Another photo from the Ballard Locks thanks to Marcia H., with perfect timing, arrived at the locks in time to snap a few of DE and crew. Here we've entered the big lock, have already passed our bow and stern lines to the lock attendant on the wall above, and are getting set to have other boats come alongside us. Craig, Anne & Rusty can be seen in the pic. The locks are a great place to visit, with beautiful garderns, an underwater window of the fish ladder and lots of entertainment as boats and ships pass thru: http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/tour/locks.htm

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We're here. Three months, more than 6000 miles and we're at the dock in Lake Union Seattle. We were met at the dock by friends, Marcia (DD Sedan nearing completion at Seahorse) and Martin (DD 462-01) who I spent three months in Hong Kong and PI with aboard his Mandarin back in 2005. Over the next days / weeks, I'll start posting stuff from the trip. We have a long list of tasks -- clean-up, deferred maintenance, some changes and modifications that will take some months to complete... Looking forward to catching up with family and friends.

Photo is inside Ballard Locks, fending off the wall from the side of DE; we started 20' lower than this position, before the lock filled.

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Hello friends and family; we are once again in the USA! Yesterday we cleared customs at Point Roberts (a unique appendix of USA 4.9 square miles) surrounded by the Straits of Georgia on 3 sides and Canada on the north, stayed the night there in Pt Roberts Marina with 1000 pleasure boats - missing the fish boats and their crews which made all our previous stops in AK and BC so interesting.

This morning we're southbound again; one more overnight and we'll be in Seattle. Can hardly believe we (with much help from friends and sometimes strangers) have done it... it's a long way from Port Bonbonon and tiny Apo I (9º05'N) at the southern tip of Negros I, Philippines to Juneau AK (58º+N), not to mention from one side of the Pacific to the other. Many of our boating friends have done much more - e.g. circumnavigations etc - but this was challenging enough for us (for now).

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