Hello family & friends,
Sorry we haven't blogged in awhile. We may not be underway, but we are busy. We have classes 5 days a week at Seattle Maritime Academy -- diesel, hydraulics, mechanics, marlinspike and weather. We exercise Rusty, and ourselves, each morning, walking/running down to Shilshole and Golden Gardens, and sometimes a big loop which includes steep stairs and a dog park. Rusty is also attending classes -- doggie manners -- each week, and while thoroughly loveable, and quite smart, is proving to also be quite hard-headed. Fortunately we have the time to work with him everyday, and we do see progress. He does at times reduce us to hysterics -- the good kind -- when he grabs Dots underwear and prances around the apartment throwing them in the air, catching them and daring us to play chase.

We've had lots of company this past month -- cousin Tom & Tracey from Maryland; Bob and Sharon from home and Matt & Gill from Wooshie. You may recall the story about the Japanese Coast Guard telling me to "look for Wooshie" upon entering Kushiro harbor, as a guide to where to dock. Matt & Gill left Kushiro a day ahead of us heading for the Aleutians, and arrived in Dutch Harbor a month behind us. They've left Wooshie in Kodiak, while heading home to AUS for "summer" (that would be Southern Hemisphere summer for those of you who are geographically challanged). We also have been getting together with Ken & Roberta who are one of the 3 Nordhavns who did the opposite voyage to DavidEllis this past summer. Their boats are currently in Japan, and they are planning on Hong Kong next year, so we've been sharing what we know with them. Matt & Gill from Wooshie met Ken & Roberta in the Aleutians, while Ken also knows our friend Bill (retired from LASO, who shared an apartment with Dorothy and me in early 2006 while taking our first classes at SMA. The cruising world really is a small world.

I mentioned Bob and Sharon. Bob was Dorothy and my Zoology professor at SRJC in '68-'69. It was his first year teaching out of grad school and he also taught my first scuba certification course. We've been friends ever since and dove and kayaked together in many interesting places. Over the years, Bob has become involved, pretty much worldwide, with Manta Ray research. Recently he's been spending a lot of time in the Maldives. He visited aboard DE in both HK and the PI. Bob's been talking with us about the possibility of a voyage down to the volcanic islands in the Pacific off Central America -- Revilligigedos, Tres Marias, Gallapagos, Clipperton and do some diving with Mantas down there. It's just talk right now and we're not done at SMA until mid-June, so we'll see...

We've got a long list of repairs and mods for DE, but haven't jumped in yet, using the classes as an opportunity to think about various systems, and see what might be made better...

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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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