains of a B24 bomber from World War II. The story is that a General insisted upon going on the flight, regardless of fog conditions. After the fog set in, the plane could not find its way back to Dutch Harbor and ran out of fuel. The only option was a clearing just off of the beach in Bechivan Cove. We landed on the beach and spent the next several hours checking out the aircraft. The tail section had broken off where the tail gunner was situated but the rest of the plane was remarkably intact, but stripped of all controls, interior, armament, etc. They had never deployed the landing gear and the tires were as new, tucked underneath the wings of the aircraft and you could not tell them from brand new tires. Remarkably, the pilot and crew survived with little or no injury save the General, who broke his leg (served him right!!).

The big discussion on the VHF radio (we have a lot of them) was what to do about our departure time. The tides going through the passes are critical and after we decided on a departure time, we realized that we were moving into a new time zone "Aleutian Hawaiian Time". We must have spent a half hour going back and forth on the issue and then logic prevailed and we decided that since the horse had already left the barn, so to speak, we may as well adjust our clocks now so we are not confused about the tide tables.

The following morning (after a VERY CALM night, thank you) we were to leave at 7am (Aleutian Hawaiian Time!) for Adak, the last island in the Aleutians with any sort of population and town. Carol called me to the pilot house with her voice in a bit of excitement and some concern. She pointed out the window where we saw this glowing streak across the sky. I looked at the compass and it did not appear to be dead east (which would have meant a sunrise) and, although the picture above does not do it justice, I was concerned that it was a volcano erupting. That is how spectacular it looked in person. Shortly after that is when we took the picture and it became obvious that it was in fact a sunrise. Probably the most spectacular one I have ever seen. I should mention also that sunrises themselves are a rarity around here!!

Sans Souci was the first to leave and we were on our way just after him when we got a call from Braun on Grey Pearl. They had some sort of a hydraulic issue and it was preventing their anchor from being raised. I had my suspicions and unfortunately I was correct. They had a rupture in a hydraulic line. On these boats, that is almost a catastrophic failure. We have 300 lb anchors with hundreds of pounds of chain and it is physically impossible to pull the anchor without the assist of the hydraulic windlass. Braun was fortunate to have a “special device” that I had made for him and myself (at his request). It made an impossible task merely an unpleasant and difficult one. With his two crew, they were able to raise the anchor in about an hour. It seems like a long time, but far shorter than “never” which was the other option. Actually, we cruisers always come up with some way when desperate, so I am sure they would have too, but this was the easiest option.

We were finally off and running with a 60 mile trip to Adak. The trip was a mixed bag of very calm conditions to choppy. About half way through the trip, the winds started picking up and at one point they were blowing a steady 42 kts, with gusts to 52 kts. We were lucky that our trip had us going on the lee side of the islands and there was not much fetch for the wind to build up seas more than 5 or 6 feet. We passed by a school of Orcas (see photo above) but did not catch great photos of them. They look like giant sharks and are unmistakable when you see them. The dorsal fin that you see is about 6 feet high and they look like the ultimate predator (which is why they call them Killer Whales also).

Our arrival into Adak was a windy one with the gusts approaching 40 kts as we entered the harbor. We were not expecting much as far as accommodations, but when we saw the dock, my heart kind of dropped. We were told to go broadside against the pier, which was a 25 foot high dock with rough pilings and almost no way to get off the boat. Grey Pearl was told to dock against two old navy tug boats that had not moved in 15 years. Ken was told that he could tie to the old barge if he wanted. Fortunately for us, we were able to raft off of Ken’s boat and it made the situation a bit better for us. Either way, it worked out just fine and we were tentatively glad to be in Adak. We had no idea what to expect from the town and were we ever pleasantly surprised!! Our stay here requires another update by itself so I will say more in the next one to be done shortly. Adak is an AMAZING place of wonderful people and incredible beauty but contradicting that is a erie, deserted town!! Stay tuned!!!

Dutch Harbor Part 2

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the sayings here is that “there is a woman behind every tree in Dutch Harbor” (there are no trees in Dutch Harbor- get it?). They aren’t kidding. I think the guys outnumber the women by about 10 to one.

4^th of July was Tina Jones’ (Grey Pearl) birthday so Braun took us all to the Grand Aleutian for a private party and dinner. It was a great Hot Dog and Burger roast reminiscent of our New England holiday weekends! Afterward, we went to the bar in the hotel where they had “Jam Night”. The talent on this little island is really amazing. They had a woman who has cut several albums and sings solo while playing the piano. After playing for a short while she began to introduce a series of musicians/singers who performed until the wee hours of the morning. One guitar player, who was EXCELLENT, is the guy who wrote the theme song for “The Deadliest Catch” and performed it. He introduced a flute player who had just arrived from Egypt ( I have no idea what that was all about). He played as well as any I have ever heard. It was a great night. Fireworks were the following night but we were long asleep before they started (and woke us up!!). Okay, we don’t go to bed THAT early guys……It’s just that it doesn’t get dark here until about quarter to one in the morning!! Lots of people came up to us in the bar and were SO interested in what we were doing.

We have been here for about nine days and now that the culture shock has worn off, we kind of like it here. The people here are pretty special. We have been dealing with two electronics repair facilities, Lunde Electronics and Harris Electronics and both cannot do enough for you. Lunde did the necessary repairs on our electronics installations that have been nagging us since we left Seattle and Harris has supplied much of the electronic gizmoids that we have needed or just wanted. They also have served as our “mailbox” for any items that we have needed shipped to here from anyone. Getting stuff here is tricky. The best service is US Mail Express if you need stuff in a hurry (that means in about 3 days). FedEx gets it to Anchorage and then kind of washes their hands of the whole shipment. A local airline has to get it here and they always bump packages for passengers. My personal emergency shipment was a new 4 Terabyte hard drive as I was running out of space on the one I had for movies! Ken, who was in Seattle anyway, picked it up for me a shipped it here.

On a sad note for Dutch Harbor residents, there was shooting at a local restaurant a few nights ago. It involved two 20 yr olds. Even here in Dutch Harbor, you do not get a sense of all the facts and rumors are flying. We still do not know what exactly happened and the condition of the shooters. One thing for sure is that it does not happen very often here.

A few days ago we saw our first other pleasure boat cruisers in quite a while. First, there was an 85 foot sailboat that arrived after a nonstop trip from Tokyo, Japan. They evidently had a nice trip with a 4 knot current behind them. Uhhh…..gee, we are going the other way?? I hope the current is not AGAINST us by 4 kts!!

The other boat arrived a few days later. It was a 42 ft sailboat that came straight from Prince Rupert in BC and was on their way to transit the Northwest Passage to Greenland and south from there. They have a link for their website http://www.openpassageexpedition.com/index.html and you can follow their progress. There are 3 guys aboard and they were traveling with a woman who was supposed to be documenting the trip with photos and/or video. Evidently, two weeks at sea were enough and she left them shortly after arrival in Dutch Harbor. This is not easy cruising up here and THAT is a small boat!! We were joined by one of the crew during dinner who was not much of a sailor himself. He was actually a doctor and served in that capacity for the trip. He was a really funny guy and entertained us with a lot of stories.

I just got a copy of the local newspaper “The Dutch Harbor Fisherman” here and there is a big article about us in it. I think it must be national news because it is an Associated Press wire story. It describes us as a group of millionaires being escorted through the Aleutians by a local fisherman (Bill Harrington). Well, anyway, we just fueled up the boat and don’t feel too rich right now!! ……and if you smoke, you REALLY must feel poor because Wayne noticed that in the bar, cigarettes in the vending machine were $24 per pack!!

We are supposed to be out of here tomorrow but we checked the weather and the forecast is 35kt winds and 17 foot seas. As we explained to Bill Harrington one night when we were discussing the crummy conditions we had just encountered coming to Dutch Harbor “we are doing this for fun and don’t have any desire to go out and take a beating when calm weather may be a few days away”. If we get caught in the stuff, so be it…we have all done it before and these boats can take it….but why go out knowing you will be getting your butts kicked for three days and nights? Tuesday is supposed to calm down substantially so the vote amongst us was unanimous….we wait until Tuesday.

Steven

Sand Point to Dutch Harbor

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We finally arrived at our next big exit platform, Dutch Harbor, Alaska. I really was not sure what to expect because so few people actually go here. If you watch “The Deadliest Catch” on TV you might have this idea (like I had) of this big dock at the town, kind of like the old West or something, teaming with wild bars, wild people and lots of action.

Our trip to Dutch Harbor started in Sand Point, Alaska with our arrival there on June 19^th. It, like all of the other towns we visited around here, is small, with one or two restaurants, a grocery store and LOTS of fishing boats! It’s really weird because we are getting further and further from the normal cruising grounds and we have become the talk of the town wherever we go to. Bill Harrington, on Ken’s boat knows lots of people in Sand Point and they were expecting us with great excitement. The dock, as soon as we arrived, had a small crowd of curious people on it. It is hard to believe that they so rarely see pleasure boats. Everyone is smiling and had lots of questions about where we come from and where we are going. When they see Connecticut on the back of Seabird, they are really amazed!

We kind of always feel that we should support the local economies where we travel if we can. Ken and Roberta Williams joined us for dinner that night at the local Chinese restaurant. We were the only ones there and the people were very nice. The plan was to leave the next day but Braun and Tina were expecting a part that they needed to be flown in and the rest of us were looking for a break from cruising. Sand Point is a nice place to kick up and relax. We went for a hike the next day to see the eagles nests. These little tiny birds kept dive bombing the nest with mother eagle sitting in it. She could have easily crushed the little birds but just swatted them away with a wing. Evidently, the little birds are looking for scraps of food that the eagles leave behind in their nests.

Just as we were leaving the next morning, I heard a high pitched noise in the engine room without anything running. I traced it to the alternator that charges the start battery. It is 10 years old and probably was due for replacement. I disconnected it and paralleled the batteries with the house charger temporarily and ordered a new one to arrive in Dutch Harbor. We were then off and running.

King Cove

Next stop was King Cove and things were getting much more “way out there”. It was even a smaller town, with a single Chinese restaurant and a town that was very curious about our group. Small groups of people kept coming by, asking questions and taking pictures. We walked to the small food store (the only one on the island), then through “town”. Most of these places still only have dirt roads and since they get a lot of rain, very muddy. You had to cross a small bridge to get to the village and we were told that many times you cannot cross it by foot as the Grizzly bears camp out there.

Dutch Harbor

We had several discussions between Seabird, Grey Pearl and Sans Souci as to when we should leave to arrive at Dutch Harbor, a 20 hour run. It is not as easy of a decision as it looks. The first issue is when to go through Unimak Pass. The tide can run 8 knots through there and if the wind picks up to 25 knots going in the opposite direction, you end up with treacherous sea conditions for several hours. Bill said that there are other options to Unimak Pass but we should decide when we get there as we need to assess the wind conditions at that time. The trip to that point turned out to be a mixed bag of fairly smooth conditions and kind of crappy and sloppy. If we had slowed down to 7 knots we would have had a much better ride but it was important that we arrive at Unimak between 9 and 10pm. We had a current going with us and we got there a bit early, but the wind was fine and we passed through at around 9pm. Carol was on watch and I was trying to sleep when the waves picked up. I have to say that it is not easy to sleep when you are bouncing off the bed! The bow of the boat went under the water several times before we exited the pass but finally I was able to get a few hours sleep before I took the watch at midnight. I got a call on the radio from a 120 foot tugboat hauling a huge barge, He was calling me because he could not figure out what three pleasure boats were doing cruising in the Bering Sea! I had a long conversation with him because he was so interested in our boats and what we were doing. He said it was really rare to see three pleasure boats here.

