The Marquesas Islands first showed up in version four of our planned itinerary across the South Pacific. We weren’t even going there initially, not because it wasn’t appealing, but because the islands were a long run east from Hawaii. And we decided to make it even more challenging by going to Palmyra Atoll and Fanning Island first. Running from Fanning Island signed us up for strong counter currents and winds the whole way to the Marquesas. But having done it, the rewards are substantial. The Marquesas are impressive and we almost can’t believe they weren't on our itinerary from the beginning.

We arrived at Nuku Hiva in the northern Marquesas the morning of April 15th and spent the next two weeks island-hopping to the southern extreme at Fatu Hiva. The scenery, impressive in Nuku Hiva, became even more dramatic as we worked south: sheer mountain cliffs with almost impossible formations, mountain ridges so narrow that holes have formed from one side to the other, and incredible views into the anchorages below for those willing to climb. Fatu Hiva, pictured above, was our last stop in the islands and typifies Marquesan geology. We particularly enjoyed the diving there as well. We love exploring, and usually move frequently, but ended up staying at Fatu Hiva for five nights. If the rest of the South Pacific weren’t waiting, we’d probably still be there.

Highlights from the trip follow, or click on the image at left for a live map-based version of the complete trip log. On the live-map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at http://www.mvdirona.com/maps/LocationCurrent.html.

4/15/2013: Cliffs The steep slopes of Nuku Hiva.

4/15/2013: At anchor At anchor in Baie de Taiohae with our quarantine flag flying as we head in to clear through.

4/15/2013: Bonjour View to our first French Polynesian anchorage. Dirona is just visible in the background directly to our right.

4/15/2013: Hinano Local Tahitian beer Hinano on the veranda at Pension Moana Nui. We had a delicious pizza there the following night.

4/17/2013: Fueling We took on 1,170 gallons of diesel at the fuel dock, but wanted 1,364. They were short on fuel, so we couldn't quite fill. The fuel dock has a cement wall and the surge was substantial, so a side-tie risks damaging the boat. Instead, boats needing small amounts of fuel often ferry them by dinghy in jerry cans. Those needing larger amounts typically med-moor to the wall, where the boat is anchored and backed into the dock and tied standing a few feet off the wall. We've got a 75-foot line from each stern corner to a bollard ashore, and a large Aere inflatable fender protecting the swim platform. The fuel hose runs from the dock, over the swim platform and into the cockpit on the far side of the fender.

4/18/2013: Anse Hakatea At anchor in Anse Hakatea, Baie do Taioa. The bay also is known as Daniel's Bay after a longtime Marquesan resident. Three sailboats were at anchor there when we arrived, and two more came later. We anchored outside them all with plenty of swing room. Swell was a little higher were we were, but it was fine with the flopper-stopper.

4/19/2013: Along the path The valley we're heading to is directly behind that tall palm. Once we'd left this tended path, the trail through the forest was still quite easy to follow.

4/19/2013: At the falls Rain hadn't fallen for a while, so the falls weren't flowing much, but the valley was spectacular with steep shores enclosing a tranquil pool. James is standing just to the left of the pool.

4/19/2013: Baie Hooumi We left Anse Hakatea after returning back from our hike and anchored all alone at Baie Hooumi in the late afternoon. We anchorage felt secure and snug, with steep shores on either side. Some swell did reach us, but we were fine with the flopper-stopper out. We're able to deploy and retract it within ten minutes, so it's not a bother.

4/20/2013: Baie D'Anaho Serrated cliffs along the south shore of Baie D'Anaho, on the north shore of Nuku Hiva. We also has this beautiful and tranquil anchorage all too ourselves. The waters were calm too--the first at Nuku Hiva where we've not even considered the flopper-stopper. A few houses ringed the shore and it night local music drifted across the water.

4/21/2013: Ua Pou A view to the distinctive spires on Ua Pou. The scenery in the Marquesas is spectacular, and keeps getting better at each island. We were lucky to see the spire tops so clearly--apparently clouds often hide them.

4/21/2013: Baie d'Hakahau We were able to find a space with just enough swing room between the three transient boats anchored behind the breakwater. Then we followed the road up to a cross on a hilltop east of the harbor.

4/22/2013: Gray Matter Approaching Baie Hanamoenoa, where our good friends Christine Guo and Mark Mohler are anchored aboard Nordhavn 62 Gray Matter. We last saw them in San Francisco, where they'd arranged a slip for us at their marina in Redwood City. And now, both boats having travelled over 5,000 miles since then, we're finally back together again.

4/23/2013: Baie Hanatefau Both boats made the "big" run to Baie Hanatefau the next morning. The anchorage was beautiful, with torquoise waters and steep slopes. We initially had the basin all to ourselves, but half a dozen other boats eventually stopped there too. The small village of Hapatoni is in the background at the south end of the bay.

4/26/2013: Sunset Enjoying the sunset from the bow.

4/27/2013: Sunrise Sunrise through a hole in the cliffs, en route to Fatu Hiva.

4/27/2013: Tahuata cliffs Dramatic cliffs at the south end of Tahuata

4/27/2013: Baie Hanavave Soaring cliffs and dramatic formations flank the valley that heads Baie Hanavave at Fatu Hiva. We've been in some pretty beautiful anchorages on this trip, but this one without question is the most impressive.

4/28/2013: View A road connects Hanavave and the larger village of Omoa to the south, climbing steeply to a 2,000-meter pass. We followed the road up to the pass for sweeping views into the anchorage, the village, and the valley beyond. Dirona is anchored at the far left of the picture.

4/29/2013: Falls Lunch in front of the pool at the base of the falls. Jennifer was going to have a swim, but got over it after we saw an 18-inch eel hunting there.

4/29/2013: Scenery After the hike, we toured the shoreline around the anchorage. Steep, vegetation-covered hills soar above us around at every corner. This is easily the most beautiful place we've ever been.

4/29/2013: Cave Some of the caves were large enough to fit the dinghy well inside.

4/29/2013: Arch This arch Jennifer is sitting at runs about 40 feet clear through the cliff.

4/30/2013: Welcome Welcome sign on the way into the village. Fatu Hiva is the only populated island in the Marquesas without an airport, so everything arrives by boat.

4/30/2013: Octopus On the first dive, we saw many octopus tucked into the rocks, the first we've seen on this trip. The octopus appeared reasonably large, although not nearly as big as the ones we've seen in the Pacific Northwest. We believe this is a Day Octopus, which grows to about 2.5 feet. They changed colors patterns frequently as we watched, going from dark brown to almost white in some transitions.

4/30/2013: Moray eel One of several Moray Eels, possibly a Stout Moray. We saw many eels on this dive, but none were bright yellow like this one.

4/30/2013: Lionfish One of two Spotfin Lionfish hiding under a rock overhang.

5/1/2013: Moorish Idols Two Moorish Idols swimming above our dinghy anchor. We did two more wall dives today--and the underwater scenery and sealife was even better than yesterday. Massive schools of thousands of fish frequently surrounded us, and we saw all kinds of Triggerfish, Butterflyfish and Angelfish.

5/1/2013: A nudi! This 1-inch creature likely is a Nippled Pleurobranch rather than a Nudibranch, but close enough. Both are of the subclass Opisthobranchia whose species often are so wildly colored they look fake. Over 3,000 Nudibranch species live throughout the world's oceans--their fantastic forms and psychedelic colors make them among our favorite sea creatures. Our boat name is derived from Dirona Albolineata, or the Alabaster Nudibranch, an invertebrate indigenous to the Puget Sound that we often saw when scuba diving there.

5/1/2013: Eels A small (left) and a large Moray eel peering out from the rocks.

5/1/2013: School Swimming through a school of thousands of Fusilier-like fish.

Click on the image at left for more photos and the complete map-based trip log.

We arrived in Baie de Taihoae on Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, 31 days and 2,550 nm after leaving Honolulu (trip log map). We had stopped at Palmyra Atoll and Fanning Islands for 11 days, for a total of 20 days at sea. We left Honolulu with 2,350 gallons of diesel and consumed 1,964 gallons en route, 1,864 to the main engine and about 100 to the generator.

Conditions were mostly in our favor on the 950-mile run from Hawaii to Palmyra, but were against us on the 1,394-mile run from Fanning Island to Nuku Hiva. On that last leg, the wind blew steadily on the bow 15-25 knots, typically around 17 knots, with an opposing current of 1.0 to 2.3 knots, mostly in the 1.7-knot range. Overall, our average speed for the entire run was 5.61 nm/hour with a fuel economy of 4.13 gph or 1.36 nm/gal.

To clear into the country, we had worked with an agent, CMA CGM Papeete. This helped in several ways. First, non-EU citizens must either post a bond equivalent to return airfare home, or purchase a refundable ticket in order to enter the country by boat. CMA CGM provided a bond exemption so long as we had proof of health insurance and that the insurance would cover the costs of flying us back home in an emergency (our Divers Alert Network travel insurance was sufficient). Second, diesel fuel can be purchased duty free, but the exemption must be processed in Papeete. CMA CGM's local agent got us cleared through the day we arrived and we received our fuel exemption the day after. Third, we needed to pre-order with the local fuel dock in Taiohae for large quantaties of diesel, as they only have a 13,200 gallon capacity and we'd use 10% of their fuel. And finally, while Jennifer can speak a bit of French, having someone to help with translation was useful as well. Coralie Mante of CMA CGM Papeete was very responsive and helpful in preparing for entry, and Kevin of Yacht Services Nuku Hiva was fast, efficient, and friendly in processing us on arrival.

We took on 1,170 gallons of diesel at the fuel dock, but could have taken 1,364. They were short on fuel, so we couldn't quite fill. Tying up to the fuel dock was interesting. The fuel dock has a cement wall and the surge was substantial, so a side-tie risks damaging the boat. Instead, boats needing small amounts of fuel often ferry them by dinghy in jerry cans. Those needing larger amounts typically med-moor to the wall, where the boat is anchored and backed into the dock and tied standing a few feet off the wall. In the picture below, we've got a 75-foot line from each stern corner to a bollard ashore, and a large Aere inflatable fender protecting the swim platform. The fuel hose runs from the dock, over the swim platform and into the cockpit.

From Palmyra Atoll, we travelled 200 miles southeast to Fanning Island, another atoll in the Northern Line Group of the Line Islands. Fanning Island is part of the Republic of Kiribati, so this would be our first exit from the U.S. into another country since leaving Seattle last September, over 4,000 miles ago.

The entry channel has plenty of depth, but current there can run at 4-5 knots. We'd arrived about an hour before low water slack on a 1.7-foot exchange and conditions looked good to enter. The current still was ebbing a bit, but we had no trouble passing through.

Most of the atoll is shallow with coral heads throughout. We anchored just south of the channel off the main village, flying a yellow quarantine flag until we'd cleared into the country. We'd attempted to make radio contact several times before entering, as the Kiribati administration requested, but it turns out the village radio was not working. Shortly after we'd anchored, however, a skiff came out from the village with officials representing customs and quarantine, and the police chief representing immigration.

