I’ve chartered boats in the Virgin Islands almost every year for the past 12 years and enjoyed a variety of experiences on each trip. I’ve cruised with small groups, large groups, with kids, without kids, you name it, I’ve signed up for it.

“They’re calling for ten footers outside of Man O’War cut,” I reported back to my friend Mark Mitchell, “but we gotta get going!”

“George, are you sure?” he cautioned on the other end of the line from Ft. Lauderdale, “that’s heavy stuff.”

Day One-Ketchikan, Alaska

 I’m glad it was raining and slightly chilly when I stepped off the plane in Ketchikan, Alaska to join the fleet of Grand Banks' making their way north. For more than a month, I was anticipating this cruise and for an east coaster like me, the topography, overcast skies, and smell of wilderness and sea were different enough to stir an inner child-like excitement. Ah, we’re on an adventure I thought, while taking the ferry from the airport to the mainland.

“Hot dogs! Get your all beef dogs here!”

“Soda soda! Beer here!”

I was speaking recently with Karen Schuler of Trawlers Midwest about PDQ and Lagoon, the company's power catamaran offerings. Karen and her husband Ken first began selling Nordic Tugs on the Great Lakes about 15 years ago. Today they carry American Tug and Camano, admittedly more traditional designs than either the Lagoon or PDQ. I was reminiscing about a Lagoon Power 43 I helped deliver from Florida to the Virgin Islands.

I was barely two months into a freelance writing career when an old friend, Ian Kirkwood, an Englishman living in Ireland, called with a question: "How would you like to come to Alaska with us and catch a king salmon on a fly rod?" The prospect of such an adventure would warm the blood of any fisherman worth his waders. But there was another element to the proposition.