An anniversary message from Ade and Jo (Wandering Star) in El Salvador

"Wandering Star" is having a rest in Shelter Bay, Panama for the next five weeks while Ade and Jo take a summer break, but I wanted to share an email they sent this spring announcing their arrival in El Salvador. At that time, Ade calculated that in the past year they'd travel 7282 miles on their Selene 43 -- from as far north as Skagway, Alaska to as far south as the Barillas Marina in Jiquilisco Bay, El Salvador!

Their email is printed below. I hope after you read it, you'll also take an opportunity to read more about their adventures by clicking through to their blog.

Subject: Wandering Star/Voyager safe in El Salvador

Hola,

Just a quickie to let you know that we are in El Salvador. We are following the pilot boat up the river nine miles to the buoy only Barillas marina. We will check into the country and then if there is internet inside, send you more details on our plans. We crossed the dreaded Tehuantepec without incident, in fact it was a joy. Lots of huge sea turtles, jumping sailfish and marlin, hundreds of dancing dolphins and very little wind or waves. A trawler’s dream. There were several mysterious radar blips that I was never able to get a visual on, however Les (on Voyager) said he saw a silhouette and they did have a close encounter with a fishing cable but picked up on it soon enough to shift into neutral and glide over it.

We do not know if we will have any phone service inside, or email – we have a signal now so that’s why we are sending this all is AOK message. All is well, life is good and Steve and Rob, tell Nestor that we are in his homeland! Ole.

This weekend marks our one year anniversary of truly taking delivery of WS and getting out of Lake Union and up to Roche Harbor for the Rendezvous. Since then we’ve been as far north as Skagway and as far south as, well, HERE in El Salvador. That is 7282 nautical miles to date! Woo Woo.

Be well,
Ade n’ jojo

Transporting yachts with Dockwise: The journey of our Selene 53 , "Kasekuchen," from the west coast to its new home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

When Bob and I decided to move "Kasekuchen," our Selene 53, from its west coast home in Seattle to our new home on the east coast, Fort Lauderdale, we didn't have the time to enjoy a leisurely cruise through the Panama Canal. Instead, we used Dockwise Yacht Transport, a company that specializes in the transport of luxury (mega) yachts using its own fleet of semi-submersible yacht carriers.

After we finished participating in FUBAR ODYSSEY 2007, we left "Kasekuchen" in La Paz, Mexico, where it was loaded onto a Dockwise vessel that transported it to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Our trawler was one of many yachts aboard the vessel -- and it certainly wasn't the largest. One of the other yachts on that journey was a huge (almost 130' long) yacht owned by Boeing.

It's fascinating to watch the yachts being loaded onto a Dockwise vessel -- and since many of you may never have had an opportunity to see this, I wanted to share some videos that will give you a better idea about what's involved.

This first one is a short, animated video from Dockwise:

This next one focuses on the maiden voyage of the 687 foot (longer than two football fields) Dockwise Yacht Express that left Fort Lauderdale for the Mediterranean on April 10, 2008. On board were 18 vessels with an estimated value of $154 million: