Cruising on Merrimac

End of the first season in Japan

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:45:44 +0200

After the Goto Islands it was suddenly time to head for Irohajima, so I’d have a few days to get the boat ready to be hauled out. Back in Fukuoka I’d already agreed with Kirk that the date would be 1 October, so on the 28th I sailed the boat over. Lo and behold, there was actually a few hours of decent wind, so I even got some proper sailing in.

The Goto Islands and Nagasaki

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 06:20:34 +0200

As I wrote at the end of the last post, I went to “hide” in Kamigoto Umi, a very sheltered bay that you have to approach from the south. That turned out to be more exciting than usual. By the time I got there the wind had picked up nicely out at sea, and that corner turns out to have a lot of current. So a nasty beam sea, and under engine… The boat was rolling a good 60 degrees from side to side. Then through the gap between an islet and the shore, and suddenly… dead flat water. A few more zigzags around bits of island sticking out, two more corners, and you’re in a gorgeous little stretch of water that I reckon is properly typhoon-proof. Not that it was blowing all that hard, but still. Coming alongside with the wind blowing me off the quay is a bit tricky without a bow thruster, especially as the throttle lever suddenly comes off in my hand. Must make sure that can’t just come loose like that. Luckily a friendly little old man, who is there to pick someone up off the ferry, is happy to drop a line over a bollard for me. Another person made happy with one of our little clogs.

Irohajima

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 10:52:32 +0200

In the end I wasn’t lying all that comfortably in Yobuko after all. This harbour wall had the same old problem: at high water there’s only 5 to 10 centimetres of quay left above the surface. Your fender boards and fenders then happily pop up over the edge, and the boat’s delicate painted waterline ends up grinding against the concrete. So instead of scooting off on the electric scooter to the octopus sellers a little further along the next day, I got the hell out of there. Shame, I’d have liked to stay a bit longer. Next on the list was the bay we’d already spotted on the drive from Hirado to Fukuoka. To get to the yard back then we’d driven all the way around the island of Fukushima, partly in search of a lunch spot. Sadly they were all closed, but at least we saw the whole island! And so, the bay to the north-east of Fukushima. Once again there was hardly any wind and the whole passage had to be done under engine. 3, maybe 5 knots, all of it a bit of thermal breeze that’s no use to anyone.

Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Osaka and Yobuko

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:21:36 +0200

After leaving the Seto Inland Sea through the Kanmon Strait, we arrived in Fukuoka. That took some getting used to. A storm further away had set up a nasty swell, and this close to the coast, where we were sailing, it makes for an unpleasant chop. We headed for Odo marina in Fukuoka, home to the office of Kirk Patterson, our agent. He came straight over to say hello, but by then we were already sitting in the izakaya. Those are restaurants that serve all sorts of dishes without really focusing on one type of food. That’s worth mentioning because here you mostly find restaurants that do only yakitori, or teppanyaki (very expensive, hard to find), sushi, okonomiyaki, etc. This time it was very good. Nothing but Japanese people, of course, because Fukuoka isn’t really on “the route” for tourists.

The Japanese "Inland" Sea

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:08:54 +0200

From 15 July up to and including yesterday, 13 August, Marion, Ella, Arnold and I camped out on the boat, all four of us at the same time, for the first time in years. Arnold stayed until after Ella’s birthday and then flew home via Korea.

The first week in Japan is done!

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 10:26:40 +0200

Well, we made it across!

It’s so hot this afternoon in the marina at Nio, where we arrived just after lunch, that we’ve retreated to the harbour office. We can sit here in blissful air conditioning until the restaurant upstairs opens. And I finally have the time and the energy to type up a little post…

Day 28 Hawaii to Japan: Land Ho

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 06:32:00 +0200

Our first Japanese island (Okinoshima) in sight

Well, it’s Sunday again and we finally have land in sight. Tomorrow at exactly twelve o’clock we’re expected at Hiroshima Kanon Marina. They’ve even told us which berth we’ll have. Japan is different, and we’re going to find out just how different!

