Archive For The “North America Pacific Coast” Category
Our plans are always fairly fluid, but the past couple of years have seen even more changes than normal. In 2020, we made three major itinerary adjustments: skipping the Mediterranean and instead heading to Scotland; crossing the North Sea to Norway while en-route to cruising the Scottish Orkney and Shetland island groups; and choosing to…
The day after returning from Berlin, we made a ten-day trip to Seattle for James to attend some work meetings. While there, we picked up our mail, caught the last day of the Seattle Boat Show, met up with old friends and handled several medical appointments. And Spitfire enjoyed some time at “the resort” of…
In mid-July, we made our annual summer trip to Seattle for James to participate in a multi-week AWS business review. It’s a busy time, with lots of meetings, plus we picked up about 300 pounds (136kg) of spares and supplies to bring back with us. We also found time to have some fun, including attending…
In late January, we left a cold and snowy Amsterdam to make another return trip to Seattle. While there we spent time at the Seattle Boat Show and attended our first Nordhavn Owner’s gathering since leaving Seattle in 2012. During the evening, PAE president Dan Streech presented us with two special pennants: one for having…
The day after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, we travelled half-way around the world to Las Vegas for the annual AWS re:Invent conference and made a quick trip to Seattle to visit with friends, catch a Seattle Seahawks game and pickup our mail. The full trip was a challenging one to pack for with such…
In late July, we left the boat in Trondheim, checked Spitfire into “the resort” at the beautiful Pusehuset Kattehotell, and returned to Seattle for a couple of weeks. While James spent all day and most evenings in meetings, Jennifer picked up our mail at the UPS store, sourced some other parts and spares locally, and…
We left Dirona in Scotland, with Spitfire at “The Resort”, while we returned to Seattle for a couple of weeks. This mostly was a work trip for James, but we did find time to enjoy the city, make a day trip to Victoria, and receive and pack over 200 pounds of boat spares to bring…
We love technology, how things work, and digging in behind the scenes and so an important part of our trip around the world in a small boat has included stops to tour ice breakers, mines, manufacturing plants, container ships. We even tried our hands at the helm of a 5,000 HP tractor tug. Some highlights…
A decade ago, as we watched the America’s Cup races in New Zealand on TV, we longed to watch a race in person from the water. Last week, we got our chance. The current America’s Cup defender is the Golden Gate Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay. The races scheduled for October 2-7th have been…
Late last week, we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and cruised south to our new temporary home at impressive Westpoint Harbor Marina. The trip from Seattle started out with wonderfully calm conditions through the Strait of Juan de Fuca–amongst the best we’ve experienced there. We originally had planned to run a good 50 miles…
Today we set off from Seattle to do some longer-range cruising. Our goal is to cross over to Hawaii, and we’ll figure out the next step from there. Insurance restrictions discourage travel in the area between June and November, during the northern hemisphere hurricane season. May was too soon to leave, and we didn’t want…
Last weekend, for the first time ever, we took in some Seafair events up-close. Normally we’re on vacation in August, since that works best with both of our work schedules, and are leaving the area just as Seafair is starting up. The unlimited class hydroplane races for the Albert Lee Cup anchor Seafair Weekend. The…
Earlier this month, we got a chance to tour the Hanjin Oslo at Seattle’s Terminal 46. We had an incredible time–we watched the ship come in, toured the yard, and best of all, were given a detailed onboard tour that included the machinery. The above photo of us on the bridge wing was taken by…
On the final leg of our trip along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, we returned downriver from Portland via sheltered Multnomah Channel to anchor in the Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge. We spent the following three nights at the river mouth: two in Astoria, OR and the third in Illwaco, WA. In Astoria, we…
We’ve just returned from an incredible tour of the Hanjin Oslo at Seattle’s Terminal 46, courtesy of Peter Kim, who supervises the Hanjin container ports in the Puget Sound and Washington state. The scope and scale of the ship is amazing, and the Hanjin operation is extremely professional. We’ll be posting a more detailed description,…
From Hood River, we returned to Cascade Falls to bike the Historic Columbia River Highway and visit the Bonneville Dam Visitor Center. We then continued farther downstream, back through the last lock at Bonneville, through the navigable waters of the Willamette River and back to Portland for the night. The Bonneville Dam Visitor Center unfortunately…
Over the next three days, we ran from the Tri-Cities at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers, to Hood River, passing through the McNary, John Day and The Dalles locks. At The Dalles, we visited the excellent Columbia Gorge Discovery Center,, and were lucky to arrive in time for their live raptor program….
At our final anchorage along the Snake River, we biked to the Ice Harbor Dam visitor center, and also learned firsthand about goat head stickers. Passing through those locks the next day, we hit an all-time speed record for our boat of 15.1 knots. We spent the following two days in the Tri-Cities area, touring…