August 23, 2013

August 21st enroute Neah Bay again:  We departed Port Angeles just after sunrise and were treated to a very nice motor down the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Gone are the gusty winds and choppy seas from two days previous.  Gone are all of the radio calls to the Coast Guard from ships in distress.  We are favored with a 2 knot current that shoots us down the Strait along with numerous other boats who had holed up in Port Angeles as well.  We test our radar again and our AIS.  AIS is a radio signal that is sent out from ships that are registered.  The “big guys” are required to have an AIS number.  Some of us small guys have them too.  The advantage is that if you think you may have an issue with an oncoming ship you can look at the radio and it will tell you the ID number for the ship then you can call them on the radio.  We hope to never have to do this and steer clear of the parade of incoming freighters.  We clock our speed upwards of 10 knots per hour with the current assisting, and smoooottthhhhhh swells.  All is good.  We see our first Orca whales, just a glimpse of their black and white coloring as they dip below the swells.  We make Neah Bay around three and fill the diesel tanks.  A stop at the local Makah Tribal Mini Mart to pay for the diesel also nets us four slices of pizza and our ice cream fix.  We learn that this weekend is Makah Days with big celebrations planned.  We will miss all the excitement as we hope to be on the Columbia by this weekend.  We do get to watch some of the canoe race practice in the harbour this evening while sitting on our anchor.  We are the only boat anchored in the Bay.  We recalculate tide and times, listen to the weather another time and await tomorrow’s sunrise and our trip down the Strait and into the Pacific once again.