Day 20 Hawaii to Japan: Talks with the agent

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 09:48:59 +0200

Well well, time flies. Tomorrow we’ll have been under way for three weeks already! Although we did lose a day crossing the date line: in Hawaii, coffee time (or drinks time) came around a good 12 hours after it did in the Netherlands. Now we get there 9 hours earlier! I’m writing this on Saturday afternoon, five to five, and in the Netherlands it’s only 17 - 9 = 8 o’clock in the morning.

Day 14 Hawaii to Japan

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 21:54:57 +0200

There’s actually nothing to report. We take turns cooking, we stand our watches, and the days slip by at a tremendous pace. Stop paying attention for a moment in the morning and it’s lunchtime already. Then fruit at 3 o’clock (that doesn’t always work out). Drinks at five, dinner at half past six. And at eight the watches start again.

Hawaii - Japan Day 5: Burger Night

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 06:54:34 +0200

Tonight we start our 5th night of watches, and we’re having something tasty for dinner. Hence the title of this little piece.

But first, let’s rewind to Honolulu. You of course deserve to know how it all ended there. We had a busy time with Maarten on board, did more shopping and visited two nice museums.

Honolulu and Oahu

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 09:52:57 +0200

So, now that I’ve written the frustration about the bureaucracy out of my system, here’s a “cosy” update again. We’re moored between a boat made of driftwood and a 50-year-old little ship with an enormous history, which someone is now “looking after” and therefore living on with his girlfriend and cat. Almost the entire pontoon is like that; it’s a floating trailer park. Lured by the low berthing fees, it’s full of old sea dogs and freeloaders, plus young folk. Even a lady with a small child. All very friendly and perfectly OK, but not your usual marina “vibe”. We’ve already had lunch with our neighbour Damian, and as neighbours go he’s a great guy.

Ala Wai Harbor and the DOBOR

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:30:13 +0200

Once we’d arrived, clearing in was a piece of cake. When you arrive in Hawaii by boat you have to do three things: report to Customs & Border Protection (CBP), get an agricultural declaration and, of course, check in with the harbour master. Contrary to what I’d expected, the CBP procedure was no problem at all, and the last one very much was.

Day 28 Panama to Hawaii

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 10:21:50 +0200

I’m typing this exactly one week after we arrived in Honolulu. More on that in a later post. First, the last week at sea. And we can keep that fairly short: more of the same.

Contrary to the forecast, we kept good wind right up to the harbour entrance. The whole time it was between 16 and 22 knots.

Day 23 Panama to Hawaii

Fri, 29 May 2026 02:21:25 +0200

Today, a guest writer…

When people think of the Pacific Ocean, they picture gently lapping wavelets on an almost soporific swell, with lovely temperatures and gorgeous sunsets. That certainly happens, but for us, apart from the odd moment, that was already a week ago. After that sudden wind shift and the rain that came with it, the wind has steadily built to around 20 knots, roughly Force 5. It’s coming from the northeast, which is perfect: we’re heading west, so the wind is well aft of the beam. We’ve hardly seen the sun since, and every now and then we get a bit of rain. All in all, not exactly Piña Colada weather. Even the temperature has dropped from above 30 to the mid-20s Celsius. That, on the other hand, is not considered unpleasant on board.

Day 19 Panama to Hawaii

Sun, 24 May 2026 18:57:46 +0200

Clipperton is already a distant memory, so time for an update on how things are going. The plan was that after Clipperton we’d just be sailing in steady northeast trade winds, but reality is (was) a bit more stubborn. Below is the track since then.

Day 14: Clipperton Island

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:32:11 +0200

A few years ago, when I first started looking into the route we’re now sailing, I came across Clipperton Island. The only atoll in the eastern Pacific, and uninhabited. Well, zero people and 200,000 birds. Plus an awful lot of local crabs. Then Damaris and Rudolf gave us a little book about hard-to-reach islands that featured Clipperton, and after that my interest in this French island was well and truly piqued.