Our plan was to arrive in Dutch Harbor around 9am as the Harbormaster would be around to assign our berths. We ended up having a strong current going with us the whole way and ended up arriving at 6am. Ken called in on the VHF and was told to dock inside “The Spit”, which is a long skinny piece of land which protects the dock we were to be at. You can see it by clicking the “Our Location” button on the home page of the website and following the instructions there. After clicking to the map, choose the satellite view and zoom in. We were told that we would have to raft 3 boats out and contact one of the local electrical contractors to hook us up with power. They arrived only to tell us that we had to buy a $400 adapter and pay approximately 2 hours of electrician time at $125 per hour to get power. After hours of negotiating, they agreed to let us rent one at $50 per week and we could wire the adapters ourselves if we wanted. It meant taking one of my expensive 50 amp power cords and cutting the end off and installing the rented connector. I hated to do it but the thought of going 10 days running the generator was less appealing. So we rented it and it was surprisingly easy to hook it up with the help of Wayne and Braun. It was kind of inconvenient to track across two other boats to get to the dock, but hey, we are not at Mystic River Marina anymore!!! Fortunately, two days later, the Harbormaster became concerned about three large boats rafting, should a storm come up, so he asked us to move and we now have our own spaces on the dock.

Back to Dutch Harbor and our expectations………..there is NOT MUCH HERE. The town is very spread out and there really is no center. It is a loosely grouped bunch of businesses to support the fishing industry with a lot of dirt roads and rusty boats. Not much to do here either. The good part is that we found an excellent electronics guy from Lunde Electronics here who is repairing all of the nagging problems that we have. We should be in good shape by next week.

The night we arrived we were told that Wednesday night is buffet night at the Grand Aleutian Hotel and we should not miss it. We were VERY skeptical but went anyway. The food was absolutely delicious and fresh. What a surprise! Our friends Wayne and Carol arrived then next day to travel with us and we plan on going to the buffet again this week.

One of the managers at the Grand Aleutian, Brian, had written us an email as he had heard about the group traveling to Dutch Harbor and had read Kens website (www.kensblog.com) . He was very excited about our arrival and offered any help that he could give. The crew of Grey Pearl went to the Sunday Buffet and met Brian, who offered to take us on a tour of part of the island in the afternoon. So we piled into our rental cars and followed him to a dirt road that let up to the mountaintop, where there was a lookout from World War II. Dutch Harbor, other than Hawaii, was the only US soil bombed by the Japanese. Believe it or not, it was SPECTACULAR WEATHER!! It is fairly uncommon to have clear blue skies and high sixties weather here, but we had it for our hike, which took 45 minutes and culminated at the top of the mountain with 360 degree views of the harbors. It is a completely different place in nice weather.

A few days ago Carol, Carol and Tina Jones were on the dock with us and started a conversation with a local fisherman originally from Iceland named Captain Krisjan. As always, they are trying to charm anyone they can talk to into some fresh fish and they KNEW that Black Cod, one of the favorites, was being caught here. Just as I would have predicted, Captain Krisjan showed up the very next day with 30 LBS OF FRESH BLACK COD, ALREADY CLEANED!!!! We only needed Wayne (see picture) to fillet them for a sumptuous dinner that very night.

Wayne , after filleting them, tossed the skins into the water, which sparked frenzy among the local eagle population. They started dive bombing the water, grabbing the carcasses and even attacking each other to steal the food. They are amazing to watch (see picture) and are the ultimate flying predator.

We have 8 more days here and plan on finishing up our electronics repairs, getting fuel and getting a few more projects done. It is really nice to have Wayne and Carol here. Our watch shifts will be shorter making the trip a lot more fun. They are both seasoned boaters, good friends, easy to have around and Wayne is a very good mechanic, which is a nice bonus.

I think Wednesday night is Buffet Night again at the Grand Aleutian Hotel. We have reservations for 10 and it seems to be, once again, the highlight of the stay here. Oh...I forgot to mention 4th of July. They do have fireworks here but since it does not get dark until about 12:30am, we are planning to stay up late to watch them.

Till next time.......

Steven

Hoonah to Sands Point in the Aleutians

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Pictures coming soon!!!!

I have not written much about Southeast Alaska because it is much the same as last year, other than the weather. We visited the same places, but how different they looked with the sun shining and at 65 degrees!! Still, I will skip most of Southeast Alaska and move forward to our departure points leading to the crossing of the Gulf of Alaska.

