July 11 – 13

Better weather today and rested bodies.  We are anchors up and leaving Neah Bay around 0900.  Just outside the bay we try our luck at bottom fishing.  The further inland we go the fewer rockfish we can keep.  Washington has severely limited the take off rockfish due to over fishing.  We poke around for four hours and are only able keep one Greenling and one Black rockfish.  We can only retain Black and Blue rockfish so we have to release one Quillback and one Copper.  We are fishing at shallow depths so we are able to release them unharmed.

While the fishing is slow we do enjoy watching a large group of kayakers as they explore the rocky shoreline.  We also enjoy watching two Grey whales, perhaps a little too close to us since they are between us and the shore, but they peacefully glide through the area surfacing every once in awhile.

Not wanting to wait for the afternoon winds to kick up we store the fishing gear and depart to the east, destination Clallam Bay and this evening's anchorage.  We have decided to explore some of the lesser used anchorages as we work out way through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  A couple years ago Pam contacted George Benson, author of “Cruising the Northwest Coast” to see if his book was still in print.  George sent us a copy and we will enjoy exploring some of his recommended areas of “near shore cruising along the northwest coast.”

Clallam Bay indents the Straits and it's two miles long bay stretches between the tiny bergs of Clallam Bay and Sekiu.  We anchor just off of the Sekiu jetty.  Here we are in a steady stream of small fishing boats who scurry past us as they come and go, hoping to catch their share of the salmon quota.  Their wakes for the most part simply gently rock our 20,000 pound ExTerra.  Some skippers are courteous and slow down others seem to find it fun to roar in straight towards us at a fast clip and then veer off at the last second.

This morning we deploy our trusty dinghy “ET” a ten foot inflatable that we lash on deck deflated for passage up the coast and then inflate and tie on the foredeck once we are on “inside” waters.  We row ashore and have breakfast at the By the Bay Café, the only place to dine in the fishing village of Sekiu.  We like to support the small local communities we encounter along our journey and it is nice to have a break from boat galley food occasionally as well.  Stretching our legs we do a walk about from one end of the village to the other then it is back in ET (short for ExTerra's tender) and back to the boat.

We gather the fishing gear into ET and try our luck at fishing the edge of the kelp beds.  Two Greenling are all we catch before it is time to head back to the boat to get out of the weather.  The rest of the day is lazy, inside books and hot tea since outside is quite dreary and wet with heavy fog.  With only an occasional blip of cell phone coverage (courtesy of Rogers Network roaming to us from Canada)  we try to squeeze a happy birthday text message out to our oldest grandchild Aiden who turns fourteen today.  So Happy Birthday young man!! Love and hugs!!