Day 12 Panama to Hawaii

Sat, 16 May 2026 21:22:42 +0200

Wow, another 6 days have flown by! And of course you’re all dying to know what we’ve been up to. That’s actually easy to sum up:

We slept
We ate
We sailed for 5 days goose-winged in very light following winds (the Dutch call this “melkmeisje”, milkmaid)
Since yesterday the Yanmar has been rumbling away again. Since this morning with the Code 0 up as well. That gives us an extra 0.5 to 1 knot of speed.
We have another 2 days of motorsailing to go.

For those with stamina, here’s the long version…

Day 6 Panama to Hawaii

Sun, 10 May 2026 20:03:21 +0200

Goodbye, Panama!

Today is Sunday 10 May. Since we set off on Tuesday 6 May, this is already our 6th day at sea. Around 14:00 we’ll have been underway for 5x24 hours, and until yesterday afternoon we motored the whole way. The Yanmar just drones away the hours without a hitch. Since we wanted to keep fuel in reserve, and the wind further on wasn’t going to arrive any sooner anyway, we were in no hurry. At 1500-1600 rpm and 5 to 6 knots we made steady progress.

Through the Panama Canal

Thu, 07 May 2026 00:27:28 +0200

This is our second day at sea and things are finally starting to calm down. It was pretty hectic here and there, as you’ll read below.

But let’s start at the beginning, as one should. Marion and I bought three shopping trolleys’ worth of food in Colón at the “Rey”, a decent supermarket. The next day Rudolf arrived and he and I did the whole thing all over again, so that all the usual lockers were properly stuffed with food. On Thursday Arnold arrived and I picked him up from the airport. Rudolf had come the day before in a rental car, so we returned that straight away. An hour later he got a message that the registration papers for his Dutch car had been found in the rental car. Remarkable, because he’d lost them months ago.

Back in Panama

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 23:54:50 +0200

Yesterday, the day after my mother’s 85th birthday, Marion and I flew to Panama. Good flight with KLM, nice service and, if anything, almost too much food. We had a big box with us containing a new Watt&Sea, which still made it through customs and odd-sized luggage without any trouble, and luckily the man from Hertz kindly helped carry it to the counter. Worth a tip! You don’t see that very often around here; Panamanians have roughly the same service mentality as the Dutch. In other words, none… Anyway, within an hour of landing we were driving our perfectly decent SUV to Shelter Bay Marina, where we arrived about 2 hours later. Straight to the boat: is everything OK? Yes, it is. Except I’d forgotten to clear out the last bits in the fridge, so it was covered in mould and stank. So, a quick beer ashore and at nine o’clock (four in the morning back in the Netherlands) off to bed.

Cartagena, San Blas and Panama

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 22:47:54 +0100

After the enormous heat of Cartagena we were more than ready for a bit of sailing again. A day and a half in advance I told the agent we wanted to leave at 0600 in the morning. So his assistant came by that morning to pick up the passports. I could get used to having an agent like that. On the last evening we went to eat at Sr. Miyagi once more. We were welcomed very enthusiastically by the owner (who, incidentally, came across as very European) and the head waiter. The food was even better than on Friday, so that was absolutely fine.

Cartagena de Indias

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 22:44:18 +0100

Cartagena is a sizeable city with more than a million inhabitants. Unfortunately it’s also pretty hot, so after the first day we’d figured it out: in the morning you can get something done, then lunch, then siesta for the crew and Kees behind the laptop (Mayara radar software…). In the evening it becomes bearable again and you can get out and about…

To Cartagena with Jesse and Sander

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:48:26 +0100

It’s exactly noon local time, and we’ve been under way since 06:00 yesterday morning, having left Aruba bound for Cartagena in Colombia. But first, a quick step back in time. After spending two weeks on the hard in the end, the boat was finally ready – I’m not complaining, since I only asked at short notice whether it could be done, and it was carnival as well! Still, it was nice to be back in the water. Straight back to the spot officially called Paardenbaai but known to everyone as Surfside Beach. There I was immediately welcomed again by Stefan of the Intrepid Bear, whose son was now visiting too. A great lad who is training to be a dentist in Germany, and was doing a few weeks’ internship here with Enrita’s daughter-in-law. In the end I ate with them every day until the new crew arrived from the Netherlands.

