Blog

We were lucky to be in Yalobi Village on Waya Island just in time for the semi-finals of the island’s annual rugby championship. It was one of the most fun and energetic days we’ve had here. The matches were held at the local boarding school, which brings together students from all seven villages on the island. While the school serves the whole island, only four villages were taking part in the rugby semi-finals. Still, it felt...

19 May, 2025 /

This morning, at 10:30 AM, we anchored at Waya, located at 17°19’ south and 177°07’ east. We are told that we are the 3rd boat for this year. The village of Waya has 54 homes and about 300 people. We were introduced to the village nurse, who cares for 1,300 locals from seven separate villages all dispersed around the island. We flew the drone for the first time and here's what it looks like from the air:       The villages...

15 May, 2025 /

We haven’t posted anything because there wasn’t much to say other than the 12-day passage was a breeze. We covered 2900 miles with one stop for two days at the French Island of Wallis, which was a quiet and isolated island. One evening we took the dinghy to a tiny uninhabited island where we had a beach fire, cooked chicken over the hot coals, and looked at the stars. The whole passage was so smooth that...

08 May, 2025 /

Patrick Connor When I reached high school age, I made the decision to move to Alaska and live with close family friends. My parents weren’t staying in one place long enough for a consistent school experience, and I wanted the chance to attend high school in a more stable environment. I spent the winters in Valdez studying and shoveling snow, then flew out to meet my family wherever their latest project had them—usually in some tropical...

21 April, 2025 /

We're three days out of Honolulu and have covered 400 nautical miles. Since leaving the dock, we haven’t seen another boat—neither on AIS nor radar. People often ask, “What do you do while underway?” The questions range from “Where do you anchor at night?” to “Do you play games to deal with boredom?” The truth is, there’s always something going on. Here’s how we spend our time: We run a watch schedule of three hours on and nine...

15 April, 2025 /

When Sharry learned that she had Alzheimer’s 6 years ago, she told me that when she got to the point where she didn’t know what was happening…I should go find a girlfriend and keep cruising Starr. I am still in love with Sharry, so the girlfriend part will have to wait. In the meantime, we are underway headed to Fiji. We've just pushed off from Waikiki Yacht Club in Honolulu and should be in Fiji in about 14...

13 April, 2025 /

2025 update: Two years and 15,000nm after installation, the Humphree fin stabilizers have proven to be a disaster. The clunking noise and vibration has not been resolved. The main seal has failed at half its expected lifetime, allowing seawater to enter the boat. Factory service is slow and unreliable and third party service doesn't seem to exist. See www.humphreestabilizers.com for more information. A year ago we tore out Starr’s original Naiad hydraulic stabilizers and replaced them...

09 September, 2024 /

Just 12 months ago Sharry, Sam, Celeste, and I crossed the Pacific to Japan and then continued back to Seattle via the Aleutians. Sharry with Debbie and Andy Howard just before departing for Guam About to leave Honolulu for Guam and Japan Sharry’s Alzheimers was identified in 2019 at the UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center, but I now know that the disease began years before that.  Since her diagnosis, there has been a steady (but not linear)...

28 March, 2024 /

After a calm, uneventful two-day Gulf of Alaska crossing, we arrived in Pelican, at the northwest corner of Southeast Alaska. When people talk about cruising Alaska, most are talking about Southeast Alaska. This is the part of Alaska that is easily accessed from Washington State via the Inside Passage--a calm-water route filled with sheltered anchorages, narrow channels, and relatively numerous settlements. Southeast Alaska is also an area where Don, Sharry, and I have spent a...

15 August, 2023 /