They reviewed our papers and requested a brief inspection of the vessel. Generally the process went smoothly and efficiently. Spitfire wandered out on deck during our meeting, and his paperwork was in order as well. Once we'd cleared into the country, we swapped the quarantine flag for the Kiribati courtesy flag.

The Fanning Island population is about 2,000, and fishing is a major activity. No matter what time of day or night, someone always seemed to be out fishing, either from shore or by boat.

A road reportedly rings much of the island, so we brought the bikes ashore to check it out. In the picture below left, we've landed at the pier you can see in the background of the topmost picture of Dirona at anchor. The picture below right is the road heading north towards the channel. The main settlement and administrative buildings are to the left of that photo. Generally the village was clean and tidy, and appeared well-run.

The road was wide enough for a truck until we got to the southeast end, then it became more of a footpath, but still quite rideable, with stone bridges across small channels.

We'd apparently set off during rush hour: the road was quite busy--we passed several trucks and many groups walking or bicicyling. Bicycles are a particularly common mode of transportation here. We also saw the occasional motorcycle and moped. The people were very friendly, pretty much everyone smiled widely and said hello as we passed.

Most of the buildings were built in a traditional style, with thatched roofs. In front of those in the picture below left, a large pit has been dug with plants growing inside. This was fairly common. We also saw at least a half-dozen larger gathering places like the one below right.

Other sights along the way: bananas and a sleeping pig.

From 2000-2008, Fanning Island was a weekly stop for the Honolulu-based Norwegian Cruise Lines ships to work around Jones Act restrictions that a commercial ship built outside the US cannot travel directly between two US ports. We saw several signs and other vestiges of their presence there. In earlier history, Fanning Island also was the terminus of the British Pacific telephone cable from Barkley Sound on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. Now we've been at both ends. From Fanning, the cable system linked to Australia via the South Pacific.

We eventually reached a point near the southeast tip where the bridge across a channel was gone, and turned back. We might have carried the bikes across, but the day was becoming hot and we we felt we'd gone far enough already. We stopped on the way back for lunch overlooking the lagoon.

We did a dive the next morning. We anchored the dinghy in about 25 feet just south of the entrance channel outside the atoll and dove south to 60-feet. The quantity and variety of sea life was amazing: 3' Giant Trevally and Double Header Wrasses, the biggest we've seen; schools of Barracuda that circled us completely; many varietes of Butterflyfish and Angelfish, in particular the striking Flame and Golden-Spotted Angelfish; and a sea turtle. Unfortunately the camera battery hadn't been charged properly, so we didn't get pictures for this one.

We'd arrived on a Wednesday, and originally planned to stay until the following Monday, but the weather was looking to deteriorate over the weekend, so we decided to leave for Nuku Hiva after the dive instead.

The diving at Palmyra is incredible, with huge schools of colorful fish and extensive stands of healthy, vibrant coral. We saw Parrotfish and Surgeonfish over a foot long--much larger than we've seen in the past. Black-tip reef sharks were exciting to see. Fortunately, as in the shallows, they avoided us underwater and didn't approach too closely. Most impressive of all, however, were the Mantas Rays. We never tired of watching their graceful passage.

Below is footage from three of our dives. The first is off the Western Terrace (mid-left on the map), and the second two were in the entrance channel, where Manta Rays are often found.

We were given permission to tour Strawn Island, directly west of Cooper Island (map), the only island on the actual wildlife reserve portion of Palmyra Atoll where unaccompanied public access is allowed.

Several idyllic coves are along the lagoon side en route. Slightly less idyllic is the cove below right, the site where the bone's identified as Muff Graham's, of the Sea Wind murders, washed ashore and were found.

The sand flats here are a productive black-tipped reef shark nursery. We saw many, ranging from less than a feet long to over four feet long, cruising in water perhaps a foot deep. The sharks aren't interested in humans and generally keep their distance, so we weren't too concerned being in the water. But we did keep an eye on them.

A little farther along is the ruins of an old military powerhouse. We climbed a ladder to the roof for a sweeping view north.

The Norwest Gun Battery was once on the extreme northwest tip of Strawn Island and is slowly becoming part of the sea.

Walking back along the north shore, turtles were swimming just offshore with lots of boobies in the trees and the sky.

The tide was too high to continue alongshore, so we picked up the trail back in the woods. A pair of White Terns, apparently curious, swooped and wheeled only 3-4 feet above us for a good five minutes as we walked. They're beautiful, delicate-looking birds.

We popped back out to the north shore to check out some offshore bunker ruins.

Near where Cooper and Strawn Island connect is a massive Sooty Tern nesting area. They prefer flat wide-open spaces--this is one of several areas the Palmyra Atoll staff have cleared to keep the terns off the runway. Thousands upon thousands of birds are here, on the ground and filling the sky above. The terns will often take off, fly around, then land as a group. We were out on the water with Amanda one time and passed under a literal cloud of Sooty Terns. "It's a Ternado!" she joked.

We cooled of after the walk on the rope swing at the swimming hole (44, bottom right on map).  

Amanda Pollock, the Wildlife Refuge Manager for Palmyra, had returned on-site the day before we had and invited us along on her site arrival boat survey. This was an opportunity for us to tour the East Lagoon (map), off-limits to visitors due to current at the entrance and water shallowness. The military built a causeway that created East Lagoon. This radically altered water flow in the atoll, effectivetly killling off underwater life  in the lagoons due to lack of flow. The causeway slowly is crumbly away and natural flow eventually will be restored. In the video below, we're running north along the eastern edge of the causeway, shortly before exiting into Center Lagoon.

Later the day, Amanda took us out to Penguin Spit (bottom left in map) to brief us on snorkeling there. And since we were going out there anyway, we all went for a snorkel. No anchoring, even of dinghys, is allowed anywhere in the reserve except at the designated anchorage where Dirona is. Several buoys have been installed along the western reefs that small boats can tie off to to. The underwater life there is astonishing--we were particularly impressed with the colorful giant clams and stands of staghead coral over ten feet in diameter. Below are some stills and video that we shot.

We went ashore to Cooper Island the day after arriving in Palmyra for a tour of the camp and to walk the trails. The camp has several "pets", including a tame Booby, a dog and a cat. Eric Pholman of the Nature Conservancy (left in the photo below) said the animals were grandfathered in when the conservancy purchased Palmyra in 2000. Boaters often picked up pets in the South Pacific and left them in Palmyra as they couldn't bring them into Hawaii back when the quarantine rules were much stricter. Holding the Booby is Aaron, Chief of Marine Operations at Palmyra.

The Palmyra Yacht Club (building 31 on the map) walls are filled with inscriptions, drawings and poems from past visitors to the island.

The Nature Conservancy keeps the camp and its trails in excellent condition, with whimsical touches throughout. That's a line of old flip-flops along the generator building wall (21 on the map).

We walked east towards the runway. Not far along is a swimming hole with a float and rope swings (45-47 on the map). This is one of the more minor of the modifactions the US military made to the atoll when they took it over during World War II. Palmyra is slowly reclaiming itself, but this is a long process. For those who have read And The Sea Will Tell, this is where the Sea Wind moored, and the building Jennifer is standing in (44 on the map) is Mac's old workshop. The picture of us standing in front of the Palmyra sign is near the trailhead to the swimming hole (43 on the map).

Next was the Palmyra airport departure gate, with signs showing distance and direction to various locations. At the far side of the runway was a plane wreck. The plane, carrying a group of Ham radio operatores, had crashed and been pushed off the runway. With no way off the island, the Coast Guard had to rescue them.

We walked along the runway to the northeast corner of Cooper island (map). Fifty-foot Pandanus trees lined the strip. Their fruit resembles a pineapple and has sections that look like giant corn large kernels.

A new coconut tree forming. Coconut trees are not native to Palmyra--they were introduced for a copra plantation--and crowd out the native plants.

From the north end of the runway, we picked up the trail west along the north shore of Cooper Island. We had to be careful where we stepped--the path was full of hermit crabs and the occasional land crab.

Along the way, we found plenty of evidence of the old military base. Coming across that manhole cover on the trail made us feel a bit like we were in an episode of the TV series Lost. We were half-expecting to see Dharma Initiative logos soon.

We stopped for a beer along North Beach, the only real beach on the atoll. A small patio was setup there as well and, judging by the sign, a barbecue pit.

Eric had invited us for cocktails and dinner at the camp. We had an excellent time. A group of guests were on-site from Calgary--I think we tipped the balance to making the island's population 50% Canadian.

We arrived at Palmyra Atoll six nights after leaving Honolulu. Conditions on the run there were by far the best we've seen. We had the wind and current behind much of the way, and boat motion was minimal until the last night. Jennifer normally needs to wear a scopolamine patch for offshore runs, but didn't need to on this one and didn't feel the slightest bit queasy. We shot some video off the stern showing the relatively light conditions.  

On the final night, the wave period decreased to six-seven seconds with seven-eight-foot seas on the beam. We were rolling ten degrees consistently and occasionally twenty degrees.

On the last day, the main fuel tanks had enough space that we could transfer the fuel from the bladders. So the main tanks are now full again.

When we were about thirty minutes off the main channel, we radioed Palmyra to let us know we were arriving. Amanda Pollock, the Wildlife Refuge Manager for Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuges, answered and would come up to guide us through the channel. Below is footage of our entry into the atoll. When Jennifer first appears on deck, she's removing the line that secures the anchor. The second time, she is attaching the snubber between the anchor chain and the boat. Snubbers take strain off the windlass, give the rode some elasticity, and isolate the boat somewhat from the noise of chain scraping across rock on the bottom.

Palmyra Atoll is absolutely beautiful. Palm trees crowd the shore above lush vegatation. Around the atoll, the sea color varies from deep aquamarine to pale turquoise inside a white frothy edge of breaking surf. But you can hardly hear the surf above the calls of the thousands of seabirds that wheel in the sky above us.

Amanda guided us to the designated anchorage. We'd corresponded with her while in Hawaii to obtain our visitor's permit--it was nice to finally meet in person. On board with her was Eric Pohlman of the Nature Conservancy. Once we were secure, Amanda and Eric came onboard to brief us on the island and rules for visitors. Spitfire, as usual, was the star of the show. One of Eric's first questions was "Where's Spitfire?" But Spitfire still has to follow the rules. Amanda jokingly gave him a stern warning to "stay away from my birds". We explained that Spitfire is more of a kibbler than a hunter.

An extensive research camp is on Cooper Island, the only island open to the public. The Nature Conservancy manages Cooper Island, while the Department of Fish and Wildlife is responsible for the rest of the reserve.

So now we are within six degrees of the equator--by far the farthest south we've ever been in Dirona. Oh--and we have WiFi.

Yesterday we got our first ever outbound clearance paper, or Zarpe, leaving Honolulu bound for Fanning Island, Kiribati via Palmyra Atoll. While we've left the US before, so far it's only been to Canada, where a Zarpe is not required to enter the country. But Kiribati, and most other countries we will visit over the next few months, require a Zarpe from the previous country entered.