The three of us (Grey Pearl, Sans Souci and Seabird) needed to go our own ways up until about June 1 which was the beginning of our departure from SE Alaska, which turned out to be a multi day event, stopping at several ports. We started out in Pelican Bay, a place just west of Glacier Bay and a place that we have always wanted to go. It is much like all of the other Alaskan towns up here, very small and folksy. Pelican is actually just a HUGE dock, like a boardwalk, on the side of a mountain with stores, houses, restaurants, bars, etc. Really a whole micro-town. When Ken (on Sans Souci) called in ahead to reserve slips for us, the harbormaster said that we could tie up just about anywhere, but he would not be around as he is also the town garbage collector and had to do those duties that afternoon. It does not sound like much, but being the Garbage Collector in Pelican Bay sort of qualifies you for Hazardous Duty Pay, as the dump is crawling with grizzly bears!

I also need to mention Rose’s Bar. Rumor has it that when you get there, they try to get you drunk, then lure you to dance on the bar and then proceed to pull down your pants! I tightened my belt to the max before going in and kept a wary eye on the customers within. Carol, Gloria (a friend of Ken and Roberta) and Roberta ended up bartending for Rosie while she sat at a table with friends. Just as we were leaving, Rose wanted to know if I would stand up on the bar. I think she was half kidding but I instinctively grabbed on to my belt as we left. Good thing I don’t drink. I think in the old days I would have jumped up there without thinking twice!

After Pelican Bay we stopped for a couple of nights at anchor in Dundas Bay, tucked way back where most would never find it. It was recommended by Ken’s friend John, who is kind of a local up there as he has been cruising in Alaska for 20 or more years. Dundas had to be the most beautiful anchorage we have been to date. It is long and thin and you are surrounded by towering mountains on three sides. It was flat calm and the shoreline was abundant with bears and even a wolf (see photos). Sans Souci and Seabird ended up spending three nights there and were joined by friends John and Gloria on their boat. We got really close to some of the bears who did not seem the least bit affected by our presence other than an occasional licking of their chops, keeping us at a distance.

The original plan was to leave Southeast Alaska as a group to cross the Gulf of Alaska as a group and we were to meet in Hoonah to fuel up and get ready to leave. Hoonah is again, much like many of the small towns in Alaska, full of friendly people. We spent much of the time preparing our boats and things got kind of serious for the first time. We installed Storm Plates on our port side salon windows. Those are ½ inch thick Plexiglas plates that are bolted in front of our already thick ½ inch glass windows as a further measure of protection from heavy seas. We removed our survival suits from storage and put them in the pilothouse for easy access, moved our parachute anchor for easier deployment on the bow and generally tidied things up for a crossing. We filled up with fuel which (because of the 20 foot tides) required the attendant to lower a hose to the floating dock allowing us to fuel from his gravity fed tank. Afterwards, to pay, I had to climb a steep ladder up to the office.

We found out about a month prior to getting to Hoonah that a friend of a friend of Ken’s, who none of us had ever met (including Ken) wanted to give us a kickoff party. Oddly enough, his name is Kent Williams (no relation to Ken Williams on Sans Souci). Kent has a gorgeous 125 foot yacht which he brought into Hoonah and hosted the cocktail party on the dock next to the boat. Aside from us and the GSSR group, we also had invited several of our boating friends that we had met up with while cruising in Alaska. Of course, the main food was Sushi, appropriate for the Great Siberian Sushi Run! Afterwards, we all went to the local restaurant and had dinner. The night before we went there, several patrons were not able to get in the door because two Grizzly Bears were blocking the entrance. Ken mentioned to me that his theory is that they live on the island across the way and walk over the breakwater periodically to eat someone and then saunter back to the island. I’m not sure about that but it could be true!

In the morning we decided to start our engines simultaneously (Gentlemen, start your engines!). Hard as it seemed to believe, we were finally off and running!

