The Final Leg

There are certain spots where boats pile up waiting for a good weather window in which to continue their journey. Port Angeles is one of those places. We had left the boat on Thursday in Port Angeles while we headed home to wait for more favorable weather. We returned on Sunday, August 6th, with a forecast that showed mild NW wind and waves in the ocean on Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of the boats that had been in Port Angeles when we left were gone, and a new group of boats was stacking up waiting for the right weather.

On Sunday night, the Tuesday forecast was changed to a southwesterly, which made us decide to hold off our journey for another day. We spent an enjoyable afternoon touring Hurricane Ridge, which is in the Olympic Mountains. Hurricane Ridge is a gorgeous overlook, with spectacular views on all sides. We highly recommend it as a good place to take a drive and or a hike.

The new forecast showed the ocean wind turning to NW on Wednesday. So, we headed out on Tuesday morning for the ten hour journey to Neah Bay. Early on, there were some steep and uncomfortable waves. However, we were happy to have the current speeding us along, and felt that the waves were helping get our stomachs ready for the ocean trip.

In Neah Bay, boats were piled up waiting for the proper window to take the ocean trip. Most had left with us from Port Angeles that morning, but a few had arrived earlier, and were still waiting for their weather window. Everyone intended to head out with us the next morning. Some were planning to head straight to Astoria, others were heading 100 miles offshore for a trip down to Mexico.


The Ocean Journey

We left at 4:30 am the next morning, in the last part of darkness. By the time we reached the Straits, the sun was starting to come up. We had the current with us on our way to Tatoosh Island, at the end of the Straits. As we got closer to the ocean, we lost our visibility as fog set in. We appreciated having both our radar and AIS to "see" other nearby boats, and our chart plotter to tell us where we were.

That day was a long slog, with light westerly winds. The swell was 5-7 feet, at about nine seconds. The 7 foot waves felt large, but were far enought apart not to be too much of a problem, even on our side. We've found that the first four hours of a journey are really fun, but 17 hours gets long and boring. However, we were just so happy to be able to avoid a night out on the ocean that we didn't mind the boredom. We arrived at the Grays Harbor bar at about 8:30. We were on the end of a flood, and the crossing was a bit rocky. Once we were past the bar, the Coast Guard came out to ask us if we had been inspected recently. We've decided that they get a bit bored and inspect boats just to add some activity to their day. We were happy to tell them that we had not only been inspected recently, but that had the pleasure of a Coast Guard escort over the bar a month ago. We finally arrived at the Westport marina just as the sun finally set, at 9:30 pm. The longest leg of the ocean journey was over, and we were looking forward to a "short" trip the next day.

On Thursday, we "slept in" until 7:30 am. Given that we had a relatively short trip that day, we would have been happy to slow down a bit if it let us sail. Unfortunately, the winds were practically nonexistent, so sailing was out. We had some added fun to our day when Cory saw a huge sunfish that looked to be about 5 or 6 feet long. We saw some crabpots during the trip, but not nearly as many as on our trip up the coast.


A huge sunfish seen between Westport and the Columbia River

As we neared the Columbia River, the color of the ocean changed from a clear green to a dirty brown. The powerful river churns up so much mud that it impacts the ocean for many miles. It was an amazing sight to see.

And finally, the bar crossing. Once again, we were a bit early on crossing the bar. However, conditions were much easier than earlier in the summer, and Cory and I took turns steering the boat through to the river. We arrived in Astoria as the sun was setting, after an 11 hour journey.

On Friday, we set out from Astoria for Portland. We were planning to spend the night half way up the river, but found that we were making great time and were ready to be home that night. We decided to continue our trip home, even if we arrived well after dark. As usual, the first four hours of the trip was lots of fun. We were amazed at how flat the water on the river was. Up north, the wind and currents were always creating some sort of waves, even on windless days. As the tidal changes on the Columbia are substantially less, and it doesn't have such long straight stretches, waves don't get a chance to build. The result is a much mellower journey. I even made pancakes in the morning while underway!

While in BC, we had seen very little wildlife - a few deer, rabbits, and other small creatures. While on the river, we saw a cougar on shore. It was pretty far away, but, through the binoculars, it looked incredibily powerful. It's funny that we had to be so near civilization to see a truly wild creature.


Sunset by the mouth of the Willamette River

We arrived at the railway bridge just after dark. It was so nice to be on a familiar stretch of river, and home at last. My parents had dropped off our car and gave us a good welcome.