Our first leg will be 960 miles south to Palmyra Atoll, a US national marine monument in the Northern Line Islands. The Nature Convervancy owns Palmyra Atoll, and jointly manages the island with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Access to Palmyra requires a permit for a maximum seven day stay, and only two boats can visit at a time. The island recently went through a major de-ratting--the FV Aquila that we visited in Bell Harbor was part of that operation. As a result, any boat visiting must have a rat inspection. We passed ours. Palmyra also is famous as the site of the Sea Wind murders, documented in the book and TV miniseries The Sea Will Tell.

From Palmyra we'll travel to another atoll in the Northern Line Islands: Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati. And we're finally actually leaving the US. We've travelled nearly 10,000 miles in Dirona, to Prince William Sound, up the Columbia and Snake Rivers to Idaho and across to Hawaii. But other than a couple of quick trips to Canada, we've never actually left the US.

We fueled up this morning and set off with 2,350 gallons of diesel, including all tankage. Our next fuel stop will be in Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands. That will be 2,550 miles, plus two to three weeks of generator time. We took on fuel from Mike Rossman's Marine Petroleum Corporation--great service, good fuel, and excellent pricing. If you're fueling in Hawaii, there's nobody else to call.

We'll be posting our route and other updates on the site (http://www.mvdirona.com/maps/locationcurrent.html). But for most of the trip through the South Pacific we will be out of range of our KVH V7 and will have to use the more expensive BGAN at a memorable $8,000 per gig. So our updates may be less frequent.

Don Stabbert was taking Starr into fuel with Mike after us, and took the picture above as we set off for Palmyra.

For us, a night at the races once meant watching the stock cars at Sunset Speedway north of Toronto, or Evergreen Speedway north of Seattle. Now it means taking in the Hawaii Yacht Club's Friday night sailboat race. The race starts and finishes in Ala Wai basin where we are moored, and we usually watch from the boat deck. The starts can be pretty exciting as the boats jockey for position, often coming within feet of us and sometimes as close as inches. After watching a recent start one windy evening, we ran the dinghy outside the basin to watch the field race back inside to the finish. Below are some shots of the action.

Heartbeat (yellow hull below and above) and Cazan often race to the wire. Below, Cazan edged out Heartbeat for the win.

This weekend we attended the Waikiki Yacht Club's Opening Day Celebration and Blessing of the Fleet. An opening day in February with sunny 80-degree weather is a little different from what we're used to. Back home, the Seattle Yacht Club's Opening Day for the official start of boating season is in early May, when the temperature is typically in the high 50s. Coincidentally, the theme for the 2013 Seattle event is "Hawaiian Magic". Hopefully the weather will approach their theme.

The turnout for the event was excellent, with over 200 people at the breakfast brunch. The guest speaker was long-time Waikiki Yacht Club member Colonel Frank W. Tate, who commands 3,500 troops, including the 2,600 soldiers of the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade in Afghanistan. Colonel Tate knows Afghanistan well, politically and culturally. He gave an excellent update of the country's history, progress and current state of affairs.

Around noon, the boats gathered for the Fleet Blessing, where a boat anchored offshore carries a priest, who blesses each boat, captain and crew as they pass in review. Here's a video Rick Heiniger shot last year aboard Don and Sharry Stabbert's Starras they participated in the blessing. Rick owns Nordhavn 76 Eliana, visible at the start and end of the video moored where Dirona is now.

This year, Don and Sharry (at left below) hosted the blessing on Starr and invited us to join them. Giving the blessing was Coast Guard priest Commander Haley. Other guests on board included Waikiki Yacht Club commodore Gregg Dunn, Opening Day organizers Mark and Dot Hazlett, our guest speaker Colonel Tate, and other Hawaii-based members of the Armed Forces and the Coast Guard. Every one of the Coast Guard members we spoke with also had served in the Seattle area.

The weather was perfect for pictures.

Here are a few shots of the boats passing by for blessing:

 Commander Haley also blessed the Waikiki Yacht Club's Laser (small sailing dinghy) fleet and the womens paddling crew.

Earlier this month, Daniel Buchmueller and Fabian Hensel dropped by to visit. They were in town working on a remote-control drone they built to do image acquisition for geospatial applications. They did a few test flights over Dirona and nearby Ala Moana park. The arial photographs there were able to take of the boat and the Waikiki skyline are striking.

With four rotors, GPS, and inertial-stabilization, the drone is remarkably stable, even in gusty winds. James took a turn at the controls and found it surprisingly responsive and controllable. It can get pretty high in the air too, and travel at speeds of up to 50 mph. The drone carries a car-backup-type camera for in-flight viewing via goggles, and either a GoPro camera to shoot video or a small digital camera for still shots. The pictures and video were simply amazing.

Below are a couple of photos of Dirona taken relatively close to the water.

The view higher up, looking west over Ala Moana park and north to the Ala Moana shopping center:

Higher still and looking east across the Ala Wai Boat Harbor, and north down the Ala Wai Canal:

Daniel and Fabien took these two over Waikiki Beach earlier that day:

And here is some video footage from the GoPro:

Daniel and Fabian built the helicopter for commercial geo-spatial work but, after looking at the pictures they were able to capture, it’s hard not to want to get one.

Dirona carries 1735 gallons of diesel for the main engine: 835 gallons in each side tank and 65 gallons in the day tank. (We also have a 10-gallon supply tank for the auxiliary engine). Although 1735 gallons would have been fine for the roughly 2,000nm trip between San Francisco and Hawaii, we added 532 gallons in cockpit bladder tanks for that run. We did this for two reasons: 1) it allowed us to run faster (at additional fuel cost) and 2) we wanted to test the practicality of fuel bladders for longer offshore runs.

We went with ATL FueLocker bladders. ATL bladders had a good reputation with other boat owners, and from his car-racing days, James knew they could smack the wall at 200 MPH without leaking. We bought two 300-gallon bladders with tie down-kits--these would come close to filling the cockpit, leaving space to walk around them, but little room for the bladders to shift should they come loose. The only question was how the extra weight would affect boat trim.

We air-filled the bladders with a vacuum cleaner so they would be roughly the right size and shape as when filled with fuel, but light and easy to move. Once we'd determined the positioning for them, we installed extra pad-eyes on the cockpit walls and on the floor under the barbeque console to attach the tie-down straps.

One side-effect of getting the bladders was that our Westminster teak extension table in the cockpit would have to go. We sold it on Craigslist and replaced it with a slightly smaller folding model.

We also purchased SunShields for the bladders, mainly to protect them from UV rays. But they also provide abrasion and heat resistance. And on the trip across, the straps did wear the covers a bit, so we were glad to have them. The picture below shows the bladders ready to be filled in Oakland with the SunShields on. We filled the bladders with air first to get everything properly placed, then deflated them just prior to fueling. Our teak chairs and the flopper-stopper plate are secured against the aft cockpit wall. We normally secure these on either side of the cockpit, but the bladders filled that area. And the folding table, normally strapped-down by its base in the cockpit, is secured to the starboard walkway.  

When we put the pad-eyes in for the bladder tie-downs, we also installed two in the ceiling above each bladder to support the fill standpipe when fueling. We tied a small line to the standpipe, ran it up and over the pad-eye to a cleat and adjusted the line as the bladders filled. The bladders are spec'd at 300 gallons but felt fairly full at 266, so we stopped there. It may have been possible to fit considerably more in, but we didn’t push it.

With the bladders full, the boat did go down a couple of inches at the stern, but the swimstep was still well above of the water. We were carrying 2,277 gallons of diesel: 835 in each supply tank, 65 in the day tank, 10 in the wing engine tank and 266 in each bladder. #2 diesel weighs 7.1 lbs/gallon so the total weight we carried in fuel when we sailed from Oakland was 16,167 lbs. That is more than half the weight of our previous boat, a 40’ coastal cruiser.

Below are shots taken underway. The bladders seemed quite secure, with no obvious impact on boat trim.

The bladders are not very stable when partially full, so we emptied them completely on the third day out when the main tanks had drained enough. To transfer fuel, we had installed a half-inch fuel hose from a Camlock quick-connect fitting at a bulkhead in the cockpit back to the fuel manifold. A short section of hose with Camlocks on either end connects the bladders to the bulkhead fitting, with a valve at each bladder end to control flow.

This way we can use our fuel transfer pump to pull fuel directly from the deck bladder tanks, through a filter and into one of the side tanks. This had several advantages over the more standard method of pumping from the bladder into the deck fill using an external pump:

1. No-one had to be on-deck during the fuel transfer. All that was required was a quick step outside to open the valve on the tank to be drained.
2. Our fuel-transfer pump can drain each bladder in about 80 minutes, limiting the time where a bladder is partially filled. One of our many factory upgrades was to replace the 43 GPH Walbro 6802 pump with a 822 GPH a Jabsco VR050-1122. Hose and plumbing restrictions take it down to an actual, but still respectable, rate of about 231 GPH.
3. The fuel coming from the bladders is run through a 25-micron filter before entering the tank. 
4. We didn't need to buy and store an additional pump, and likely a spare, to empty the bladders.

We left the empty bladders in place on deck for a few days, with the tie-downs tightened to hold them securely. On a calm day underway, we tilted them to drain the last 20 or so gallons out, hosed them down and stowed them in the flybridge brow.

When we arrived at Hilo, we had used 1,746 gallons so were 12,397 lbs lighter. Here are our fuel stats for trip:

• Duration: 296 hours (12.3 days)
• 12 hours less excluding Hilo offshore wait: 284 (11.8 days)
  •  Fuel: 1746 gallons consumed
• Distance: 2028 nm
• GPH: 5.90 gph
• MPG: 1.16 nm/gal
• MPH: 6.85 kts (7.14 kts not counting the Hilo wait)
• Fuel at Oakland:
  •  Main tanks: 1670 gal
  •  Supply: 65 gal
  •  Bladders: 532 gal
  •  Wing: 10 gal
  •  Total: 2277 gal
• Fuel at Hilo:
  •  Main tanks: 456 gal
  •  Supply: 65 gal
  •  Wing: 10 gal
  •  Total: 531 gal

This morning, after eleven nights at sea, we arrived at Hilo, Hawaii. Although our ultimate destination is Honolulu, we chose to make landfall here partly because Hilo is about 200 miles closer, but mainly because its easier to clear Spitfire in at Hilo through Hawaii's Direct Airport Release program.

We had a great trip--the weather this time was the best of any of our offshore runs. The worst weather of the whole run was last night, when we had to tread water in rough seas to wait for daylight to enter the harbor. But we now are med-moored to the seawall at Radio Bay and Spitfire has cleared through with Hawaii Animal Quarantine. Tomorrow we'll clear with the Department of Agriculture and take on a load of diesel.

Mark Abril sent us a nice suprise with pictures he took of our arrival. On the left picture we are entering Radio Bay, with the cruise ship Pride of America in the background, and on the right we are pulling back towards the sea wall with the anchor down.

And below these is our log of the trip. You also display these on the map view.

10/25/2012: Golden Gate We've just passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and are headed out to sea. Conditions so far look excellent.

10/25/2012: Last view of land Our last view of land for the next couple of weeks. And our who know when Dirona will be back in North America?

10/25/2012: Farralon Islands A little bit more land. This really will be our last for the next couple of weeks.

