Blog & Articles

 It must be spring. Both Catalyst and Westward are in the boatyard, and are both are kicking hard in the final lap sprint that seems to accompany every boat project I have ever been involved in. Catalyst has been in the yard in Port Townsend since last fall, with several major projects being undertaken. Chief among them was the replacement…

The summer season in Alaska is officially underway. Quite literally! Westward left Jensen Motorboat Company this afternoon and after transiting the Ballard Locks is now steaming north. Catalyst is almost finished with her extensive winter work list and is scheduled to be launched late this week. Both Westward and Catalyst have expeditions into Glacier Bay…

As of November 2017, several nations had issued Travel Advisories to their citizens contemplating international travel. Among these nations were Germany, France, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. That’s a lot of countries who feel that their citizens could be at risk if they traveled to…….the United States! That is…

After a few days making repairs and adjustments, Westward is back at sea and heading toward our next stop, San Diego. The wind is light on our stern quarter, there is a comfortable 6’ swell from the Northwest and we are making over 8 knots. Within an hour of leaving Moss Landing we encountered 2…

Westward sails for Mexico tomorrow, taking advantage of an ideal weather forecast, and we are all scrambling to check off all of our lists before we drop her lines and she heads for the open Pacific. I am sitting in Westward’s galley surrounded by the ordered chaos that precedes every season’s beginning. Piles of food,…

Westward slipped her moorings and sailed at sunset today. We hope to reach San Diego on the 11th, spend a few days marveling at how much everything costs after 6 months in Baja, and then sail for Seattle. It has been an amazing winter, and we are already eager to return.

It has been a remarkable winter for us aboard Westward, we have drifted among a group of surface feeding blue whales, snorkeled among playful California sea lion pups, stroked friendly grey whales and, swum in the midst of a thousand schooling mobula rays. We have only a few weeks remaining in our winter season in…

We just returned from a wonderful trip to the Baja traveling late January into early February. It was a spectacular trip starting with a visit to the Magdalena Lagoons where we encountered the most amazing tolerant and inquisitive mama and baby gray whales. We were so close that there were even opportunities to touch the…

Orginally published in the Huffington Post 10/09/2016 11:49 am ET by Patti Morrow Travel writer, travel blogger, travel photographer Hiking in lush magical forests, responsible encounters with grizzly bears, bald eagles, and humpback whales, kayaking in the stillness of secluded mountain-lined bays and inlets. A land where the population of bears exceeds that of humans,…

Make sure to pick up the latest edition of Wooden Boat Magazine: Blame it on WoodenBoat: In May 2000, the cover of WoodenBoat No. 154 caught [Bill] Bailey’s eye. It showed a striking image of Pacific Catalyst floating among Alaska’s ice-strewn inlets. The accompanying article … described a number of wooden vessels that were taking…

One night, early in the trip, a guest shown his flashlight into the water alongside Westward to see what animals it might attract. Almost immediately a tiny cloud of, what we assumed were copepods formed in the pool of light. We watched, entranced, as the cloud increased in density. Within a few minutes we began…

From my bunk I can hear them talking, low tones from the direction of the wheelhouse. Almost whispering so they don’t disturb the others that are also off watch, and trying to grab some sleep before it’s time for one of us to take our turn at the wheel. I can’t hear the words, just…