GP Currently at Salmon Bay Marina, Seattle, Washington
47 39.71N 122 23.17W
Ahoy! Greetings Cruisers and Landlubbers alike to the ‘Grey Pearl’ website blog!
If you haven’t heard…we’re about to embark on one of the most ambitious cruising adventures in the nine years we’ve owned our Nordhavn boat. Presently, the boat is resting in Salmon Bay Marina on Lake Union in beautiful Seattle, WA. Braun has long dreamed of taking our boat to Japan. His Father served in the Naval MAG group in Tokyo during his high school years, and Braun lived in Tokyo for three years and has many fond memories. I can understand that as I remember how much I enjoyed living in Lima, Peru during my high school years when my Father served as a Military Attaché to the American Embassy.
Initially, I was astonished after brushing up on my geography to discover where Japan is…ok – let’s just say a world away. We discussed the voyage at length and I had some conditions…we had to have at least one or two boats join us ‘safety in numbers’ has served us well in the past on extended passages – e.g. the Atlantic, and of course the socialization aspect is highly appealing to me!…it’s that whole “pppeopppple need people”…or, at least, I need people! Also, I wanted to request that we not have a prolonged passage – all day, all night, no land-kinda passage beyond 7 to 8 days. I can and have done more, but I prefer not to.
Soooo…Braun sprung into action. Last spring, 2008, we approached, Ken and Roberta Williams who crossed the Atlantic with us on the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally in 2004 on their Nordhavn 62, ‘Sans Souci’. They have since bought a larger Nordhavn 68 also, called ‘San Souci. Ken wrote a book after the Atlantic crossing, and he has quite a following on his blog: http://www.kensblog.com/aspx/m509305
They found the idea intriguing and signed up for the trip. The other couple of the three boats is Steve and Carol Argosy. They own a boat just like ours, a Nordhavn 62 named ‘Seabird’. We met Steve & Carol the summer of 2003 while cruising in Martha’s Vineyard. At that time, they had only owned the boat a few short months. Fast forward, they now live aboard and have cruised extensively throughout the east coast of the United States, southern Caribbean, Central America, Panama Canal, Mexico, California, NW Pacific and Alaska. We had the pleasure spending some time cruising alongside ‘Seabird’ last summer in British Colombia. After the summer of 2008 cruise, their plans were to head back south to a warmer climate, Mexico, Central America, etc. They tried to convince us (ok – Braun…I was easily sold) to join them. A few weeks after we left the boat in Seattle for the winter, we got a call from Steve and Carol…they were seriously considering joining us after all. This was the icing on the cake!!
We have dubbed our rally as ‘The Great Siberian Sushi Run’.
So now you know the players…now onto our route.
We set off late April ’09 and make way for Alaska, then heading west along the chain of Aleutian Islands cross the Bering Sea…can you say Discovery Channel “The Deadliest Catch” scary, to the Kamchatka peninsula – ok, Western Siberia, Russia, then south along the Kiril Islands to Hokkaido, Japan.
From time to time, we will update our website with stories, experiences with some marine & nautical speak that we hope you’ll find of interest. For now, we are working our endless “to do” list here in Seattle and hoping we get to see more of the sun than when we were here last in the fall!
Stay tuned…
47 39.71N 122 23.17W
Ahoy! Greetings Cruisers and Landlubbers alike to the ‘Grey Pearl’ website blog!
If you haven’t heard…we’re about to embark on one of the most ambitious cruising adventures in the nine years we’ve owned our Nordhavn boat. Presently, the boat is resting in Salmon Bay Marina on Lake Union in beautiful Seattle, WA. Braun has long dreamed of taking our boat to Japan. His Father served in the Naval MAG group in Tokyo during his high school years, and Braun lived in Tokyo for three years and has many fond memories. I can understand that as I remember how much I enjoyed living in Lima, Peru during my high school years when my Father served as a Military Attaché to the American Embassy.
Initially, I was astonished after brushing up on my geography to discover where Japan is…ok – let’s just say a world away. We discussed the voyage at length and I had some conditions…we had to have at least one or two boats join us ‘safety in numbers’ has served us well in the past on extended passages – e.g. the Atlantic, and of course the socialization aspect is highly appealing to me!…it’s that whole “pppeopppple need people”…or, at least, I need people! Also, I wanted to request that we not have a prolonged passage – all day, all night, no land-kinda passage beyond 7 to 8 days. I can and have done more, but I prefer not to.
Soooo…Braun sprung into action. Last spring, 2008, we approached, Ken and Roberta Williams who crossed the Atlantic with us on the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally in 2004 on their Nordhavn 62, ‘Sans Souci’. They have since bought a larger Nordhavn 68 also, called ‘San Souci. Ken wrote a book after the Atlantic crossing, and he has quite a following on his blog: http://www.kensblog.com/aspx/m509305
They found the idea intriguing and signed up for the trip. The other couple of the three boats is Steve and Carol Argosy. They own a boat just like ours, a Nordhavn 62 named ‘Seabird’. We met Steve & Carol the summer of 2003 while cruising in Martha’s Vineyard. At that time, they had only owned the boat a few short months. Fast forward, they now live aboard and have cruised extensively throughout the east coast of the United States, southern Caribbean, Central America, Panama Canal, Mexico, California, NW Pacific and Alaska. We had the pleasure spending some time cruising alongside ‘Seabird’ last summer in British Colombia. After the summer of 2008 cruise, their plans were to head back south to a warmer climate, Mexico, Central America, etc. They tried to convince us (ok – Braun…I was easily sold) to join them. A few weeks after we left the boat in Seattle for the winter, we got a call from Steve and Carol…they were seriously considering joining us after all. This was the icing on the cake!!
We have dubbed our rally as ‘The Great Siberian Sushi Run’.
So now you know the players…now onto our route.
We set off late April ’09 and make way for Alaska, then heading west along the chain of Aleutian Islands cross the Bering Sea…can you say Discovery Channel “The Deadliest Catch” scary, to the Kamchatka peninsula – ok, Western Siberia, Russia, then south along the Kiril Islands to Hokkaido, Japan.
From time to time, we will update our website with stories, experiences with some marine & nautical speak that we hope you’ll find of interest. For now, we are working our endless “to do” list here in Seattle and hoping we get to see more of the sun than when we were here last in the fall!
Stay tuned…
Hi Tina and Braun:
Howard and I think about you every day. We miss seeing you and wish you a safe journey on your trip of a lifetime.
The Kelseys
Our MOST adventurous boating friends! Good luck, bon voyage – keep up the great blogs.
Judy and Bill aboard JUBILEE (Key Largo, just back from Exumas)
Hasta la vista……baby. Have a great trip. Scott & Mary m/y Egret