10/25/2012: Porpoises A large pod of porpoises chased our bow on and off for about an hour.

10/25/2012: SCF Prime Just before 3pm today, the Crude oil tanker SCF Prime crossed our path about a mile ahead of us going north at 13.6 kts. When 6 miles away to our north, he appeared to go dead in the water. His speed fell to a 2-kt drift and twice a big cloud of black came out out of his exhaust. It looks like something big may have failed suddenly. Forty minutes later, he still was adrift at 0.3 kts.

10/25/2012: Sunset Our first sunset of the trip. The seas have picked up a bit, but conditions still are decent. MaxSea's GRIB data has been spot-on so far--it predicted 6' seas from the north on 8-second period with winds at 18 knots and that's pretty much what we're seeing.

10/26/2012: Sunrise The sun is up and conditions settled a bit overnight. We've got maybe 3-foot swells from the north, and 20 knots of wind behind us. Very nice.

10/26/2012: Sunset Sunset #2. The waves have picked up a bit to 5 feet, with wind 20 from the north. Not quite as smooth a ride as earlier today, but still comfortable. Outside temp is 67F, but it feels warmer.

10/27/2012: Passenger We found this little bird tucked against the starboard outside steps leading up to the pilot house. He might have flown into the day head window and hurt himself. We tried lifting him to see if he'd fly--he spread his wings, but didn't try to fly. We have him setup on the cockpit cabinet where the engine room vents to keep him warm, and gave him a little water in a small dish. He's a clumsy walker on slippery fiberglass, but that might be normal. Hopefully he'll recover soon and fly off.

10/27/2012: Sunset Sunset #3. Conditons continue to be excellent with 5 knots of wind and a 1-2-foot northwestly swell.

10/28/2012: Calm seas The winds have been less than five knots all night, with a barely perceptable ocean swell. The sea is now blue, rather than the greeny-grey we're used to in the Pacific Northwest. This certainly is the calmest and most enjoyable offshore run we we''ve made. Last night we had to make two course corrections: one to avoid a 4-foot orange buoy and another for the containership Matson Maunalei. With an ocean this big, its amazing we would both be in the same place at the same time but we had to turn off for 3 to 5 min as we were on a collision course.

10/28/2012: Buoy This morning we passed another buoy, this one about 18" in diameter.

10/28/2012: Underway We've been underway for 81 hours and are almost 600 miles offshore. The ocean swell is now about 5', but the waves are so far apart that the motion is quite gentle and comfortable. In a couple of days we'll be passing through the southern end of a 998mb low pressure system that is tracking northeast towards the southern BC coast. We're likely to see 12' seas, but on a 10-sec period, so that shouldn't be too bad.

10/28/2012: Sunset Sunset #4. Winds still are below 5 knots. The swell has picked up to around 8', but the waves are at least 10 seconds apart, so there's not much boat motion.

10/29/2012: Lunchtime We've switched to Hawaii time, so it's time for lunch. We brought along a selection of packaged noodle dishes for lunch. We prefer rice and noodle dishes underway--they're filling and easy to digest.

10/30/2012: Afternoon conditions The waves are starting to come from WSW now--a little less on the nose and a little more on the beam. The roll guage shows that progress: 12 hours ago we were rolling around 5 degrees, now it's up to 10. The waves still are pretty big: 9-10' on 5-second period. But the winds are starting to fall off--from consistently 20-25 knots to 15-20 knots, so hopefully the waves will follow suit. And we're starting to pick speed a bit too.

10/30/2012: Squall Just passed through a squall. The sudden downpour was over almost as soon as it started.

10/30/2012: Evening conditions The winds have dropped to 10-15 knots. The waves still are 9-10 feet, but now are 8-10-seconds apart, so we're able to pick up speed and maintain our target fuel economy. Fair bit of boat motion though--have to be careful moving around. We're making good use of the extra grab bars we installed in the stairwell, galley, shower and day head. The temperature has been rising steadily as we proceed south--it's 76F after sunset.

10/31/2012: Dawn Conditions have continued to improve. The waves still are 9-10 feet and 8-10-seconds apart, but the wind has dropped to less than 10 knots. Boat motion has reduced considerably, so moving around much easer. The forecast indicates continued improvement for the next couple of days and waves dropping to 5-6 feet. We might have a brief period with bigger waves a couple of days out of Hilo, but the period should be at least 10 seconds.

10/31/2012: Buoy Just had to change course slightly to avoid this small orange buoy.

10/31/2012: Another passenger Our bird eventually flew away the night we found him. This fish doesn't look as lucky.

10/31/2012: Smooth seas We're over halfway across now, with only triple-digit miles remaining. The sun is shining, winds are less than 5 knots, and we've got a gentle 5-7-foot ocean swell from the northwest. Very nice.

10/31/2012: Sunset Sunset #6. The wind is picking up a bit from the southeast, but still is below 10 knots.

10/31/2012: Happy hour Virgin Mai Tais at sunset to celebrate crossing the halfway mark, and Jennifer's birthday.

11/1/2012: Sunrise Conditions reasonably calm--a gentle 3-foot swell and winds less than 5.

11/1/2012: Fresh fruit We have a cup of fresh fruit every morning before breakfast. Strawberries will last several weeks in our fridge, and we also carry a swack of Del Monte Fruit Naturals fruit cups.

11/1/2012: Tire Just passed this tire--looks like its been floating out there a while. We've been in lumpy seas most of the morning with 10-15-knot winds and waves on the bow. The wind is just starting to veer to WSW and putting the waves more on the beam, so the ride is smoothing out.

11/1/2012: Squall We passed through another brief sqaull. The wind clocked up from 15 to 20+ knots, rain poured and the whole thing was over in about 5 minutes.

11/1/2012: Albatross We've seen a few albatrosses over the past week. Amazing how far they range from land.

11/1/2012: Testing the wing We start the wing engine every few days to make sure it's running ok in case we need it.

11/1/2012: Sunset Sunset #7. Its very dark once the sun sets, but a couple of hours later a nearly-full moon rises behind us. The moon lights up the deck so much that we initially thought our night running shield had torn off the forward-facing floodlight.

11/1/2012: Spitfire don't care We've been running against tight 5-6-foot waves on the bow most of the day, with a fair bit of pitching motion as we power through them. Not a big deal, but do need to hold on carefully as we move about. Spitfire, doing his best Honey Badger imitation, just wedges himself somewhere and ignores it. In this picture, he's on the ledge below the starboard corner pilothouse window above the stateroom stairs.

11/2/2012: Another fish Found another fish just outside the port pilothouse door this morning, near where we found the first one. That's a long way to jump up.

11/2/2012: Sunrise Conditions starting to feel decidedly Hawaiian now: temperature in the high 70s night and day, a consistent warm breeze, and a gentle ocean swell. The models indicate the wind and waves might pick up a bit later today and tomorrow, but mostly should be pretty smooth sailing for the remainder of the trip. Only 675 more miles to go.

11/2/2012: Sunset Sunset #8. Conditions remained excellent throughout the day: calm and sunny with a warm tropical breeze.

11/3/2012: Wind The wind has come up in the night and now is blowing steady 20 from the southeast. Waves are about 8' on 5 seconds on the beam. We're mostly just powering through them, however, and aren't losing much speed. Fair bit of boat motion, but the stabilizers are doing their job, and its not uncomfortable. Model indicates winds will ease off by this afternoon.

11/3/2012: Coming out of night mode Just coming out of night mode in the pilothouse as the sun is rising. We don't have to do much: undim the AIS, VHF, autopilot, stabilizer, engine and hydraulics panels, and remove the night shields from the monitors. In this picture, the navigation software still is in dusk mode. In particular we run the radar (2nd from the right) with a blue background, instead of white in day mode.

11/3/2012: Sunrise The wind has lessened a bit, but conditions haven't improved much. We're 500 miles from Hilo though--3/4 of the way there. Looks like we'll arrive sometime on Tuesday the 6th.

11/3/2012: Maunalei Containership Maunalei en route to Hawaii about five miles off to starboard. We saw this ship docked at Oakland when we were at Jack London Square. The only other traffic we've seen the whole trip after our first day out has been container ships, about one every two days. Most have been travelling to/from Hawaii and the US Pacific coast, but one passed about five miles in front on a northerly course to Japan.

11/3/2012: Lunch Chitarra with sauteed pine nuts for lunch. Conditions have settled down--winds are now blowing less than ten from the southwest and the waves are 3-5' on 9-seconds on the beam. Boat motion gentle. Temperature is steady 78F, day and night.

11/3/2012: Sunset Sunset #9. We're getting a push from the current now, and are making excellent speed. A little over 400 miles to go. We might actually have to slow down to avoid arriving at night.

11/3/2012: Passenger A large seabird took up roost on the night running shield for our forward-facing floodlight, and probably was responsible for the bird crap all over our dinghy cover. Neither turning the light on nor sounding the horn distrubed it. Eventually we tried nudging it off with the boat hook, and it squawked and fought back. At that point we were worried it might be hurt, but eventually it grudgingly flew off. Riding is just easier the flying I guess.

11/4/2012: Morning Not much of a sunrise this morning--sky all grey with rain clouds behind us. Conditions excellent though, and we're making good speed. Just over 300 miles left to go. Keep thinking can see lights or land out there, but nothing yet.

11/4/2012: Rain A welcome rainshower has washed away some of our salty crust--we were really coated.

11/4/2012: Another fish Found another fish on the boat this morning.

11/4/2012: Sunset Sunset #10. Just over 200 miles to go. Conditions calm and getting a nice push from the current.

11/5/2012: Rain We're 125 miles out of Hilo now--still can't see land though. It's 84F outside, and we've just passed through one of the brief rainshowers that are common on the windward coast of the Big Island. All the better to rinse away the salt. A few people have asked why we chose to make landfall at Hilo rather than our final destination of Honolulu. Partly Hilo is about 200 miles closer, but the main reason is that its easier to clear Spitfire in at Hilo through Hawaii's Direct Airport Release program.

11/5/2012: Elliott Bay The bulker Elliott Bay (interestingly the same name as the harbor off downtown Seattle where we last moored). The first ship we've seen for two days and we were on a collision course. We radioed them to make passing arrangements and they altered course to pass behind us. We're 68 miles out of Hilo now, but still can't see land--it's pretty clouded in up there.

11/5/2012: Sunset Sunset #11. Not much of a sunset for our last one of the trip. We're now 45 miles from Hilo and still can't see land for the clouds. We'll be arriving after dark, not ideal, but the harbor is well-marked and well-charted. And we can light up the world with floodlights all around. We'll be careful, and if conditions don't feel safe, we'll wait for morning.

11/6/2012: Big waves The seas continued to build overnight--we experienced frequent 20-degree rolls.

11/6/2012: Sunrise One more sunrise before we land.

11/6/2012: Big Island First view of the Big Island in daylight. And with a rainbow--that has to be good luck.

11/6/2012: Aloha Med-moored to the seawall in Radio Bay, Hilo, Hawaii.

