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I think cruising to Alaska for the summer, and then leaving
for Hawaii from there, while possible, is a very agressive schedule, and the
opportunity to prepare the boat for a major ocean crossing doesn't really exist
in Alaska, which means that preparation must be done before leaving Seattle or
wherever in the spring and hoping that nothing major fails on the summer
cruise.
For my own part, I plan on cruising Alaska in 2007 and
possibly also 2008, depending on the group's schedule, although my boat is
already in Seattle.
Alaska in the summer of 2008 followed by a winter in
southern California or Mexico and a spring 2009 departure to Hawaii or the
Marquesas seems like a more doable plan.
Hal
All:
Last week I sent out an update
saying that a group of us were considering cruising directly from Alaska to Hawaii, in August
2009.
I wouldn’t say this option has
been ruled out completely, but after a week of research, the idea has lost its
appeal. We are back to focusing on a Spring 2009 departure.
There are two topics currently
being discussed:
- I have been
lobbying the group to consider Hawaii as the first destination, rather
than the original plan of going to the Galapagos, and then on to the
Marquesas, primarily for selfish reasons. We will have our dog, Shelby on board, and have discovered that we can get
her into Hawaii, with a minimum of hassle. By
spending a season in Hawaii before entering
French Polynesia, our odds of getting Shelby into the islands and onto shore
raise dramatically.
Aside from our personal issues, I believe there
are some good reasons the group might want to consider Hawaii as a first
destination: The South Pacific can be a fairly difficult environment. We
will find marine technicians, great restaurants, decent shopping, good
marinas, etc in Hawaii, whereas once we
enter French Polynesia, we’ll be, as Dorothy once said “not in Kansas anymore.”
Hawaii
gives us a way to smooth the transition into the South Pacific.
- If we go to
Hawaii
first, where is the best point to leave from? I haven’t studied the weather
patterns enough to have the answer to this. It has been suggested that
San
Francisco would be a great point from which to start.
All opinions are appreciated.
My apologies for all of the
confusion. I recognize that it would be far simpler for everyone to do their
planning if we could just say: “On March 2, 2009, we will be leaving from X,
going to Y, departing at Z pm, at a speed of A knots, on a heading of B
degrees.” I do think we will get to that point, but given that we have two
years before departure, it seems fine that we all talk through all the
possible options before locking in on any one plan. Also: it is very possible
that the final plan might include more than one group of boats, departing or
arriving from different points according to the differing needs and desires of
the various groups and captains.
-Ken
Williams
~~--~~
Website: http://www.rtwcruising.com - Round The World
Cruising
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