The final report from this voyage will also be the final report directly from Royal Star for awhile as we officially begin our annual, one month maintenance period today. Actually it will be about five weeks this year as our next voyage departs for Alijos Rocks and beyond on April 8, 2007.

Before we sign off however, I want to encourage all of you to continue to check our current conditions section over the next few days as I have numerous fantastic photos from the voyage that I will be posting regularly. Beyond that, Randy, Tracy, and I will be at the annual Fred Hall show in Long Beach looking forward to seeing everyone there.

As for the final report from our trip up the line, I can only say that once again this run is a stark reminder of why we encourage anglers to fly home when and if they are able. Overall it was far from horrific, but we spent more than half the ride either hanging on with both hands if we were standing, or thankfully sitting down as we banged and crashed our way through twenty five knot winds, six to ten foot seas, and a beautiful northwest ground swell at eight to fourteen feet - not ideal traveling weather, and definitely not fun. All in a day's work for us though and believe me, we, and Royal Star, is none the worse for it.

So farewell for a short time and be sure to check our photos and stop by the Fred Hall show next week. We will see you there.

Tim Ekstrom