Yesterday morning we topped off Dirona’s fuel tanks, put on the storm plates, and locked down the outside furniture. We just cast off from Jack London Square in Oakland and are underway for Hilo, Hawaii. You can track the voyage on the real-time plot at  http://www.mvdirona.com/maps/LocationCurrent.html.

We've been monitoring weather conditions for a couple of weeks (via the NOAA Ocean Prediction Center, the US Navy Forecast Models, and GRIB data downloaded into our chartplotter program, MaxSea). It looks like we'll have pretty decent conditions for the run. The video below shows a visualization of our route in MaxSea through modelled weather conditions using downloaded GRIB data. The GRIB data includes model wind speed, barometric pressure, and wave height, period and direction. The green areas are 5-8' seas, yellow is 9-11', and orange is 12-17' seas. The model shows 5-8' seas for most of the route, with a few points at 10'. And where we do see larger waves, the wave period is 10-11 seconds. Weather data isn't really accurate much beyond five days, so conditions could deteriorate, but so far it looks good.

The decision to spend a few weeks in San Francisco before crossing to Hawaii worked out very well. We'll skip some of the nastier weather that we've been watching hit the northwest coast of Washington state these past few weeks, and we had a great time exploring the Bay area. Below are some of what we've seen, and you also can display these on the map view.

09/12/12: Westpoint Harbor Marina Lunch on deck in our new temporary home. Westpoint Harbor Marina is an impressive new facility with excellent services.

9/14/2012: Quarry Beach, Angel Island State Park We're anchored off the Quarry Beach, south of the remains of Fort McDowell. The anchorage is suprisingly sheltered, given how exposed it looks on the chart. One of the reasons we stopped here is the view in the other direction: to downtown San Franciso and the Bay Bridge. It should look amazing at night.

9/15/2012: Sausalito Police Sausalito Police boat off Pt. Blunt with our view to San Francisco in the background.

9/15/2012: Racoon The US Army Corps of Engineers landing craft Racoon, with a Sausalito Police escort, landed at the dock just south of our anchorage. Several dozen people got off, probably for a tour.

9/15/2012: Outriggers Perhaps twenty outriggers rounded the point later that morning.

9/15/2012: Fort McDowell We set off on a tour of the bay, first around Angel Island. More of the remains of Fort McDowell are visible north of Quarry Point.

9/15/2012: Winslow Cove Old immigration station buildings at Winslow Cove. Several boats were anchored there--the cove has good wind shelter.

9/15/2012: Ayala Cove Ayala Cove is the busiest anchorage on the island. The park has docks and mooring bouys here. To maximize the number of boats on the buoys, boats tie a both bow and stern to different bouys.

9/15/2012: Sailing Sailboats filled the bay--outnumbering powerboats by at least 20:1. The predictable afternoon winds make sailing popular.

9/15/2012: Steep hills Those famous San Francisco hills.

9/15/2012: Camp Reynolds The US Army established Camp Reynolds, south of Point Knox, in 1864.

9/15/2012: Golden Gate Bridge Back under the bridge.

9/15/2012: Golden Gate Yacht Club Home of the America's Cup.

9/15/2012: Ghiradelli building

9/15/2012: Sea lions Sea lions at pier 39.

9/15/2012: The Bay Rocket This boat moves!

9/15/2012: US Navy One of two well-armed US Navy boats that sped past.

9/15/2012: Racing About thirty Porche's and a handful of other cars were running the course at the west end of Almeda Island.

9/15/2012: Hanjin Berlin The Hanjin Berlin unloading at the Port of Oakland.

9/15/2012: Crane operator

9/15/2012: Passing under both Bay Bridges The new Bay bridge is currently under construction beyond the existing bridge.

9/15/2012: Heeled over Sailboat off Treasure Island.

9/15/2012: Richardson Bay The city view from our anchorage at Richardson Bay is even better than last night.

9/15/2012: Gray Matter We had dinner with Christine Guo and Mark Mohler aboard Gray Matter, anchored a short distance away. Mark and Christine had just completed the same trip we did, from Sidney B.C., a couple of weeks earlier.

9/21/2012: Space Shuttle Endeavour The Space Shuttle Endeavour viewed from our flybridge at Westpoint Harbor Marina. The shuttle, mounted to the back of NASA's modified 747, made a low pass over San Francisco this morning en route to its new home at the California Science Center.

9/22/2012: Dumbarton Bridge Heading under the Dumbarton Bridge. We decided to take a short cruise south to anchor for the night. The morning is warm, sunny and calm.

9/22/2012: Bridge supports The criss-crossing supports for the Dumbarton Bridge look rather elegant.

9/22/2012: Aqueduct This aqueduct presumably is for carrying saltwater to the salt ponds.

9/22/2012: Old railway bridge The chart says this railway bridge is permanently open. We can see why--the bridge is rotting away. And at the shore end, the bridge just ends in old pilings.

9/22/2012: Coyote Creek Enjoying the sunny morning on the bow, anchored at the mouth of Coyote Creek. Nearby, down Alviso Slough, is the once-bustling town of Alivso.

9/22/2012: Sunset Sunset with the lights of Palo Alto just starting to glow.

9/23/2012: Breakfast on deck Another calm, warm and sunny morning. This was an excellent anchorage--quiet, private and relaxing. Yesterday's prevailing afternoon winds generated some waves, but they were hardly noticable on board. And another bonus of being at anchor rather than docked is the bow faces into the wind, sheltering the cockpit.

9/28/2012: Robert G. Brownlee The Marine Science Institute research vessel Robert G. Brownlee heading up Redwood Creek as we departed. The 90-foot ship is designed for carrying school students, and a group was on board.

9/28/2012: Team Oracle Racing The Team Oracle Racing's AC72 catamaran out for one of the boat's first test runs. The huge boat, with a sail higher than 130 feet is incredibly fast. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Al Saracevic, following in a high-speed inflatable, reported their chase boat was doing 30 knots at one point and the catamaran was pulling away. Of the four chase boats we saw, some apparently were some manned by spies for the competition, including New Zealand's Emirates Team.

9/28/2012: Coast Guard rescue diver Nearby, the Coast Guard was practicing water rescues. The chopper was right near the waterline for ages. This video shows the diver retrieving the rescue dummy and being hoisted back up.

9/28/2012: Moore 24 National Championship We just barely made it in front of the South Beach Yacht Club's Moore 24 National Championship field as they headed east across the Bay.

9/28/2012: Good wind That steady afternoon Bay wind propels this contender between us and the Bay bridge.

9/28/2012: America Foss Beautiful tractor tug America Foss running south.

9/28/2012: Overseas Anacortes The tanker Overseas Anacortes leaving the tanker port at Point Richmond. The channel there is quite narrow--we passed close by.

9/28/2012: Marshall Foss Marshall Foss with a line running to the stern of the Overseas Anacortes.

9/28/2012: Richmond-San Rafael Bridge The 5.5-mile Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was one of the longest in the world when completed in 1959.

9/28/2012: East Brother Island Light Station The historic light station was build in 1873 and now is a bed-and-breakfast. That would be a wild place to stay.

9/28/2012: Intintoli The high-speed Baylink ferry Intintoli en route to San Francisco from Vallejo. Baylink runs a seemingly contstant stream of ferries from Vallejo-- we see several every time we're out in the bay.

9/28/2012: Rodeo oil refinery A view into the complexity of the Sonoco Phillips refinery at Rodeo. The refinery can produce 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

9/28/2012: C&H Sugar Refinery C&H sugar refinery just east of the Carquinez Bridge. We'll be seeing a lot more C&H facilities in a few weeks when we reach Hawaii.

9/28/2012: Traffic Entering Mare Island Strait behind Baylink'sthe high-speed ferry Solana, that passed us just before entering the strait. And exiting is Baylink's Vallejo.

9/28/2012: View homes These houses that wrong the shore and cliff must have awesome sunset views.

9/28/2012: Wreck Bait Me aground below the cliffs. The wind had been blowing a steady 20 knots from the southeast the past couple of hours. Looks like they can get a lot stronger.

9/28/2012: Shipyard cranes Mare Island once was a Naval shipyard, but now is private.

9/28/2012: Baylink terminal Solana moored at the Baylink's ferry terminal.

9/28/2012: Vallejo Marina Vallejo has a large marine that appears well-maintained.

9/28/2012: Mare Island Drawbridge The Mare Island Drawbridge has a vertical clearance is 13' closed. We expected we'd have to wait a while to get through, since it was close to rush-hour, but the operator opened the bridge right away after we radioed a lift request.

9/28/2012: Tug under Highway 37 bridge The current at both bridges was surprisingly strong, especially at the highway 37 bridge, where the current tended to push the boat north. This tug is coming through on an angle, presumably to work against that north push. We watched from our anchorage just north of Dutchman Slough. The tug anchored nearby around 7pm, then left again sometime in the middle of the night. We're guessing they were waiting for the tide to change.

9/28/2012: Sunset Sunset over the marshes alongside Napa River. The anchorage is a little more open than we were expecting, but we have plenty of swing room compared to anything farther up-river. And once we were settled in, especially after the evening lights came up ashore, we quite liked the spot.

9/29/2012: At anchor on the Napa River Taken from the dinghy before we ran up-river to Napa. It was going to be a beautiful day.

9/29/2012: Edgerly Island At Edgerly Island, the river narrows and feels more intimate. The island is rimmed with houses, docks and boats.

9/29/2012: River anchorage This powerboat was anchored mid-channel, where the river was calm and sheltered.

9/29/2012: Tug again That powerboat's anchorage seemed ideal, except when we went further up-river and saw the tug and barge that anchored near us last night. That would have been a tight squeeze if the powerboat was anchored overnight.

9/29/2012: Estuaries Just short of the city, a couple of estuaries lead off. Each was packed with houses, docks and boats and looked like very nice places to live.

9/29/2012: Waterfowl The river shores are full of wildlife. We didn't see any fish jump, not anyone catch anything, but lots of fishers were on the banks as well.

9/29/2012: Geese A gaggle of geese at Napa.

9/29/2012: Dinghy landing Surprisingly, Napa has nowhere to land a dingy, let alone a larger boat. So we landed at the edge of the Riverfront complex and scrambled up the rocks.

9/29/2012: Napa River from Napa View to the river from the Riverfront complext in downtown Napa.

9/29/2012: Downtown Joe's We had an excellent lunch on the riverfront patio at Downtown Joe's Brewery.

9/29/2012: Milagros We got thirsty after walking about downtown, so stopped for another pint on the patio at Milagros.

9/29/2012: Art Napa has lots of interesting artwork. This one is outside the County of Napa building.

9/29/2012: Wine train The Napa Valley Wine Train at the station.

9/29/2012: Sunset Sunset over Mare Island. We returned downriver to tour the waterfront off Vallejo.

9/29/2012: Coast Guard The area is well protected--three Coast Guard vessels and a police boat were moored at the north end of the marina.

9/29/2012: Dusk Dusk from our anchorage.

9/30/2012: Moonset Moonset the following morning.

9/30/2012: Sunrise

10/2/2012: Dawn Dawn from the boat deck at Westpoint Harbor. We moved the boat temporarily as the marina is bringing a truck in to fuel a number of boats today.