Crossing to Kodiak

The crossing of the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak Island was a three day passage. These particular waters are known to be very rough and we were hoping to pick our weather carefully. We had two forecasters giving us information. Bob Jones from Omni, who all of us have depended on for years, gave us daily email updates and based on what he predicted, we would stay no more than 50 miles off the coast and kind of curve our way up to Kodiak. We were doing this because the weather projections showed that it could turn nasty about half way across and we needed to be able to divert our course into a safe harbor should that happen. We got about 30 miles out and got another report from a guy who knew Bill Harrington, who we were picking up in Kodiak to ride on Ken’s boat. Rich is the local NOAA weather guy and knows the area very well. He emailed us and told us that we should go straight across as he has rarely seen such a good weather pattern in his 25 years of forecasting. He said we could hit a few areas of choppiness but for the most part it would be a smooth (for Alaska) trip. We verified this with Bob Jones, who concurred and did a quick vote over the radios and changed course, heading straight across to Kodiak. It is interesting cruising at night in Alaska. The sun sets very late and it really does not get dark until about midnight. Then it starts getting lighter around 3am so in the course of a day, there is really very little “night cruising”, which is great. We were shorthanded for this leg of the trip so Carol and I did shifts of “3hrs on, 3hrs off” after six pm until 6am and then 6 hour shifts from 6am to 6pm. We did this successfully from Panama to Seattle last year and it worked well for us. The only tense moment for me was at about 2am one morning. It was pretty dark and a huge whale surfaced just off our bow, heading across it. It caught me by surprise and you really don’t want to hit it. He was so close there was nothing I could do. Fortunately, he dove down before I got to him. There have been many stories about damage from whales to boats much larger than us.

We arrived in Kodiak about 6am on June 10^th in very thick fog. I was worried about entering a strange harbor in the fog but, miraculously, it lifted just before arrival. Marty, the Harbormaster, and a very gracious guy, welcomed us on the radio, took pictures of our arrival and directed us to his dock, which was right in the center of town. Kodiak is an amazing little town. Kodiak Island is about the size of Connecticut, but with only about 10,000 inhabitants. Their economy is very dependent upon commercial fishing and I think we were the only pleasure boats in the entire harbor! The rest of the economy supports the fishing industry or the families of the fisherman. They have good grocery stores (EXPENSIVE) welding shops, hardware stores, a marine store, a Wal Mart etc. While we were there we met Bill Harrington, a local commercial fisherman who will be riding on Ken’s boat (Sans Souci) and acting as our guide through the Aleutian Islands. I first met Bill in a teleconference call that Ken arranged several months ago. One of the first things he said was “Well, I’m shuahhh anxious to meet you guys when you get to Kodiak Hahh-bahh. I thought, huh? Where is this guy from? I asked him and he said “ Well, I was bawn and raised in Cape Cawd”. Hey, how cool is that. A guy from near our home! It is sure nice to have a local guy up here on one of the boats too. The charts are less than accurate sometimes and we need to know where to sneak in when the weather turns bad. One day, Ken got on the radio and mentioned that his expensive Sonar depth finder just showed a spot that was 20 feet deep. The chart showed 239 ft!!! Braun on Grey Pearl verified the depth as he passed over the same spot. Bill is also very knowledgeable on the history of the Aleutians and in particular, where all the World War II equipment carcasses are laying around.

Smoke on Seabird

We had a very scary incident before we departed Kodiak. Carol and I were about to leave for the day to tour the island. She was talking on the phone and as I walked by her, I thought I smelled smoke (electrical type). She got off the phone quickly and started searching for the source. We opened the engine room door to find that it was filled with a thick smoke. On a boat, other than sinking, this is the most dangerous thing as a fire at a dock can spread quickly. We immediately called our friends Braun and Wayne from Grey Pearl over to see if they could assist in finding the source. We finally cleared the engine room of smoke with the exhaust fans but could not find the source until Carol reached up to the ceiling and felt a very hot wire. We traced it to a burned out stop solenoid on the engine and shut off power to it.

We traced the hot wire with a heat sensing laser gun up to the pilot house, finding one of the ground wires at almost 200 degrees. Fortunately, the surrounding bundle of wires was not toasted. We spent the next day or so running a new wire from the pilothouse to the engine room, which was no easy task in this boat. We also found a new solenoid at a local electrical shop. We met a mechanic at Kodiak Diesel who was very helpful in explaining why the other on probably failed and how to avoid it happening again. It turned out to be an improper installation done by a mechanic in Seattle. We were very fortunate to have discovered the problem before leaving for the day. The installation is complete and working just fine now.

