Author: boots

From the end of the last exciting chapter (visit from the parents), it’s been an enjoyable but speedy trip north and east to Alaska. Our last few months can be separated into three legs. The first leg was from central Honschu (the main Japanese Island) north to the tip of Hokkaido. The second was from…

Well- it’s been a while since our last blog post, and we have been savoring the experience of being in Japan. We slowly worked our way north up the west coast of Kyushu, Honschu, and now Hokkaido, through the Sea of Japan. If you’re wondering where we are on a map- it’s the left side…

There we were, with a bigger chunk of solid ground under our feet than we’d seen since leaving Baja. That chunk of ground is the southern end of the Ryukyu island chain, which extends from mainland Japan almost to Taiwan, separating the South China Sea from the Philippine Sea. For the map inclined, we made…

As usual, it’s been a while. But then again, we’ve been a bit busy with lots of sailing. From the last post (Kiribati) we made our way up to Majuro, in the Marshall Islands. After a 2-week wait for a permit to visit outer islands, we finagled one and visited Ailingilalap for Christmas. The next…

*pronounced Kiribas – there is no “S” in the written language, so “ti” has the “S” sound- eg Kiribati being pronounced Kiribas, or Betio = Beso ) Language lesson complete. Remember how that last blog post ended with us thinking that the south pacific convergence zone (SPCZ = squalls and icky weather) was south of…

From Tonga, a quick and truly wonderful sail took us north from Tonga about 350nm to Uvea- Wallis Island. The sailing was as good as it gets, a beam reach in 15ish knots of wind with dead flat seas and reasonable temperatures for 3 days. We couldn’t go over 5.5 knots and still arrive in…

Since we had such a good time in Tonga, I decided to do a little bit more posting. First a video with a certain emphasis, then a bunch of photos that I didn’t download earlier. Don’t worry though – we’re working on catching the blog up to present day (we are in Majuro in the…

What time is it? Its TONGA TIME! Well – not quite that beautiful yet, but we will get there. After rolling our way across the “dangerous middle”, Sophie and I had about 10 days of exploring before she had to wing her way back for a visit in Oregon. We decided to make the most…

They call it the “dangerous middle”! That was enough to get us all hot and bothered when reading the cruising guide as the wind buffeted us around at Bora Bora. Apparently this section is right in the middle of the South Pacific, and it’s dangerous maybe because of the middle, or maybe because there are…

The last episode had the good ship Kuaka happily anchored on Ahe Atoll in the Tuamotus. A lot has happened since then. First, the wind went in a perfect 360 degree shift, necessitating some exploring on the far side of Ahe. Anyone who has driven around a deep-to shoreline with huge coral bommies (more like…

On the move again! After a quick haul out and trip home from the most remote boatyard in the world (Hiva Oa) – we’re on the move again. And this time “we” isn’t just me, Kuaka and some stuffed animals. My parents flew to French Polynesia and are aboard for the trip to Tahiti. It’s…

Here are a few things you can find in the middle of the Pacific ocean: Number 5 in particular shaped a great ocean passage with an unexpected landfall at the terminus. I know – I’m terrible at posting to this blog – but despite the long silence all is well. Kuaka is still afloat and…

How time flies! Two months ago we were scrambling with last minute preparation for departure from Seattle. It was drizzly and cold, with snow right down to the water. Friends from Oregon couldn’t even make it to our going away party due to snow on I5! The snow stuck with us as far south as…

After almost a month down the Pacific coast of the US, we headed off from San Diego in the late afternoon. Our next port was Ensanada, required for entry into Mexico. We had lost 2 crewmembers to the wiley ways of San Diego (good food, rainy weather, airport, flights home), so Bryce, Peter and I…

Since the last exciting episode of “where are the Kuakites”, we made our way from Point Conception through the beautiful Channel Islands, from northwest to southeast, and ended up setting foot on continental ground again in San Diego- for the first time since Crescent City. Apparently we only like touching the continent at the very…

No – we didn’t go back to Oregon, where most of the state is 70 degrees and sunny this week! We continued south after 6 days in Crescent City. We visited the coffee shops, cheese store, grocery store, historical society museum, a lighthouse, and a good selection of the town’s restaurants including the Chart Room,…

After almost 3 years of preparation, we’re off! All the last minute grocery shopping, boat packing, med kit organizing, boat cleaning, saying goodbye, returning marina keys- I hope that we remembered it all. I even remembered to decorate my V-berth bunk with some great art from Arlo and Nayeli, and we picked up our windpilot…

When we became Kuaka’s new people, she had a “HydroForce” PVC inflatable with a hard aluminum floor that came apart in pieces. Putting it together went something like this: (#*U$*#U *#$*#&$ *#**@*@&#&(@boots Clearly the process was neither fit for print or for our future cruising adventures. We quickly sold it to a guy on our…

Here are a bunch of photos from Homer to Glacier Bay in 2021. I’ll try to dig up some for the stretch from Glacier Bay to Seattle.

The to-do list doesn’t seem to get any shorter! In fact, every time I turn around, it seems to have gained a bullet point or two. Order this, check that. Today’s scare was that the steering seemed to have a bit of play in it. Turns out that I just greased it well enough that…