10/5/2012: South Beach Harbor We anchored off AT&T Park, just south of downtown San Franciso to take in Fleet Week and the America's Cup races. We weren't sure how rough the anchorage might get due to boat wakes and the the afternoon winds, but it turned to be fine. And our view, stretching from downtown San Francisco and across the Bay bridge was amazing. And we could see the America's Cup fleet moored nearby: in this panoramic photo their 70-foot masts are visible at the west end of the Bay bridge just left of the carrier USS Makin Island.

10/6/2012: Candlestick Point Yesterday we went to the Blue Angels show and the America's Cup races. Wow, we had a great time. Today the Giants are playing at AT&T stadium, so our anchorage was very busy with ferries from the Oakland side. We moved south to get a nice spot with beautiful views away from the crowds and distractions that we enjoyed so much yesterday. Candlestick Park, home of the San Francison 49ers, is in the background.

10/13/2012: Dawn Dawn looking east towards San Francisco. We anchored for the night just east of Golden Gate, tucked southeast of Fort Point. The occasional large wake bounced the boat a bit, but generally conditions were fine--similar to Blake Island Marine park off Seattle. And the view was amazing--San Francisco one way and the Golden Gate Bridge the other. At night, everything was aglow. Were we to be staying in the Bay area longer, we'd definately anchor here often.

10/13/2012: Sunrise Sunrise over San Francisco.

10/13/2012: Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge in the morning sun.

10/13/2012: Swimmers 180 swimmers were preparing to swim from the St. Francis Yacht Club to Aquatic Park--the large circular basin about a mile east.

10/13/2012: Oakland We're going to spend our last couple of weeks in Oakland for a change of pace. So far, we love it here. While we very much enjoyed the pristine and tranquil moorage at Westpoint Harbor Marina, here we're right in the action. We've got an end-tie with a view to all the passing boat traffic reminiscent of the Ballard Ship Canal in Seattle. We're also just east of the Oakland container port--we love watching the big ships come and go. And we're seconds from the restaurants and shops of Jack London Square, and close to the amenities in Oakland and Alameda.

10/14/2012: Sunset Sunset from our moorage, looking to the Oakland shipping terminal with the Bay bridge and San Francisco just visible in the background.

10/18/2012: Rowers Rowers at dawn, looking east from our boat deck.

10/18/2012: MSC Ivana Tugs turn the MSC Ivana at the container port. The maneuver must be carefully managed as the massive 366m ship barely fits lengthwise in the channel--that's shore right off the bow and stern.

10/23/2012: Groceries A cartload of groceries for the trip to Hawaii--we're on track to leave tomorrow. We just got the cart this week. It's light and easily folds flat for storage, and is super useful where no dock carts are available.

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 on our calendar since we realized our trip to the area would coincide.

We wanted to get Dirona within dinghy distance of the course, so we anchored for the night outside the South Harbor marina breakwater off AT&T park, about three miles from the course. We were weren't sure how rough our anchorage might get due to boat wakes and the afternoon winds, but it turned to be fine. And our view, stretching from downtown San Francisco and across the Bay bridge was amazing. And we could see the America's Cup fleet moored nearby: in the panoramic photo below, their 70-foot masts are visible at the west end of the Bay bridge just left of the carrier USS Makin Island.

Before heading out to the course, we stopped off in "the pits" to check out the boats. Crews already were on board most of them, either preparing the boat or themselves for the afternoon's event.

The carbon-fiber AC45 catamarans are like Formula I race cars--just amazing technology. At 44' long, with a 900 sq. foot wing on a 70' mast, they weigh only 3,000 pounds and can reach speeds of over 30 knots. Their support boats are pretty nice too.

Before the races, we got to see our second Blue Angels show of the year, part of the Fleet Week festivities. We were a little closer to the action this time and had an awesome view. The shoreline and bay were full of people out to see the show as well.

And then for the main event. The racing was exciting--boy those boats move fast--and it was just wild to be there watching on San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

There even was some excitement off the course as well. The boat on the right, maneuvering through the spectators, nearly ran us over in the dinghy before colliding with the sailboat on the left.

After the races, some of the teams towed their boats back to their moorage, but a few sailed back. The boats ran incredibly well in the rough water--just skimming across the surface. We barely could keep up in our 30-knot dinghy, often having to slow down through larger wakes. And with some impressive tight-quarters boat-handling, team Artemis even sailed right onto their buoy.

Shortly after we arrived, the Prada boat was lifted out of the water by crane. We could see a large dent in the side, but weren't sure if that was the reason for lifting it.

The AC45s will race in several venues around the world as part of the Americas Cup World Series. These boats are designed for quick assembly and disassembly to fit in a 40-foot shipping container. The final races, for the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup, will be raced in the massive AC72s. The AC72s are roughly twice the size of the AC45s: 72' long, with a 131' mast and a 2,800 sq.-foot wing area, and weighing 13,000 lbs. Their crew size is 11, compared to 5 on the AC45s. 

We'd seen defending champion team Oracle's AC72 out for its world open-water debut a couple of weeks ago. We clocked them on radar at 31.5 knots, and it will be capable of doing considerably more. We saw team Oracle's AC72 again this past weekend. The huge mast dwarfed the eleven crew below it as the boat sped across the bay.

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 offshore to avoid boat traffic and crab pots. But a storm was brewing with gale-force winds and 14-foot seas predicted between 60 and 250 miles offshore, so we instead ran within 10 miles of shore where better conditions were predicted. The winds still were 30-knot with 12-foot seas, but that was an improvement over the alternative. After about 24 hours of big winds, conditions settled back down and we had a relaxing cruise into the San Francisco area.

To avoid entering the busy San Francisco Bay in the dark, we anchored for a night at Drakes Bay. We had both navigation reasons for delaying our entry, in addition to better photo opportunities. We'd have to first cross the San Francisco bar, best done at slack or on a flood current. During large ebbs, the current there can reach 6 knots. And when ocean storms are pushing waves westward in the opposite direction, steep 20' seas can develop there. Once across the bar, Golden Gate itself is only 0.7 miles across and busy with ship traffic.

We enjoyed the stop at Drakes Bay--steep hills surround the anchorage on three sides, with a view south towards San Francisco. And the entire peninsula forms the Point Reyes National Seashore. Had we not been so eager to reach our destination, we likely would have spent some time exploring ashore, particularly visiting the Point Reyes Lighthouse we'd passed on our way into the bay. But eager to arrive we were, so we left Drakes Bay early the next morning and arrived at the San Francisco bar about an hour before high-water slack.  We had an easy cruise under the bridge, past the city, and south through the Bay. We'll be spending the next few weeks here exploring the area, before continuing on to Hawaii. Our log for the trip is below. You also can display these, along with a detailed route, on the map view.

09/07/12, 8:00pm: Dusk We're at the east entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Conditions are excellent: 6 knots of wind, calms seas and clear skies. The cruise ship Amsterdam just passed heading to Alaska and still is visible in the distance, aglow with light.

09/08/12, 5:00pm: Off Ocean Shores A salmon fishing opening is in effect--we're seeing a lot more traffic than on our previous run to the Columbia River. Conditions settled a bit, but now we're in S 15-knot winds with tight 4-6' seas on the bow. We've got gale-force winds predicted for Mon-Wed, so its definately going to get worse.

09/10/12, 1:00pm: Winds 25-30 knots The bad weather has arrived. Winds are N 25-30, generating tight 7-9' seas. The only good thing as that we are running with the waves, rather than against them, so we're still able to make decent time. Conditions are expected to worsen, with 10-12' seas tonight, and then start to ease off tomorrow morning.

09/10/12, 6:30pm: 15-degree rolls Winds are steady 30 with 10-12' seas. The range in the roll guage pictured is from -20 to +20 in 5-degree increments. Even with hydraulic stablizers running at maximum output, we're still rolling 15 degrees each side.

09/10/12, 8:30pm: Approaching Cape Mendocino Conditions much improved. The wind has dropped to 10-20 knots and the waves to 7-9'. The waves still are big, but aren't nearly as fierce as a couple of hours ago.

09/11/12, 5:10am: North of Fort Bragg Conditions were reasonable rounding Cape Menocino, but worsened not far south. Winds blew 30-knots most of the graveyard shift, with 10-12' seas to match. The wind has again settled back down into the 20s, with mostly 7-9' seas again.

09/11/12, 7:00am: Sunrise The sun just rose on what promises to be a good running day: winds are down to around 10 knots, the waves are 5-6', and the sky is clear and blue.

09/11/12, 12:05pm: Fog The clear skies gave way to a thick fog late this morning. Winds are blowing around 10 from the SW--not much of a problem except we're getting a good saltwater bath from the spray. Our ETA to Golden Gate is the middle of the night, so we're thinking of stopping in Drakes Bay tonight and proceeding through Golden Gate tomorrow morning. Hopefully the fog will lift and we'll actually be able to see the bridge.

09/11/12, 6:20pm: Land ho! The lighthouse at Pt Reyes, hung of the cliff, makes a dramatic display. Land actually has been ho for a while, but this particular land is more interesting to us because we plan to anchor at Drakes Bay for the night.

09/11/12, 7:15pm: Our first California anchorage The engines are off after four days straight, the anchor is down, and the wine is poured. Time for a relaxing meal and a full night's sleep. For our first California anchorage, it's a pretty nice one. Steep hills are on three sides and we have a clear view south towards San Francicso.

09/12/12, 6:44am: Heading to Golden Gate Got up just before sunrise and we're all excited to be heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge (even Spitfire).

09/12/12, 9:20am: Pilot Boat San Francisco We're in the lanes with the Golden Gate Bridge just visible in the distance. Conditions are overcost, but not socked in.

09/12/12, 10:00am: Approaching Golden Gate

09/12/12: Passing under the Golden Gate Bridge

09/12/12: Fort Point Masonry fort under the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

09/12/12: San Francisco

09/12/12: Alcatraz Island

09/12/12: Port of San Francisco

09/12/12: Passing under the Bay Bridge

09/12/12: Westpoint Harbor Marina Lunch on deck in our new temporary home. Westpoint Harbor Marina is an impressive new facility with excellent services.

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 leave Seattle and travel through the North Pacific in November during the winter storm season. So we'll first be travelling to the San Francisco area to stay there temporarily for 4-6 weeks until we cross over to Hawaii in October. This also puts us 200 miles closer--Hawaii is about 2,200 miles from San Francisco and about 2,400 from the Seattle area. The prevailing winds and currents are better on this more southerly route as well.

We've just finished a new feature on the web site that shows a real-time plot of Dirona's location. A small version of the live chart is on the blog site above, and a large one is at:  http://www.mvdirona.com/maps/LocationCurrent.html. In the image at right (click to enlarge it), the blue line is the plot of our track. Each blue square on the line shows the time and speed at that location if you put the cursor on them. And the red square with the star shows our current location. The blue paddle icons represents a log entry along the way, the red one being the most recent. Click on a paddle to see details for that entry. Each map also has a refresh button that you can click to refresh just the map data (rather than the whole page).

