Altair Cruising Log

Last Passage – Honolulu to Seattle

When we approached Honolulu we could smell the heady aroma of tropical flowers – plummeria and frangipani – carried off shore by the warm breeze as we sailed into the lee of Diamond Head under a full moon. When we approached the Pacific Northwest after our longest passage, we were shrouded in fog hiding the many large ships entering and exiting the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Hard to believe we are actually back in Seattle after leaving here six years ago to sail around the world. It still does not seem real as it happened one day at a time. Since returning, time has flown by too quickly and we are a bit stunned to find it is already the end of September and over four weeks since our return.

Our three weeks in Honolulu was a time of just hanging out and catching up with a surprising number of friends while we worked on Altair and refreshed our souls after a challenging passage from the Marquesas. We enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Hawaii Yacht Club and relaxed in their garden atmosphere as we prepared for the passage to Seattle. The welcoming atmosphere at their Aloha Dock made our stay special and we quickly felt that we belonged. We participated in Monday Night BBQ’s and Friday Night Races, trading stories with locals and other visiting sailors alike.

It was fun to watch the junior sailors learning to sail and listen to their interaction and chatter as they brought the dinghies down to the dock and rigged them. The coaches were surprised we were so friendly with the kids as many cruisers complain about the noise. We actually missed them on the weekends when class was not in session and thought it was great to watch so many budding sailors get their start at a wonderful sport.

One day we borrowed a friend’s truck and drove to the other side of Oahu to visit the Kaneohe Yacht Club and to see friends who had recently completed the Pacific Cup Race from San Francisco. While there, Paul got to participate in a relay race in Optis (one person sailing dinghies), his three man team with some Opti national sailing champs came in second. While at Kaneohe, we came across Paul’s old boat THE EDGE (a Sonoma 30) while walking the docks. It was so great to see her again as crewing on her is how Suzette met Paul so many years ago; she is on her third owner since Paul sold her. The second owner kept the same name, third owner named her TWO GUYS ON THE EDGE and did a number of double-handed races to Hawaii from California. She is now COWABUNGA, which we feel does not fit her sleek and sexy lines but we were glad to see her well cared for. So good to see her again and rekindle so many memories.

We finally left Honolulu on August 1 deciding to skip a planned stop at Hanalei Bay on Kauai as we were trying to make a family camping trip over Labor Day Weekend outside of Seattle and time was running short. We had a nice easy start as we sailed through the lee of Oahu with gentle winds and then up the channel between Oahu and Kauai. We quickly settled into the routine of passage making as the winds picked up and worked our way north. Just north of the Hawaiian Islands there is a group of seamounts that are named for famous classical composers – Hayden, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, etc. Made us smile when we looked at the chart to plot our daily position; some classical music fan had fun naming this group of seamounts.

For much of the initial part of the passage we were dealing with a very uncooperative North Pacific High and had to sail pretty far north along the 160the meridian (almost to 45 North) before we could get favorable winds to turn east towards Washington State and the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Having the voyage take basically a L-shape makes the miles to go each day not diminish proportionally to the miles made good from Hawaii. Many days we had good daily runs only to have the miles made good fall short of our expectations as we worked to windward. At times we have felt that these final passages were a test, perhaps to make us not miss this cruising life in being so grateful to make landfall. But the seas were fairly flat for most of the trip and we only beat hard to weather for a couple of 12 hour time periods so life was good and we read many books.

Since we left the Marquesas on our last passage we have been checking in every evening with Des on Russell Radio in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Always nice to chat with a friendly voice and know that someone knew where we were everyday. Talking with Des every night brought back many fond memories of our time in that corner of the world and the many passages we did checking in with him. We were amazed that we could hear him clearly 7,500 miles away when we bid him thanks and farewell on our last transmission; it was bittersweet to sign off for the last time.

As we got further north and it became colder, the blankets came out, we layered on more clothes and broke out the hot chocolate. We had numerous days of dense fog where we sailed along at five to seven knots hoping the radar would pick up anything before we hit it or it hit us. We altered our normal watch keeping system of having someone on deck most of the time and started to keep watch down below at it was really cold and damp on deck and since you could not see anything anyway, seemed pointless to be miserable. We did see numerous container ships; many bound for Yokohama, and chatted with several. We were surprised that the “on watch” crew was interested and curious about our travels. One 12-hour time period we crossed with three container ships and felt as though we were crossing the interstate. Very glad this happened on a non-foggy day.

