Picture: Ted sitting on a trail bench with Dominique and Dominique from S/V "Kea".

The day we were sailing to Ketchikan from Thorne Bay we received an email from Dominique and Dominique from S/V Kea. The husband and wife have the same name. They are from France and refer to themselves as "les Doms". They asked if they could visit us at our house in Shelton, near Seattle, and they had a car so it was perfect timing because we were trying to figure out how to get home from the airport with all our luggage.

On 8th July, 2016, we posted a blog entitled; "Flash Back: Japan to Alaska Day 1". It was about an incident involving us running into an unmarked Russian poacher's fishing net in Japanese waters. Les Doms saved us by coming back five nautical miles and diving on our propeller to free us from the net. I had previously tried and failed because our wet suit was not thick enough and was Ted's size anyway. That life-saving act created a strong bond between us so we were quite excited to have the opportunity to spend time with them.

My neighbor and good friend, Susan, wondered how we managed to have visitors on our first day home but I guess living and travelling aboard a small vessel encourages us to be flexible in that regard. On this occasion we had a memorable and happy time hiking with les Doms in the Olympic National Forest, not far from our house in Washington state. We probably would not have gone hiking if they did not visit us because we would be too involved settling into our new place. The weather was perfect, warm but not hot, most of all, no rain. Being the wettest part in the country, we were grateful that we had five sunny days while they were here.

Ted remembered some French from school and when he was roaming around Europe as a teenager. I was super surprise that he could speak and understand French. (Editor's note: He could speak just a little French, not much at all really.) Of course les Doms had a fun time teaching us. While they were here we watched a few good French movies (with subtitles). In that regard I feel that we had an interesting cultural exchange.