Bill explained that Kodiak is the last of the “tree” islands. After Kodiak, the trees disappear and the islands are mountainous and covered with low, green shrubs. It is almost prehistoric looking when you are traveling here. We anchored inside Malina Point on Raspberry Island for the first night after leaving Kodiak. The weather was spectacular and it was kind of strange seeing Carol sitting on the aft deck at 10pm with sunglasses on reading her book!!

The next stop was Geographic Harbor. It was supposed to be filled with bears and a beautiful anchorage. It was a beautiful anchorage but we did not see many bears. It was very rainy and we stayed onboard most of the time. Kind of disappointing as it is really one of the must see spots up here.

We are currently docked in Sand Point and getting ready to leave for Kings Harbor in the morning. After that, we depart for an overnighter to Dutch Harbor, where we will stay for a few weeks awaiting various friends and crew on our boats, getting minor repairs done and fueling up to leave for the rest of the Aleutian chain. After Adak, things start getting kind of desolate!!!

British Columbia to Ketchikan, Alaska

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We actually slipped through BC so fast that I have not had time to update our blog. Our goal, unlike last year when we took a month to go from Seattle to Ketchikan, Alaska, was to make it here by the 10^th of May, which makes it a 10 day trip. We were up every morning at the crack of dawn and cruised for between 8 and 13 hours. We met up with our friends Braun and Tina on Grey Pearl in Campbell River.

The next morning took some planning as we had to pass through the Seymour Narrows, where the current runs at over 14kts either with you or against you and I really did not want to go through that. Fortunately for us, we were able to leave at sunrise and pass through the narrows at almost slack tide.

All of the work we had done to the boat over the last 7 months was due a good trial run. Unfortunately, we had workers on our boat right up until the day we departed, so …our trip to Alaska had become our trial run. We DID have a few glitches in our systems, but nothing that would stop our trip. Our generator, which we just had installed, had what turned out to be a faulty electronic governor which was causing the frequency to waver back and forth between 58 and 62 cycles, and fairly quickly. By the time we had gotten to Alaska, it had become unbearable and we had to switch to our hydraulic cruising generator, which……was another item that had not been tested since revamping last fall. FORTUNATELY, it worked like a charm and we had power all the way to Alaska. I think today we will have the other generator up and running correctly. We also had a buzzing VHF radio and had to use our backup. That turned out to be a faulty microphone and is now working correctly. Let’s see, we also had a problem with our new Navnet 2 radar system where the monitor would suddenly turn green and fuzzy. I am not sure we have gotten to the bottom of that one yet but it did clear up when I gave the back side of the VEI monitor a whack. I have contacted the dealer who sold it to me and he hopefully will send us a new one before we leave Alaska.

After Campbell River, we went to an old favorite from last season, Lagoon Cove. Other than being a charming little marina in the middle of nowhere, the owners, Bill and Jean, are among the most hospitable people that you will ever meet. It is kind of like coming home to family when you pull in. I hesitate to admit, but I will anyway, that I had a SIGNIFICANT birthday on May 4^th, our day of arrival there. It was NOT my 50^th, either (how I wish). We had a great little party on Seabird, attended by our guests, my sister and brother in law Diane and Mike and Braun and Tina from Grey Pearl. We supplied the tenderloin and Grey Pearl supplied the fresh prawns that they caught that day. Many gifts were given to me, which partly offset my dismay over my approach to Medicare and Social Security. Afterward, we trekked up to Bill and Jean’s house where they served birthday cake and gave me a beautiful embroidered Lagoon Cove jacket and hat. It was a great time and we will really miss them after we leave.