As we sail south, we're leaving one of the most beautiful cruising areas in the world and perhaps the nicest marina we've ever stayed at. Bell Harbor Marina, in the core of downtown Seattle, is a special place. Below are some of what we've seen since our cruise on the Columbia and Snake River system. You also can display these on the map view.

05/17/12: Echo Bay, Sucia Island Sucia Island is one of our long-time favorite anchorages in the San Juan Islands. A few early-season boats are here, and the beautiful tractor tug Lindsay Foss preceded us in. We suspect it is waiting for a ship to escort into Anacortes.

05/18/12: Cap Sante Boat Haven, Anacortes At Anacortes for Trawler Fest. We'll be presenting Saturday morning.

05/19/12: Padilla Bay Maersk Cameron at the Anacortes refinery near our anchorage in Padilla Bay

05/21/12: Pier 57 Ferris Wheel The Pier 57 Ferris Wheel, still under construction, viewed from our moorage at Bell Harbor.

05/25/12: Tramp Harbor Beachcombing during low tide at Point Heyer.

05/26/12: Morning sun Calm waters off the KVI tower.

05/27/12: Divers Scuba divers at the fish haven off Point Heyer.

05/27/12: Murden Cove Landslide off our anchorage at Murden Cove. Shoring that up looks like an expensive operation.

06/01/12: Celebrity Infinity Celebrity Infinity leaving its berth at pier 66 as we leave ours.

06/08/12: Hanjin Geneva The Hanjin Geneva en route from Seattle, viewed from our anchorage at Murden Cove.

06/15/12: Bell Street Classic Weekend The classic wooden yacht Olympus coming alongside for the Bell Street Classic Weekend shortly before we left the marina for Murden Cove.

06/16/12: Ballard Locks Returning out through the big lock after picking up a a load of fuel this morning at Covich-Williams. The small lock temporarily is closed. They sure pack a lot of boats in there--and this isn't even a busy day.

06/18/12: Old engines ... ... don't like starting.

06/18/12: Norwegian Pearl When the cruise ships leave pier 66, you can almost touch them from the Edgewater Hotel patio.

07/03/12: Hydroplane Mini hydroplane tearing through Quartermaster Harbor.

07/06/12: Celebrity Infinity Celebrity Infinity coming alongside at pier 66 early this morning.

07/06/12: Sunset Sunset from Yukon Harbor.

07/08/12: Morning Looking west from Yukon Harbor in the early morning light.

07/08/12: Boat inspection Department of Fish and Wildlife on a boat inspection.

07/13/12: Rich Passage I Kitsap Transit's fast ferry Rich Passage I en route from Seattle to Bremerton.

07/13/12: Sunset Sunset from the anchorage.

07/15/12: USCGC Stratton The piracy threat level is probably about -2 at Bell Harbor today with the 418-foot US Coast Guard Cutter Stratton moored alongside.

07/16/12: Into the fog The US Coast Guard Cutter Stratton heading into a foggy Puget Sound this morning.

07/16/12: Fire boat Testing the pumping systems off Pier 66.

07/20/12: Blakely Harbor David Baker sent us this picture he took of Dirona anchored at Blakely Harbor with the Seattle skyline in the background.

07/27/12: Silverdale We're anchored at the head of Dyes Inlet for Silverdale's annual Whaling Days. The public dock is packed for the event.

07/27/12: Fireworks Friday-night fireworks at Silverdale's Whaling Days. The show was impressive: we were only a few hundred yards away from the barge and felt like we were right underneath.

07/28/12: The Joey James Dean Band The Joey James Dean Band on stage Saturday night at Silverdale's Whaling Days.

07/31/12: Nearly-full moon A nearly-full moon rising over the Seattle skyline next to the mast of the HMCS Oriole.

08/01/12: Oriole and Halsey HMCS Oriole in front of the destroyer USS Halsey. They're here for Seafair weekend.

08/01/12: Bringing in the colors Bringing in the colors on the USS Halsey.

08/05/12: On the TravelLift Getting lifted for anti-fouling paint at Canal Boatyard.

08/12/12: Racoons Racoons gathering breakfast at low tide off Blakely Island. At least a dozen are out there.

08/12/12: Parasailer Parasailer just lifting above the city, viewed from the dinghy in Elliott Bay.

08/17/12: Sunrise Sunrise over Seattle this morning.

08/23/12: And you think your salon is small ... Last night we watched the occupant of this tent stow all manner of gear in his craft, moored along the tribal docks at Bell Harbor. It looks like he's heading of for a big trip.

08/27/12: Dawn Seattle at dawn as we approach Bell Harbor this morning from Blakely Harbor.

08/30/12: Moonrise Moonrise over Port Madison.

08/31/12: Dawn Dawn as we leave Port Madison heading towards Hood Canal.

08/31/12: Fishers Fishers packed Point No Point this morning. Even more are outside the picture frame.

08/31/12: Sea monster This driftwood sea monster has been on Pt. Hannon as long as we've been visiting Hood Canal.

08/31/12: Hood Canal Bridge Heading under the Hood Canal bridge. The clearance is 30', but we had about 5' to spare on a 7' tide.

08/31/12: Bangor Fog lifting over the Ballistic submarine sevice hanger at Bangor.

08/31/12: Wild ride Enjoying the warm weather and calm seas off Sunset Beach.

08/31/12: Nightfall The head of Hood Canal is a much cozier-feeling anchorage than the chart implies--we quite like it. We were here two years ago for July 4th and had a great time. A few small boats buzz about during the day, but nobody else is anchored--the place is calm and silent at night. And this time we had a visitor: Rachel, who co-owns one of the nearby houses, paddled out with a bottle of wine to introduce herself, and came on board for an enjoyable visit.

09/02/12: Sunrise Sunrise from Lilliwaup Bay.

09/02/12: Whitney Point We're tucked against the shore in a small cove off the Whitney Point spit. The anchorage is a little deep and tight for swing room close to shore, but its such a pretty spot that we had to make it work.

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 race and many of the supporting events take place inside the Ballard Locks on Lake Washington, but one is located right at Bell Harbor Marina where we moor: the Boeing Maritime Celebration. Two of the participating vessels, the destroyer USS Halsey and the HMCS Oriole, had been moored at pier 66 much of the week.

Rather than leave for a weekend anchorage as we usually do Friday night, we opted to stay at Bell Harbor Marina to tour the ships Saturday morning. The pictures below are looking across Dirona to the Halsey from shore, and looking back the other way from the pier 66 breakwater just before we boarded the destroyer. The breakwater is a secure area and, even though we'd live at pier 66 for over three years, this was the first time we'd actually been up there.

The 509' Halsey was launched in 2005 and is capable of speeds exceeding 30 knots. The firepower on board is formidable. The 5-inch gun below is accurate to 13 miles. At right is a close-up view of the gun's remote-operated guidance system, above the bridge on the ship's stack.

The ship can launch a variety of missiles, including Tomahawks, from the bay at left below, and also has two tubes for launching torpedoes. And it carries two MK III Helicopters that are moved on and off deck on the tracks shown below right.

Up to 11 50-caliber machine guns can be mounted on deck, with an additional 2 40-caliber machine bugs on the bridge.

The bridge is packed with navigation and control equipment. It also has the only windows on the ship, but they aren't very large.

After touring the Halsey, we returned the marina to board the HMCS Oriole, moored inside the marina. The wooden sailing ship was built in 1921, originally as a pleasure craft, and was later donated to the Canadian Navy. The Oriole is both the oldest vessel in the Canadian Naval fleet, and the longest serving. The vessel is used for training purposes and for public relations. As you would expect from a navy vessel, the boat was maintained beautifully.

We left Bell Harbor after our tours to anchor for the night. To provide security for the destroyer, all vessels required a Coast Guard escort to enter or leave the marina.

Sunday morning, we locked through to freshwater en route to Canal Boatyard for anti-fouling paint. The locks were packed with small boats, presumably heading to Seafair on Lake Washington. At bottom right we are moored along the wall at the boatyard.

We've never had any desire to take our main boat to the events at Seafair--it's a bit of madhouse--but we figured it would be fun to take the dinghy to see the US Navy Blue Angels performance. We've not before seen so much traffic in the waterway en route to Lake Washington--even with a 7-knot speed limit, the water was pretty chopped up from wakes. And when we left the speed-limit area, the wakes from all the boat traffic were huge. At first we thought it was wind waves, but the water calmed once we reached the area where most of the boats were stopped.

Literally thousands of boats were there for the Blue Angels show.

And what a show it was. The jets fly incredibly close to each other, and so close to us sometimes we could clearly see the pilots inside.

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 visited with friends, visited the impressive Columbia River Maritime Museum, and enjoyed the view from Astoria Column high above the town (pictured above). At Illwaco we toured Cape Disappointment State Park and the surrounding area by bike, and went to another excellent museum, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. This is the first trip where we've use our bikes so much--they've opened up some sidetrips that would have been difficult or impossible otherwise.

And then it was time to return home. Our return trip across the bar was even more uneventful than our entry--conditions were very calm. We encountered a bit of rough water off the west coast of Washington, but that didn't last long and soon we were inside the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the wind behind us.

Here's our log from Portland to the San Juan Islands. You also can display these on the map view.

05/11/12: Hawthorne Bridge Passing under the Hawthorne Lift Bridge at dawn.

05/11/12: Samuel Island Bridge We took Multnomah Channel back downriver. Houseboats, most very nice, and farmland line the majority of the shores, making for a tranquil run. Several parks with docks, and small marinas, also were enroute. Were it later in the day, we'd likely have stopped somewhere along the channel.

05/11/12: Old farm building Old farm building near Coon Island.

05/11/12: Hanjin Madrid Passing the Hanjin Madrid at a tight spot in the channel.

05/11/12: 1,800 hours Just crossed 1,800 hours on the main engine. We've used the boat a lot in the past 2.5 years.

05/11/12: R/V Quinnat One of two NOAA research vessels working near Puget Island.

05/11/12: Miller Sands Anchored for the night off sandy dunes in the Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge. The many sandy islands in the area are a nice bonus of river dredging. We quite enjoyed this anchorage. Although we were close to the traffic lanes, the wakes from passing container ships wasn't a problem. We suspect this was due to the ships slowing slightly for the corner, and the wakes at different angles cancelling each other out, similar to Rich Passage.

05/12/12: Port of Astoria, West Basin Going to spend a night or two in Astoria.

05/12/12: Cape Disappointment The Coast Guard motor lifeboat Cape Disappointment entering the marina.

05/12/12: Flat Earth We were one of three Nordhavns in the harbor. This is Nordhavn 50 Flat Earth.

05/12/12: Susan J The last Nordhavn 62 ever built, Susan J, was the third Nordhavn at the marina. Steve (shown) and Beverly Creagan previously owned a Nordhavn 40 and a 47 and are one of only two Nordhavn owners to have had boats built in all three PAE boatyards.

05/12/12: Columbia Columbia Bar pilot boat Columbia. This is one of two two state-of-the-art, 30-knot pilot boats that work the bar. A third pilot boat carries river pilots to and from ships that are across the bar. The Columbia fuels every day, and were normally would fuel at the commercial dock, but it's closed Sunday so they were fueling at the mooring basin instead.