When it was not foggy it was generally overcast and we rarely saw the sun or stars at night. We had not realized how many overcast days we had had until our last night when we saw the stars in the sky for the first time in over two weeks. We realized we had missed seeing the transition from southern to northern night sky; the Southern Cross to the North Star.

As we neared the Straits of Juan de Fuca, we again had dense fog and were dodging shipping as we all converged on the entrance. It is very disconcerting when you can see a large container ship one mile away on the radar, but not be able to see them as the visibility was less than 30 feet. We have only praise for Tofino Radio in Canada who choreographs the movements of all approaching and departing vessel traffic, large and small; they were very easy to work with and helped out when nearby ships did not return our calls.

We arrived at Neah Bay just inside the entrance of the Straits of Juan De Fuca on Friday 25 August, 23 days 19 hours out of Honolulu, making it the longest passage of our circumnavigation. In fact our last three passages were the three longest passages of our entire trip and with some of our shortest stops in between, the ratio of time in port versus time at sea was all wrong! In Neah Bay we filled up with diesel and continued on towards Seattle passing by many ships including a surprising number of cruise ships plying the Seattle to Alaska run. The sunrise was breathtaking with the snow-capped mountains rising up to the east and south. We stopped in Port Townsend for the afternoon to see friends and call our families and then carried on that night to take advantage of the tide. We made a couple of short stops of a few hours in Port Ludlow and Port Madison before arriving at Shilshole on Sunday 27 August at 2:00 p.m., right on time, almost exactly six years after we left. It was a great homecoming and wonderful to be greeted by family and friends toasting us with champagne.

It is hard to believe we have been back for four weeks, time has been zipping by and internet access at the library or Kinkos has been “challenging” to fit into our busy days. Suzette’s parents came up from San Francisco to greet us on the dock and visited for another week and a half. Five days after arriving we rented a camper van and took off for a long holiday weekend camp out with Paul’s family on his mother’s side, great fun and seemed to complete the circle even more as this camp out was one of the last things we had done before venturing off around the world. Since our return we have signed up for cell phones, bought a new “dinghy” – this one a 1999 Honda Civic, organized live aboard moorage until the end of April, and are currently hauled out to paint the bottom and do annual out of the water maintenance.

Two weeks after returning, Paul returned to work at Boeing. He is settling into the work routine again, working as a Tool and Die Maker. He is again working in Auburn but in a different building and slightly different job, this makes the return a bit easier as it is not exactly the same job in the same location. But working certainly does cut into the amount you can accomplish on personal projects each day.

We plan to live on Altair and take her cruising on weekends and holidays after things settle down. We are currently subleasing moorage from a friend on the Ship Canal in Ballard but will be moving to Shilshole (the main Port of Seattle marina) the beginning of October. It’s been fantastic to live in Ballard, a very up and coming neighborhood in Seattle with many shops, businesses and restaurants only a short walk from the boat. It’s been great for Suzette, especially after Paul leaves for work at 1:00 p.m. taking the “dinghy” (car to you landlubbers). Shilshole will not be as convenient as the walk will go from a few blocks to two miles, but moving around keeps things dynamic and makes us feel like we are still living the cruising lifestyle.

It’s different living on Altair tied to a dock in the United States and plugged into shore power for the first time in years; we can have as many lights on as we want plus any other electrical gadgets like a heater. With unlimited power and water, we have also started to use the pressure water in our galley again instead of the foot pump. Another treat is hot water from the tap instead of the teakettle. The pace of life here and the incredible diversity of products and consumerism constantly overwhelm us, but we’re sure to get the hang of it before long.

We hope this finds you all well. Thanks to everyone who showed up to greet us on our arrival, and understand the many reasons for those who could not make it. Great to hear from all who have written; we hope to see many of you in the coming weeks and catch up.

While our adventures will not be as unique as the past six years, they will be adventures nonetheless and we will endeavor to stay in touch. Please continue to include us in your lives as well. After all, it’s a small world!

aloha – Suzette and Paul
S/V Altair – home again
Ballard, Seattle, Washington, USA