SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

Vessel Name: Panta Rhei
Vessel Make/Model: Able Apogee 50
Hailing Port: Seattle
Crew: Larry and Karen
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18 September 2017 | Seattle
23 August 2017 | Prince Rupert
15 August 2017 | Anan Bear Observatory
19 July 2017 | Petersburg, AK
17 June 2017 | Hoonah, AK
03 June 2017 | Seward AK
03 June 2017 | Denali
25 April 2017 | Seward AK
23 March 2017 | Seward, AK
11 March 2017 | Seward, AK
23 January 2017 | Seward AK
06 December 2016 | Seward AK
12 November 2016 | Seward Alaska
14 October 2016 | Valdez, AK
21 September 2016
05 August 2016 | Seward, AK
26 July 2016 | Whittier, AK
19 July 2016 | Valdez, Alaska
05 July 2016 | Seward, Alaska
Recent Blog Posts
18 September 2017 | Seattle

We are back in Seattle

It feels like home. Of course we are not in Silshole. Maybe we will be, someday, but there is a list and we are on it. In the meantime we are at Bainbridge Island Marina.

23 August 2017 | Prince Rupert

The dinghy holds air again

It wasn't very nice of the bear to tear the fabric across a seam. We were worried that we couldn't patch it but tried anyway. The glue had a job to do and it did it!

15 August 2017 | Anan Bear Observatory

A Grizzly Bear damaged our dinghy

We were visiting the Anan Bear Observatory south of Wrangell. It is one of the best places to visit in all of SE Alaska BECAUSE it has bears. But (as we learned) there is a dark side to this bear concentration. And of course, there is a story to tell.

19 July 2017 | Petersburg, AK

Moving On

"No matter where you go, there you are" (unknown reference). By now we have been there and done that. Most recently that included Cannery Cove on Admiralty Island. The photo shows the quiet grandeur of the setting with Ron and Suzie's boat SV Tango in the foreground. It has been like that for the last [...]

17 June 2017 | Hoonah, AK

We are in Hoonah, SE Alaska now

We got something resembling a high pressure ridge so we moved expeditously across the Gulf of Alaska. The crossing took three days and weather stayed as forecast. That was a very good thing. The weather changes in the far north far more rapidly and dramatically than we ever experienced in the more southern [...]

03 June 2017 | Seward AK

Crossing the Gulf of Alaska

We are still in Seward, AK. Now that spring has come, why not start south?

A not so cool arrival in Savusavu Fiji

17 May 2013 | Savusavu Fiji
Larry Nelson
Stuff happens when you arrive in an entirely new place. You are tired. Insecure. They speak English but really don't understand it. You need information. You make mistakes.

This arrival goes down in the books as the all time worst. And it is the Captain's fault. Here is the story.

We came to the harbor and called on channel 16 for a mooring buoy and for help notifying customs. Standard arrival. We got assigned a mooring buoy and we tied up to it. It was 2:30 pm. By 5:30 pm we were just finishing customs and quarantine. We were told we could stay at the mooring buoy overnight and then move to the dock in the morning. Night was approaching fast and the dock here was unfamiliar to us. The plan was to launch the dinghy and go see the situation at the dock before moving the boat. Then the boat whose mooring we were using, came back! We had to move. A guide came out to show us the way with a small boat. We asked and were told it was a "med-moor" with a stern tie. Yes, we would need to put down the anchor and back in. These were the responses we received from our questions, but they were really just yes, yes, yes. I don't think our guide understood any of our questions even though he spoke English. So we came to the dock in the dark thinking that we could drop the anchor, back in and accept their lines. In fact, when we arrived we had only maybe 20 feet of dock, no pilings (weak dock with cables underwater...somewhere). The water in front of the dock was really really deep. Where to put the anchor? We started backing in while Karen was paying out anchor chain and of course, there were no lines. So Larry is trying to put out lines and drive....an impossibility. And the anchor didn't get set properly. When we went to tension the chain the anchor just raised up off the bottom. So we asked to use the guide's boat (with the guide driving) to put out the anchor. Big Big mistake. Long story short, you cannot deploy a 110 lb anchor with a hundred feet of chain using a large dinghy. We tipped the guide boat over. Yes. Right in front of the bar where every yachtie in Fiji was drinking a beer.

The good news? No one drowned. The water was warm. The boat and motor are recovered. I bought them a new vhf to replace the one that was lost. The Fijians are indeed the nicest people on the planet. I tested their temper and they couldn't have been kinder. I, on the other hand, am embarrassed beyond description.
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