05/12/12: Another Columbia This looks like a pilot boat, and certainly has the right name. Possibly it's out of service and has been restored.

05/12/12: Company Christine Guo and Mark Mohler, of Nordhavn 62 Gray Matter, flew up from San Francisco to visit us in Astoria.

05/13/12: Astoria Column In the morning before Mark and Christine flew back home, we all went up to take in the view from the Astoria Column. The 125-foot column stands on a hill above the city with sweeping views.

05/13/12: View from the top Today was an excellent day to be up the tower. We've realy had amazingly good weather.

05/13/12: Enjoying the view

05/13/12: Hanjin Madrid The Hanjin Madrid heading out to the bar, with another ship visible in the distance. This is the same ship that passed us inbound a couple of days ago--that was a fast turnaround.

05/13/12: Queen of the West The last day we would see the Queen of the West. A number of its passengers had taken a bus up to the tower from the waterfront.

05/13/12: Heading back down A tight spiral 166-step staircase leads to the top.

05/13/12: Sunday Market Astoria has an healthy streetfront Sunday market covering several blocks. Wares ranged from fresh produce and flowers, to prepared foods, to arts and crafts.

05/13/12: In remembrance Plaque honoring bar pilots lost on the bar--its a dangerous job.

05/13/12: Marking the entrance The original Columbia River lightship that marked the Columbia River entrance, and the 60-foot navigational buoy that replaced it in 1979. Both are displays at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Tours of the lightship are included with museum admission.

05/13/12: USCG cutters Two 210-foot Coast Guard Cutters, Steadfast and Alert, also were moored off the museum. And much to our delight, they were open for tours.

05/13/12: USCGC Steadfast Crewmember Latham took us on an excellent tour of the Steadfast. This is the very large gun on the ship's bow.

05/13/12: The bridge We were able to see most of the ship, except the engine room.

05/13/12: The Wet Dog Time for lunch. We had a good meal on the deck of the Astoria Brewing Company's Wet Dog Cafe, a short distance from the museum.

05/13/12: Astoria Trolley While we were having lunch, we heard the distinctive sound of a trolley car. And sure enough, along came the Astoria Riverfront Trolley. The restored 1913 trolley runs back and forth for 2.6 miles along the Astoria waterfront, pushing or pulling its generator power source. Several regular stops are along the way, or you can flag it down anywhere. The trolley has no set schedule, but you can track it via GPS.

05/13/12: River Pilot The river pilot boat, still running and just pushed into the pier.

05/13/12: Columbia River Maritime Museum We spent the rest of the afternoon at the impressive Columbia River Maritime Museum. This is a detailed model of the Tidewater tug The Chief, a boat we frequently encountered on our trip up and down river.

05/13/12: Shipwrecks This display shows known shipwrecks at the Columbia River bar. Details of each indicident are on the board below--you can push a a button next to a ship's name to light up the location where it wrecked.

05/13/12: Motor lifeboat 44300 One of the most dramatic displays is the original motor lifeboat prototype, 44300, mounted on a sharp angle to depict a rescue at sea. It's part of a larger exhibit on the USCG lifesaving at the bar.

05/13/12: Riverfront walk Astoria has a wonderful riverfront promenade that runs from the marina about a mile into and through downtown. This also is where the trolley runs. The walk was most enjoyable and only marginally slower than the trolley, which averages about five miles an hour.

05/13/12: Bridgewater We had an excellent meal that evening at the acclaimed Bridgwater Bistro next to the marina.

05/13/12: Sunset Sunset viewed from the flybridge.

05/14/12: Sunrise Sunrise behind the Astoria-Megler Bridge as we leave the boat basin.

05/14/12: Chinook The second bar pilot boat, Chinook, returning from the bar.

05/14/12: USCG Cape Disappointment Motor lifeboats at Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment.

05/14/12: Port of Illwaco Moored at Illwaco to bike into Cape Disappointment State Park. Before looking at the charts in detail, we were thinking of anchoring off the park in Baker Bay and running the dinghy ashore. But depths in the bay are mostly less than a fathom, except for a dredged channel into the port. We could still have run the dinghy from the dock, but the bikes give us more flexibility.

05/14/12: Jessie's Jessie's Illwaco Fish Company has been shipping seafood worldwide for over forty years. They apparently are the largest buyer of albacore tuna in the world, with fisherman delivering catch from as far away as Midway Island in the central Pacific.

05/14/12: Cape Disappointment State Park At the trailhead to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, roughly a two-mile pedal by road from Illwaco.

05/14/12: Old building Old building along the trail to the lighthouse. We couldn't guess its purpose--perhaps it was use as a workshop or for storage.

05/14/12: Cape Disappointment Lighthouse At the lighthouse we first saw a few weeks back on our entry to the Columbia River.

05/14/12: Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, also in the Cape Disappointment State Park, perched on a bluff northwest of the lighthouse.

05/14/12: Observation room Four Coast Guardsmen were in this observation hut below the lighthouse. This likely is where the Coast Guard determines bar conditions.

05/14/12: Motor lifeboats Far below, four motor lifeboats appeared to be doing training exercises.

05/14/12: Binoculars The men in the observation room were studing the scene with a massive set of binoculars. We've been told you can see craters on the moon with them.

05/14/12: Snack Having a snack at the lighthouse with a view east to Jetty A.

05/14/12: At the interpetive center After the lighthouse, we biked a short distance to the interpretive center.

05/14/12: View to lighthouse View to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse from the interpretive center.

05/14/12: Fort Canby The interpretive center is built into the ruins of Fort Canby. Battery Allen, shown, is of similar construction to the Puget Sound forts we've visited closer to home.

05/14/12: Munitions room Underground munitions room.

05/14/12: Lewis and Clark's journey The interpretive center had an excellent display of Lewis and Clark's journey from the east coast through to the Pacific Ocean. We both were quite impressed. Part of what made the display so good was personal anecdotes and journal entries from the various members of the expedition.

05/14/12: Waikiki Beach From the interpretive center, we biked out to North Jetty. This is Waikiki Beach--yes, that's really the name--en route. The south-facing cove must take a pounding during winter storms, judging by all that driftwood.

05/14/12: Benson Beach Soft-sand Benson Beach at the foot of North Jetty.

05/14/12: Lunch Enjoying the waves over lunch along North Jetty.

05/14/12: Discovery Trail The 8.2-mile Discovery Trail leads between Ilwaco and Long Beach. We picked up the trail just inside the park at Beards Hollow. The trail is wide, well-paved and immaculate, as if someone trimmed and swept it every day. Much of the trail runs along the ocean with sweeping views--it felt like highway 101 for bikes.

05/14/12: Gray whale skeleton Skeleton of a 38-foot juvenile gray whale that washed ashore at Long Beach in 2000.

05/14/12: Boardwalk A wonderful boardwalk runs along the beach at Long View.

05/14/12: Condor scuplture Condor scuplture at the trailhead in Ilwaco.

05/15/12, 5:50am: Sand Island Susan Rae following us out of Illwaco. We'll be crossing the bar soon--it's open to all traffic with seas 2-4 feet everywhere.

05/15/12, 6:41am: Columbia River Buoy 1 Just passed the first buoy at the bar entrance--we're through. Conditions were pretty good the whole way.

05/16/12, 8:48am: Traffic We saw little to no traffic between the Columbia River and Cape Flattery, but lots in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

05/17/12: Echo Bay, Sucia Island Sucia Island is one of our long-time favorite anchorages in the San Juan Islands. A few early-season boats are here, and the beautiful tractor tug Lindsay Foss preceded us in. We suspect it is waiting for a ship to escort into Anacortes.

05/18/12: Cap Sante Boat Haven, Anacortes At Anacortes for Trawler Fest. We'll be presenting Saturday morning.

05/19/12: Padilla Bay Maersk Cameron at the Anacortes refinery near our anchorage in Padilla Bay

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 was even more unfriendly to bicycles and pedestrians than Ice Harbor was: the Army Corps of Engineers wouldn’t allow us in unless we could produce a motor vehicle. But we had an excellent bike ride along the old highway and saw many waterfalls that day and the next: Ruckel Creek, Wahclella, Multnomah, Dutchman, Ecola, Fairy and Wakheena. And we hiked to 2,500' Devil's rest for sweeping views up and down the river. We also got a close-up view to the sternwheeler Queen of the West, tied alongside as we went through the Bonneville Lock.

Here's our log from Hood River to Portland. You also can display these on the map view.

05/08/12: Flume Broughton Lumber Company flume just east of Drano Lake. Between 1922 and 1986 the flume carried logs from a sawmill to a finishing plant nine miles away.

05/08/12: Mitchell Pt The scenery has been pretty impressive most of the trip.

05/08/12: Queen of the West The sternwheeler we saw earlier in Richland, Queen of the West, moored at Stevenson. We didn't know it, but we'd be getting a lot closer view of that boat tomorrow.

05/08/12: Entering Port of Cascade Marina We're back at Cascade Locks to bike along the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail to the Bonneville Dam. The marina entrance is narrow, with opposing wind and currents. And once past the narrow entrance, you have to make an immediate right turn onto the transient dock. That's when you find out if the docks have space or if you have to back out.

05/08/12: Tight squeeze We had a bit of a tight squeeze getting in this time--sailboats were docked on both sides of the fairway. It made getting through the entry look easy.

05/08/12: Trailhead Breakfast at the trailhead beside the Bridge of the Gods.

05/08/12: On the trail The Historic Columbia River Highway was built as a scenic route in the 1920s, but quickly fell into disuse when vehicle traffic increased and was closed when I-84 opened. Starting in the 1980s, large portions have been restored for car traffic. The section we're on, from Cascade Locks to Moffett Creek, is open to cyclists and pedestrians only. The trail is wonderful, and its nice not to worry about vehicle traffic.

05/08/12: Sheridan State Park Interpretive signs are all along the trail, detailing the highway's history.

05/08/12: Ruckel Creek Falls Old bridge over the falls at Ruckel Creek.

05/08/12: Eagle Creek Hatchery A major hatchery is at Eagle Creek. When we were there, the tanks held 4.5 million Chinook smolt.

05/08/12: Stairs Just beyond the hatchery, an old flight of stairs was the only real obstacle on the path. Our bikes are light, so carrying them up wasn't difficult.

05/08/12: Lookout Enjoying the view from one of the old highway lookouts. The old road really was beautifully done.

05/08/12: View View to the lock and dam from the lookout.

05/08/12: Old lock The original navigation lock, no longer in use.

05/08/12: New lock The new navigation lock that we passed through earlier on the trip and will pass through tomorrow.

05/08/12: Bonneville Lock and Dam We were quite excited to have arrived and were really looking forward to touring the visitor center. It is supposed to be the best of them all. But Bonneville is even more pedestrian and cyclist unfriendly than Ice Harbor was. If you arrive in a gas-guzzler, you're good to go. But you are not allowed to walk or pedal to the visitor center.

05/08/12: Lock gates We could visit parts of the site, including Robins Island, but some areas were closed to cyclists and pedestrians. This is the view to the lock gate from the bridge to Robins Island over the lock entrance channel.