Here you will find tales of voyages past and present on our trusty Pacific Seacraft Dana 24, "Sockdolager," and our Bigfoot29 powerboat, "Raven," from Port Townsend, Washington, USA. In 2009 we sailed north from Puget Sound up the west coast of Vancouver Island to the Queen Charlotte Islands (now called Haida Gwaii.) In 2010 we went back to the west coast of Vancouver Island. In July 2011 we left the Northwest, sailed to Mexico, and in March 2012 we crossed the Pacific to French Polynesia, then on to the Cooks, Niue and Tonga. We spent several months in New Zealand, and in May 2013 loaded Sockdolager (and ourselves) on a container ship for San Francisco. In June and July 2013 we sailed north along the California, Oregon and Washington coasts, and in August we arrived home. In October 2016, Sockdolager found new owners, and we began cruising on Raven, a unique wooden 29' powerboat. In 2018 we cruised up to Glacier Bay, Alaska, and back. But in 2024 we had the chance to buy Sockdolager back (we missed her), so we sold Raven. We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures as much as we enjoy having them. (And there will be more.)



Favorite Critter Photos

Cruising under sail lets you travel slowly enough to see some amazing wildlife.  We're going to post our favorite critter photos (or photo series) on this page so you can enjoy them as much as we have.


Newly hatched turtle on beach in Los Muertos, Baja, Mexico.  See this post for turtle facts.



Dude, another photo?  Yawn.
(Gull on Santa Cruz pier.)



The pelican that could:  This is a series of 31 photos (out of 75) taken December 16 at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, of a young pelican attempting to swallow an extremely bony tuna carcass discarded by a fisherman.

1 – AWW-Right!  Chow time!



2 – Gotta move this thing around just so…


3 – Oh crap, it stuck in my neck.


4 – Maybe if I squash it…


5 – Okay, okay, makin’ progress here.  *Urp*


6 – HAY!  You git offa my dock, is MY fish!


7 – Now look what you went and did.  Jerk.


8 – Awright, gonna think for awhile.


9 – Yeah!  Let’s start over.


10 – Glug glug little fishy, down da hatch!


11 – Aww, crap.


12 –Tryin’ da squash trick again.


13 – Ya know, some days it doesn’t pay to get up.


14 – AGAIN!  Whirl da sucka around!


15 – Owww, what happened?


16 – HAY!  You hoomanz think this is funny? Jerks.


17 – Tail last… tail last, ‘kay, herewego.


18 – Tail first?  Howdis happen?


19 – Think, think…


20 – Try squash trick again.


21 – CA-RAP!


22 – Me look pretty, huh?  Jerk.


23 – Flying not a good idea right now.  Think, think…


24 – Watch me squash it fer real now.


25 – Squashin', wigglin' da gut, c’mon now.


26 – Do long neck trick, ahhh…going, going…


27 – Whoops, no catch da skin please. *Urp*


28 – GULP snergle snergle… neck going wabbada wabbada.


29 – Almost, almost.  WABBADA WABBADA .


30 – Okay, swallow ‘n smush. Neck going nyungida nyungida.


31 – There.  Piece of cake.



Okay okay, watch this, are ya ready?  I'm gonna do it...  (Shearwater on Avalon pier)


TA-DAAAAA!  Standing on one leg!