Neah Bay: 48*22.77'N 124*35.29W
0715: anchors up. Seas rippled. Cloudy with blue patches and a bit of fog. Winds light and variable.
Engine hours 2466.8
Some interesting shoreline
0830 Susan we are turning left! Susan we have found the Pacific Ocean. Tatoosh Island - for many days of the year is never visible due to fog. David has been past this island 3 - 4 times and never saw it. So we will count ourselves lucky.
0950: Abeam of Point of Arches and Father & Son: rock protrusions -Washington State's version of Australia's 12 Apostles.
6.7 knots and Otto is steering a perfect course.
Sun is out. Blue skies. This is Friggen' beautiful!
Engine hours at 2477.8
1500- passing abeam of LaPush but the wind is freshening and the swell diminishing so we made the decision to press on to Gray's Harbor overnight. Unfurled the genoa and set up Otto (we have named the Monitor wind vane steering system) for the downwind run.
We could not make out one of the west buoys so we went down to the south channel and picked up the buoys there. Winds were moderate and bar was closed to vessels under 20 feet. The seas were a about 8 feet but conditions settled down once we got in between the jetties. The surfers loved it as the swells were quite large crashing onto the sandy beach.
Arrived at Westport at 0930. It was a bit of a slog for the last part of the run from Neah Bay but we made it. I was not very helpful for most of the run as I was not feeling well. Tums were doing the job until we heard a crash from down below - pantry door latch came undone and there was Raisin Bran all over the cabin floor - along with some other things. After spending a half hour down below sliding back and forth across the floor and picking up the stuff - well let's just say my stomach had enough. One trip to the head and then I was okay. But the captain was fabulous! Engine hours 2498.0
Dinghy required a small patch as it hit the sharp edge of the wind vane rudder blade.
The Marina: moorage is cheap - $20 dollars plus $4 for power. The Pacific Cruising Guide is fairly accurate but a few things need to be noted.
The visitors pier is #6 and the showers are #17 so expect a bit of a walk. They are located at the boat yard so I would recommend that the women on board do not go unescorted. The only good thing about the showers is the fact that they are free and the water is hot. As David said - Prison showers are probably in better condition. Warning - make sure you have some shower footwear!
Laundermat is run by the local RV park and you will have to ask permission to use it. $10 to do 2 loads. You will make an appointment with Joe to open the doors and set the machines but do not expect punctuality. We had set a time for 0930 but he did not arrive until after 10. You pay him directly - no quarters needed. I guess he had some vandalism on the machines - someone came in at night and removed all of the copper piping from the machines so he is very protective of the laundermat. But this was a good time to get all of my input to the log up to date.
Gray's Harbor is a true commercial and sport fishing town. The place was very busy with sporting charters bringing in their customers with successful catches. Our neighbour Bob on the Malolo from Gig Harbor brought in 24 albacore tuna.
David was sleeping so I played the inquisitive dumb chick routine - got the guide to show me how to fillet a tuna (you actually skin it). Then Bob said he would trade a tuna for some Bailey's. I think he was kidding - no liquor store close by and he wanted it for his morning coffee. So I went below - no Bailey's but we did have a bottle of Carolans. So I brought it up and asked if that would do. I was willing to give him the entire bottle but he only wanted enough for the coffee. So he gave me 2 large fillets and we had fresh sashimi for an appetizer to go with our lamb. If I would have had the real thing he would have given me 2 - but we didn't have the room anyway! I like this kind of trading.
Went up to the local restaurant called the One Eyed Crab and had an excellent bowl of seafood chowder. Next day I went to Merino's and bought some crab and shrimp so I could make my own chowder. www.merinoseafoods.com to check out their selection of canned albacore tuna, shrimp, oysters,crab,salmon and sturgeon!
Checked out Harbor Marine Supply otherwise known as Junky's" - the used and new marine store. Virgil was a character - could get you just about anything and knew everything about everything. He gave David some hints to figure out the alarm problem. Success - found a ground fault in the wiring harness which was causing the constant alarm.
Other repairs and maintenance:
Changed the engine fan belt
Checked fuel filter bowl - completely clear
Check starter battery bank
Put a better door button on the pantry so hopefully no more cereal spillage!
Reorganized the freezer.
Removed old Washington license from the pulpit.
Ended our visit with a walk about town taking in the music from the Blue's Festival.
All in all - not a bad visit!
What is a bar? The area where the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean meet the shallower waters near the mouth of the river. Yes it is also a place where fishermen meet to tell their tall tales about the fish that they supposedly caught and drink a few beer. But for now and until further notice I will be referring to the first definition!
But when you are cruising down the west coast of the United States the bars are no laughing matter and are to be taken very seriously. Good planning is required so that you enter the bar on the end of the ebb or at low slack or on a rising tide. This is contrary to what most books will tell you - they will say to cross during slack water. But sailboats do not have the advantage of a powerful motor so crossing with a bit of the ebb or flood helps to give you a little push. And always try to do it in daylight as the entrance (so far as we've seen) are not a straight route in. Also the west coast gets a lot of fog so visability can be reduced. But it is nice to know that the U.S. Coast Guard are always available to give you assistance if required.
As per U.S. Coast Guard:
Do not get caught on the bar during a strong ebb current.
Always know the stage of the tide.
Avoid getting caught on the bar during an ebb tide.
Always wear your life jacket!
We have crossed 3 bars to date and they were mostly uneventful thanks to the planning by my most trusted captain! The Columbia bar was the most active with the surf reaching 8 feet plus.
Up at 0500 to get ready to leave. I went up to use the head on shore and you would have thought that it was 1 o'clock in the afternoon. There were people all over the place getting ready to go fishing! They do take it seriously around here.
Bar conditions were light. N - NW
Sun peaking through the morning fog was beautiful!
A flock of pelicans and a sea lion escort us out of the marina!
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