Finally, we’re reunited with our tug Katahdin. Before Martina flies off to Alaska for a quick month’s work, we tow the “Kat” past her humble beginnings–the Foss Shipyards and tie her up at the best little shipyard in Seattle–Bakketun and Thomas Boat Comany below the Ballard Bridge.

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We will spend about 7 weeks for refit–installing a new forward stateroom and doing routine maintenance. After Martina flies to Alaska to work a month, I role up my sleeves and get to work building the winter tarp frame…..
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This tarp will help preserve our winter home in Petersburg Alaska. We are also re-doing our forward main-deck stateroom in cherry wood beveled paneling and refinishing the 106 year old fir flooring:

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The work is hard but it’s still cheaper than psychotherapy and the Seattle sunsets get better by the day as the sun climbs again upward toward summer–our third in a row with Antarctica behind us. A view out the galley door:

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Of course, there is always a little time to “smell the flowers” during a weekend trip north to the Skagit Valley–the world’s riches famlands–for the annual tulip harvest….

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Our trip north to Petersburg will begin June 1 with an all-German crew (except the eccentric Norwegian captain, of course).

Note our new front page and new address in Petersburg, Alaska–(Box 341. Stay tuned……