Hawaii

We made our first passage to Hawaii in 2009 while on our way from Seattle to Japan. We returned to Hawaii in 2011 when we left Japan and have been spending most winters cruising Hawaii and then running back to Seattle or Alaska for the summer cruising season. In 2018, we gunk-holed over 1600nm, visiting almost every island in Hawaii. Our friend Bill Leary has posted a cruising guide online called “Noodles Notes”, a must for anyone cruising the Hawaiian Islands.

Guam

The final 1000 miles to Guam were easy, comfortable, and quick. We enjoyed cruising downwind and got a nice push from the current. As we approached Guam in very settled conditions, we rinsed the salt off the outside of Starr. After more than two weeks of ocean travel, everything was salty. Guam comes into view after 18 days and 3300+nm Our destination was Apra Harbor, a huge, breakwater-protected harbor that caters primarily to commercial and…

1000nm to Guam

Note: this was written last week but we forgot to post it. We’re now en route from Guam to Okinawa and will update the blog over the coming days. One of the challenges we’ve had is figuring out what time it is. Apple devices, it seems, have pretty limited time zone choices. It’s a bit of a guessing game to figure out which city is in the same time zone as we are. If we…

Sharry

Day 16 15-15.4N, 150-35E 2967nm from Hawaii, 366 nm to Guam I got up at 0500 to relieve Sam. My watch starts at 0600. I did the Engine room check going thru the same motions we do every 3 hours. While the check list is useful, even more so is to listen, smell and visually inspect. Thankfully, our engine room checks have not revealed many surprises. After making a cup of coffee I say good…

Perfect

Every now and then on ocean voyages sailors find themselves in Perfect Conditions.  We are presently in a time and place that is just right for “M/V Starr”. Keep in mind that Starr is a motor vessel and the conditions that define perfect for Starr are not the same conditions that sailboats are looking for.  Our position (as of 1500 local time, February 18) is 19-29 North, 171-15.6 East.  We crossed the International Dateline 2…

Day 4.5 | Dead in the Water 750nm Offshore

I (Don) was woken at 0100 by Celeste saying we have a problem. The boat was stopped and the engine was in neutral. We were rolling 40+ degrees in the 20-knot breeze with 10-foot-at-10-second swells. Water washed over the side decks and unsecured items flew across the cabin. A check of the engine room confirmed that we had no water ingress and no apparent mechanical problems, other than whatever seemed to be wrapped around the…

Day 4 | Going with the Flow

The first few days of a passage are often the hardest. It takes a little while for the body to adjust to constant motion, strange sleeping patterns, new noises. My mind takes a few days to adjust, too. Do we have everything we need? Is that belt throwing off more dust than it should? What about the generator, is it running too warm? Are the fuel filters starting to clog up? Over the course of…

Day 1 | Clay’s Perspective

This our second Blog and my first of this voyage aboard “M/V Starr”, bound from Honolulu to points West. We departed the Waikiki Yacht Club at 1003 on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, with a favorable weather forecast and a crew anxious to be underway and done with the endless details associated with life ashore. Our timing was excellent.  We started with 20-25 kt. Tradewinds that gave us a nudge along our planned route, aided by…

Day 1 | Underway at Last!

Starr motored away from Waikiki Yacht Club at 1000 on Wednesday, February 9th! Friends joined us on the dock beforehand to wish us a safe, pleasant, and fun trip. The last few days before departing on a major cruise always seem exhausting. At times it seemed like there would always be “one more” shopping trip. As the lockers, fridge, and freezers filled to overflowing, we said “enough!”  It’s not just food. Spare parts, consumables, cleaning…

To Japan, again! 2023 Starr Voyage

We are preparing to take Starr on what will most likely be our last significant passage. I’m turning 80 next month and Sharry is three years into being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  Sharry and I have been holding hands for 60 years. While we are both grieving the loss of her memory, we also want to keep living our lives the best that we can. We are told that the best thing for Sharry is to…

It’s been a roller coaster week!…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sharry and I are back in Hawaii with Starr and planning our next nine months of cruising. The plan has been to sail the Hawaiian islands until the weather in the North settles down and then head to Kodiak or Prince William Sound on the Alaska panhandle for the summer. But recently looking through old photos; reminiscing about the past, we came across images of our year cruising Japan…

End of the Line

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Land Ho!

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Meteor!

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Day 11 and only 457nm to Hanalei

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Green Flash

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Water Temperature

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Headwinds

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Don, you stink like fish!

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MV Starr 8/28 update – NET DODGING

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MV Starr 8/27 update – INTO THE TROPICS

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MV Starr 8/26 update – TRAFFIC

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MV Starr 8/25 update

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On Entering the Garbage Patch

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Cleaning Up the Mess

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Happy 55th Anniversary Sharry!

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Starr Heads to Hawaii (Our 11th Pacific Crossing)

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Making a Better Flopper Stopper: One Year Later

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The Ghost on the Ship

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Landfall!

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Damage Control

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What a Difference a Day Makes

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Gray

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Rogue Wave

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Pacific High

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Stabilizer Blues

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Pacific High

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The Musicians Seamounts

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The Thousand Mile War

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What’s Happening to Us?

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Settling In

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A Bumpy Ride

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Alaska Bound

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Starr passage Hawaii to Unalaska or Kodiak 2018

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Hawaii 2017-2018

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Don and Sharry’s Thoughts About Our Seattle-Honolulu Passage 2016

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Last Landfall

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Cassiopeia and Time and Shame

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[MVStarr] Weather report and more!

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[MVStarr] Sharry’s Blog: What I Love Most About an Ocean Passage

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[MV Starr] Hawaii to Seattle

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Return Through Dangerous Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to Seattle

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StarrBlog – We are here!

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Starr – Update Oct 7, 2015

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MV Starr – quick update

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Starr Update – Tropical storm Oho

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Starr update 10/4/1200PDT

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MV Starr blog update 10/2/2015

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Starr 9/30/15 underway to Hawaii

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1351 nm under our keel from Kauai

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Starr is heading back to Seattle

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Current Location: 935nm NNE of Hawaii

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The Problem: Seawater intrusion through the Port Stabilizer assembly.

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***** A FIVE-STARR PASSAGE

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What Day is it? What time is it? It’s a conundrum.

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Passage to Hawaii -We are at the International Dateline

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Passage to Hawaii

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Sayonara Japan, Aloha Hawaii

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Our 8th day at Sea

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Our 4th day out

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Starr is on her way to Japan

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Honolulu, Oahu – Wednesday, 22 August , 2001

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