On the Hard in Aruba

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:09:27 +0100

Well, another two weeks gone already. Time flies! Let’s have a look at what’s been quietly going on.

As promised, I treated Brigitte and Abbie to a lovely brunch at the ‘Elements Restaurant at Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort - Adults Only’, which, just like six years ago with SY Pitou and SY Fidelis, was absolutely delicious. For Brigitte the portions were on the large side; even the men couldn’t manage all of Brigitte’s leftovers. You sit outside in the shade looking out over a truly stunning beach. American and (mostly) European hotel guests spend all day lounging under a palapa (one of those giant palm-thatched parasols) working their way through the cocktails. And then, if they feel like it, they shuffle over to the restaurant for lunch. So if you’re ever here, that brunch is highly recommended: for the “modest” sum of US$ 80 per person we got all the courses plus half a bottle of bubbly each, which for the three of us meant two bottles, so that was a nice little bonus.

Bonaire and Aruba

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:02:43 +0100

Oops, I meant to post something every week, but I now see I’ve skipped one. That’s partly because I’m sailing familiar waters – after the first Covid lockdown I spent 3 months in Aruba and 3 months in Bonaire – but also because things got pretty busy with “landlubbers” on board.

Passage to Bonaire

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:01:14 +0100

Just a quick update. After two and a half days at sea we arrived in Bonaire without any problems. The Dutch Navy’s station ship was there too, as was an enormous cruise ship.

On the way Abbie felt a bit queasy whenever he tried to do anything below in the galley, so he mostly lay on the bench in the cockpit or on his bunk below. Arnold’s back was still hurting and he was also feeling a bit poorly/seasick. Never mind, I felt fine, so on top of the sailing and navigating I took over the cooking as well. Pasta Bolognese (well, something with mince, onion, carrot and tomato paste) and fajitas the next day. Everyone ate so little that we had the same again after we arrived.

Grenada

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:46:16 +0100

Because of the situation in Venezuela we didn’t want to sail from Suriname to Bonaire in one go, so I’d decided on a pit stop in Grenada to see how things were looking from there. We had to go there now anyway, because Abbie was due to arrive on Thursday the 9th. He was originally going to join us from Paramaribo, but a medical development meant that first he couldn’t come and then, later, he could after all. Since we didn’t leave until the 5th we actually had to get a bit of a move on, but in the end we dropped anchor in Prickly Bay at a lovely 9 o’clock in the morning and then went to clear in. I got told off by the immigration officer straight away: “I did not say you could sit down…”, which set the tone nicely.

Suriname, you were enchanting once again

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 22:57:04 +0100

As I type this I’ve already left the country and am on my way to Grenada with Arnold. But in 23 days I never found the time to write down everything we got up to. A lot has happened!

Kees, Tanneke, Kommer Jan and Sietse on the mooring at Domburg

We got a royal welcome on arrival, because the tide was spot on: we had the current with us all the way to Domburg and enough wind to sail until past the “Bosjebrug”. That’s the enormous bridge built by President Wijdenbosch in the hope that it would help get him re-elected. Unfortunately for him, the voters didn’t fall for it.

Crossing

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:41:16 +0100

Tomorrow morning we make landfall, Suriname in the first light, but my heart is still bobbing along on days made of nothing but water.

Water everywhere, and yet never the same: from whispering ripples to waves flexing their muscles, colours that shift like thoughts at the horizon.

1800 miles down, 150 to go

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 17:57:30 +0100

It’s already the 9th and last full day at sea. We expect, with a high degree of certainty, to reach the fairway buoy sometime tomorrow morning. After that it’s still a decent stretch up the river, but we’ll be there in plenty of time for a few Djogos with bitterballen.