It's a bit of a transition from living on the boat to home. Over the last few years, with many boat projects and trips, the boat and marinas have become our life. Our social life and interests are at the boat rather than at home. We find that we are spending lots of time at the boat, and plan to continue to do so. We love the beauty of the water, and the exilaration of a good sail. However, it is also time to turn our attention to a sorely neglected house. In the next month, the house will be repaired and painted, and interior remodeling projects will be scheduled. And, of course, we must spend significant time working to make up for all the time we took of this summer.

This summer was a great learning experience, and we are very happy that we accomplished it. It was often more of an adventure than a vacation, and brought as much stress as fun times. But, it has whetted our appetite for more journeys, and we intend to continue our exploration of the inside passage and northern waterways in future years. It was fun to know that our friends and family were reading our blog, and we enjoyed hearing back from those of you who read it.

Heading South

Heriot Bay

After Gorge Harbour, we went to Rebecca Spit, at Quadra Island, and spent a peaceful afternoon at anchor. For the evening, we headed to a marina, and an evening meal at the local Heriot Bay Inn. It rained for a short time, but the wind was minimal, which was a nice change. From there, we headed for Campbell River, which is about halfway up Vancouver Island. In Campbell River, we rented a car and drove up to Port Hardy to see what we were missing. We found that driving in a car was boring after spending several weeks on a boat! Boats go much slower, but the scenery is always spectacular, and there are always navigational challenges to keep our attention. While we enjoyed the change, we were happy to head back to the boat at the end of the day.

From Campbell River, it was time to head south. On our trip up, we traveled up the west coast of the mainland after leaving Nanaimo. For the trip down, we decided to explore the east coast of Vancouver Island, and stayed several nights in Comox. After Comox, it was time for a night in crowded Nanaimo. We were afraid that the rest of the trip would continue to be filled with crowds of boats and people. Fortunately, we picked Silva Bay for our next stop. Silva Bay, which is on the east side of Gabriola Island, was beautiful, calm, and seemed a world apart from busy city life.

Our challenge after leaving Silva Bay was to head through Active Pass, which is another "gateway" in the Gulf Islands. Once again, the guidebooks offered many warnings about currents and ferry traffic. We entered just before slack, and found it to be a fairly easy passage. We were helped by our AIS, which picks up signals transmitted from commercial vessels, including ferries. These signals show up on our chart plotter, and tell us the position, heading, name, and speed of each vessel. We have found this to be much more useful than radar, which only shows a blob on the screen, and does not see around corners. Therefore, as we entered the channel, we were able to "watch" any nearby ferries on our chart plotter, even if they were around the corner and not visible.

Even with charts, it can be hard to see the rocks at high tide!


Our final night in Canada was spent anchored at Pender Island. We've discovered that if we plan carefully, we can find uncrowded anchorages, even at the high season for visiting boats. People tend to visit specific favorite places, and the masses leave places such as Port Browning at Pender Island alone.

Finally, it was time to clear customs at Roche Harbor, or "Bug Bay", as we call it. We found this to be a completely different experience than our reentry to the US two years ago, as our customs agent was much less concerned about petty details. Roche Harbor was filled with weekending US boaters, which are a different breed than the boaters that explore the Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound. Although the facilities are beautiful, we find that we never meet anyone at the marina, and feel somewhat alien to the other boaters. There are several beautiful bays nearby - next time we'll anchor out there instead of visiting Roche Harbor.

We took Mosquito Pass as we left Roche Harbor. It was fairly narrow, but well marked. The guide books warn that it is somewhat tricky, but after transiting much narrower unmarked entrances up north, it was nice and easy.

We reached Port Angeles that afternoon. The wind was light, so we were unable to sail for long, but our trip was fast as we had current with us for the entire way. We decided to head home for a few days before heading to Neah Bay and out to the ocean. We've learned that we don't like waiting on the boat for a good weather window--it wastes too much time.

As we were about to head out of town on Thursday, we had a phone call from Donna DeMeyer, my dad's cousin's daughter. (I just call her my cousin!) She and John, her husband, were returning from Barkely Sound, and would reach Port Angeles late that afternoon. What a coincidence! We know a number of people and boats up north, but they seem to be the boat we consistently cross paths with. It was too good of a chance to miss, so we decided to wait to see them in before heading home that evening.

We are now at home, and have decided that there is a reasonable weather window on Tuesday. We'll head back to Port Angeles tomorrow (Sunday), and travel to Neah Bay on Monday. Assuming that the forecast holds, we will head out onto the ocean on Tuesday, and probably reach Westport late Tuesday night. Alternatively, we may decide to head straight through to Astoria.