After a few more quick overnight stops at Sullivan Bay, Codville Bay and Hartly Bay, we arrived in Prince Rupert, BC, the last stop before Alaska. Last year we were unable to get reservations and had to either anchor or raft against a commercial pier and the weather was just HORRIBLE. Cold and rainy. This year, the weather cooperated and so did the marina management. Both Grey Pearl and Seabird got a slip. There was great internet and lousy power, but it was a fun stop anyway. We dined at the famed Cow Bay Café, a tiny little bistro near the marina. It seems that because Ken and Roberta on Sans Souci are a few days ahead of us, EVERYBODY knows what we are doing. In the restaurant, they asked where we are cruising to and we responded “Alaska, Siberia and Japan” and the response was always “oh….are you going with that other guy, what’s the name of his boat?” Sans Souci, I replied and they would say “oh yeah he was in here a few days ago to have dinner!”. So our balloon was burst at nearly every stop, but we were very happy to meet up with Ken, Roberta and Shelby-dog when we arrived in Ketchikan the next day. It was REALLY NICE to be back in Ketchikan again. The last time we were here, you had to arrive and hope that the harbormaster had a slip available for you with power. It worked good last year, but if you left your slip to get fuel, it might be gone by the time you got back. This year we made reservations at Ellis Floats, a small, three or four slip marina just outside of town. It’s a bit quieter than the town docks, but the power is better, they have good wireless internet and the fuel barge comes right to your boat (they dock here too).

As soon as we arrived I started making phone calls to various repair guys to try to fix the nagging little problems that we had left with the boat. I contacted Hatton Marine in Seattle who promptly sent up the repair parts for my generator. I found a local guy here, Lonnie Adams, who was able to make and rewrap the insulation around my dry exhaust (no small feat in a 24hr period! Thanks Lonnie). We also had a nagging vibration in our exhaust pipe, which runs from the engine room to about 20 feet above the aft deck. I contacted Al Taylor at Alaska Ship and Drydock here in Ketchikan and, what great service they gave us! Alaska Ship is a boatyard that specializes in building and repairing HUGE ships. While my boat was being repaired, Al was kind enough to give me a tour of the facility. What makes them special is that they have these gigantic floating docks that, after filling the chambers with water, actually sink, allowing the ships to drive in. When they pump all the water out, the ship is high and dry and ready to be worked on. They are also building a steel jet powered SWATH navy ship which has icebreaking capability. It is powered by 4 5000 hp motors and looks like a catamaran. Seabird looked VERY SMALL at that yard. By comparison, my work was very minor but they treated me like I was their best customer. I think that is just how the people in Alaska are. Soooo…..most of my problems are fixed but we did have one little scare. When we got to the drydock, Carol came running up the pilothouse stairs yelling for me to shut the engines down because the engine room was filled with smoke. Oh boy….I thought, let it be something minor and not a fire, but any smoke is never a minor issue in the engine room. It turned out to be the residue from the new exhaust wrapping that was burning off (completely normal).

Yesterday Ken asked us all to make videos that he can post on Youtube about the trip. I hope that I do not live to regret it………(One late note…I did the video and I will live to regret it…calm down, its definitely PG rated, but not necessarily politically correct).

Last night’s dinner got a little out of hand after watching the videos on our tv and everyone ended up installing my sister Diane’s famous “lemon teeth” in their mouths. I think Ken may be posting those pics on his blog so I cannot be blamed for embarrassing anyone on MY website.

As I finish this Blog the generator is running fine. I ended up dismantling the electronic speed governor and installed the original solenoid letting the generator rely on the mechanical governor. I have not given up on it yet. We needed a generator for the next part of the trip so I caved in to old fashioned technology.

Next stop is Wrangell. Ken and Roberta leave tomorrow (Wednesday) and we leave for there on Thursday am.

Lines are cast - The adventure begins!!!

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

After somewhat of a rocky start this morning (our autopilot steering was not working), we are through the locks and cruising in Puget sound. The autopilot was a strange problem. It turned out to be a toggle switch in the very aft part of the engine room where no one ever goes. I really didnt even think of looking there because the switch is always on. Anyway, mystery solved and everything seems to be running fine.

Our destination today is Roche Harbor.

Our Spot tracker is now LIVE so you can go to the main page, click the Our Location button and follow the instructions on the page.

More later