July 6, 2015

High winds keep us at the dock this morning which brings a request from Vic, the owner of the Copper Moon Cafe, a retired fishing boat moored to the dock that serves up wonderful burgers, local fish and baked goods. We help him move the two bbqs and in exchange we get coffee and cake and some wonderful stories.

Vic was born here, a member of the Hesquiat (hesh-quit) tribe. He moved away at age seven partly because the tidal wave from the Alaskan earthquake of 1964 washed away the family home.  Decades later another man from the old village approached him. "I have something that may have belonged to your great grandfather." It turns out that the man had rummaged through Vic's family home when it washed ashore and pocketed a gold medal that he found. Wanting a clear conscience after all these years he gave it back to Vic. The gold medal was given to his great grandfather by the President of the United States for his "humane services to the ship Malleville.". The medal became a focal point in the family's effort to exonerate Vic's great great grandfather who was hung in 1869.  This was in part a critical process for the family to reclaim heritage rights.  WWW.nuuchahnulth.org/tribal-council/hashilthsa/2010/Jan.28,2010.PDF

Vic then went on to tell us of the day when he was a lad watching his dad bring the smileys (Chinook salmon) on board their fishing boat. His pant leg got hooked in the gear and by the time his dad disengaged the gears his pants had been torn from his body. He wished on that day that he had listened when he was told that he really should wear underwear.

July 5, 2015

Hot springs Cove is an interesting place. We anchor the first night then tie up to the dock the second night so we can work over our windlass. It will pull up the anchor fine but to drop the anchor it gets stuck so it is more a gnashing of teeth and sweat on the brow as you pull ninety feet off chain up from the locker and dump it out of the boat by hand. We take it all apart, clean and lube it and voila!  Our anchor chain now sings as it flows out of the boat. In the process we chat with a couple from London, a couple from Montana, and numerous folks who have come in by boat and plane to make the one mile trek to the hot springs. One couple is staying on the Inn Chanter, the anchored bed and breakfast.  You can Google it to read it's history.

After our day of boat chores we too hike to the hot springs after the crowds have thinned.  The hot water tumbles over rocks and then into the sea.  We carve 2015 on the boardwalk beside the name of our boat that we carved last year. A shout out to Jim as we find the boat Katzenjammer on the boardwalk. 

Tomorrow we round Estevan point and head into Esperanza Inlet and then Nootka Sound We may be out of touch for awhile but I have said that before!

July 4, 2015

Surprised to still find cell coverage. We made the eight hour bouncy trip and are anchored in Hot Springs Cove. For us our wanderings are a journey. Part of the journey are the people. We leave friends and family with somewhat melancholy feelings, missing them while we are away. We meet new folks along the way. Silas and Paula from Montana who give us a tour of their trimaran in West Basin, Astoria. We later visit with Silas in Neah Bay.  He sent Paula home due to health concerns and is traveling with his buddy trimaran. We snap their photo at sunrise as we depart Neah. Then there is a salty old soul anchored nearby in Ucluelet. He stops by to see if we have southern Oregon charts to trade. We do not but he is grateful for our local knowledge of the West Basin marina and best practices for crossing the Columbia river bar. He is five months into his journey single handing his steel Tahiti catch. My sunset photo does not do justice to his beautiful boat.

July 2-3, 2015

July 2-3rd: Still anchored off Ucluelet Small Craft Harbor. We have our first red rock crabs of the season and will have them for dinner. Small fixits ongoing on the boat. We are refining the anchor chain locker. Carl and Jim worked it over before we left and we are hoping with a few adjustments to get the chain to feed more smoothly. We have pumped out, fueled up and will depart early tomorrow for Hot Springs Cove. Weather window should allow us to tuck in there for a few days. Hopefully by Monday the winds will subside around Estevan Point and allow us to scoot up into Nootka Sound. We are not sure we will have any communication after tomorrow. Thank goodness for weather broadcasts over VHF radio. For today it is off to town to buy an extra water pump belt and take in the Friday Ukee Market. Happy and Safe 4^th of July to everyone! Until next time….

June 30 - July 1, 2015

June 30^th – This morning we sleep in and then have a nice hike around La Push waiting for the rising tide. Then it is off to Neah Bay, a mere 8 hour motor. We have a fairly smooth ride but with wind on our nose we motor the entire time. Just as we turn into the Straits of Juan de Fuca the sun breaks through, a very welcome site. Thinking that anchoring in the sun in the daylight in a familiar place will be great, we turn into Neah Bay and are hit with 25 mile an hour winds which makes anchoring a bit of a challenge. We are hailed on the radio by Bread and Roses, the trimaran we were tied up next to in Astoria. He and his buddy trimaran are anchored behind us and Carl chats with him for quite awhile. Then it is dinner in the cockpit and time for small fixits on the boat so we will be ready to go tomorrow if the winds allow. Swinging on the hook under a full new moon is quite peaceful.

July 1^st – Up at 0500 again for the 7 plus hours of sailing to Ucluelet British Columbia. Sailing is somewhat misleading. We motor most of the time as we come north due to wind most often on the nose. We want to beat the 25 mile an hour afternoon winds and we meet that goal as we motor into Ucluelet around 2:30 and Carl phones in to check us in through customs. Then we head up the inlet to our anchorage. Time to blow up the dinghy and head to town for fishing licenses, showers and laundry. 

June 28-29, 2015

We made the trip over the mighty Columbia River bar this morning with somewhat heavy fog.  Once we broke through the fog the rest of the day was pretty easy.  We spent well over an hour being entertained by dozens of dolphin.  One did a backflip near the bow of our boat.  We saw at large pod of Orca whales and had grey (we think) whales off to the side of the boat.  Great day for marine mammal watching.  Hopefully some of the video comes out.  We motored into Wesport in Greys Harbor and tied up for the night.  Jim picked Zach up and the two them headed home.  

Monday the 29th Carl and I departed Westport at 0500 in a light fog for a 12 hour motor/sail up to the tiny Quileute tribal fishing village of La Push.  We tied up for the night and met two nice Coast Guard gentlemen who did an inspection.  We passed :)   We do learn that if you need to come in after dark a call to the Quileute Coast Gurad will allow them to turn on the high powered lights and you can sail in under what appears to be a full moon.  That would help!  What a beautifully quiet spot for the evening.  We will await the high tide in the morning since the water levels at low tide are about 6 feet and we draw 5'3”.  This gives us an excuse to sleep in before we sail off on the high tide towards Neah Bay, concluding our tour of Washington coast harbors for this year.

June 27, 2015

June 27^th: We love to anchor when we sail but the weather has kept us tied up in the Port of Ilwaco. We take advantage of this by enjoying the Saturday street fair and hiking around Cape Disappointment State Park. The weather looks favorable for a Sunday morning bar crossing and trip to Westport in Grays Harbor. It is street fair sausage and rice for dinner in the cockpit followed by street fair kettle corn in front of another Netflix movie. We are also entertained by videos from Jacob and Brittney showing us antics of our youngest grandson Sam and a phone call with Aiden, Sophie and Kathi. It is great to keep in touch.