About Us

Hi, we’re Brian and Dora Marshall. We have been very fortunate in our lives to have or experienced the things we have so far, but there is so much more and so we find ourselves in this new adventure.

Brian is a retired Fire Captain, who spent 35 1/2 years in downtown Toronto. I am a retired law clerk. We have had many amazing motorcycle rides with good friends and road trips and vacations with our two daughters but now as our daughters are moving on with their own lives, it is our time.

A few years before retirement, Brian started looking at boats, sailing catamarans to be specific. We attended the Annapolis Boat Show a few times and were totally enthralled with the prospect that one day we could be sailing on our own catamaran in the Caribbean. We almost bought a catamaran on two separate occasions but chickened out at the last second. In May 2019 we took a 7 day catamaran sailing course in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The islands were so beautiful. In December 2019 we made travel plans to go to the catamaran show in Le Grande Motte in France – which was also to include a stop in Iceland, for us a trip of a lifetime. Then came the pandemic and everything changed.

During the lockdown, Brian spent a lot of time completing a long list of house projects and many hours online looking at boats and thus the idea was born to look at trawlers. The trawler opened up so many more destinations that we felt really went beyond the comfort zone of a catamaran.

So we sold the house that Brian built and bought a boat. Just not any boat, a Nordhavn.

Welcome aboard Motor Vessel Honu Kai (which is supposed to mean “sea turtle” in Hawaiian, according to the internet).

Joining us on our maiden voyage was the little dog Too and yes her name is Too, not Two. Too is a rescue dog from New Mexico adopted by our daughter from the Collingwood Animal Shelter and of course, does not like the cold Canadian winters. Her name comes from a very famous line in a movie. Send me an email if you can guess the movie and the line. Unfortunately, our other dog Digby stayed home with our daughter Sam because he had surgery just before we left for the boat and being a Border Terrier, he didn’t appreciate warmer climates.

Join us to see where Honu Kai will take us.