Port Angeles, WA

We arrived in Port Angeles before sundown, and tied up to the transient dock. Inspected our engine cooling intake and found some cool little critters in there!

Dock at Port Angeles
http://www.portofpa.com/marinas/port-angeles-boat-haven.html
 

Engine Intake Strainer with bits

Stowaway

Strait Of Juan De Fuca

We were feeling rested after our overnight trip, so we skipped Neah Bay and just kept going to Port Angeles. So glad we did, because we made record time sailing through the Straits of Juan De Fuca.                               


Moving right along.

Cape Flattery behind us.



Astoria, OR to Neah Bay, WA

Monday 7/30/2012 - Astoria, OR to Neah Bay, WA

While having breakfast we listened to the weather and bar report.  We checked the web as well and the conditions were calm for the Columbia River Bar crossing. Slack water was around 1230 so with mild conditions we decided to leave Astoria early around 0830 to take advantage of some of the ebb tide that was still running.

After crossing the bar and clearing the channel buoys, we turned north, and headed for longitude 124 deg 55. This route is farther out than most cruisers go - 30 miles out at Grays Harbor and coming in about 10 miles from the coast at Cape Flattery.  This route was recommended to us by other cruisers to avoid the crab pots that are closer to shore, especially if you are traveling at night.  We took this route coming down a couple of years ago and we didn't snag a crab pot.

We had an uneventful night motoring up the coast. It was quite chilly and wet so we decided to cut the watches from three hours to two.  With the radar and AIS combined, we were able to correlate the targets and see what fishing vessels or container ships look like on radar.

We rounded Cape Flattery around noon on Tuesday. At this point, we had two options.  One was to stay at Neah Bay just around the corner from Cape Flattery and rest. The other option, if we were feeling rested, was to continue to Port Angeles.  The wind was fairly strong from the west (behind us) and the current was headed in the same direction.  We called Bill for a weather check. There was a strong wind warning in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.  We decided to continue on to Port Angeles.  We both felt rested, the sun was shining and the conditions were in our favor.  We called Port Angeles and arranged for a spot on the transient dock, which is recommended if you are arriving after hours. At one point heading down the strait we recorded speeds of 8.5 knots! We made it to Port Angeles just before sundown.  We rinsed off the boat and had a delicious dinner and bottle of wine. The run to Port Angeles set us up nicely for a short sail the next morning across the Straits of Juan De Fuca to Victoria, where we planned on staying for a couple of days and then exploring the Canadian Gulf Islands.

Crossing the Columbia River Bar

 

Bouy 1 with guests

                

Passing Close to Research Bouy

Rainier, OR to Astoria, OR

Sunday 7/30/2012 - Rainier, OR to Astoria, OR

http://www.portofastoria.com/marina_west_boaterInfo.html
 

It was sunny with light wind on Sunday so we motored from Rainier to Astoria.  It was finally setting in that our trip we had been planning for so long was a reality.  We kept an eye on the engine and alternator belts constantly that day and monitored the weather to make sure we were going to be able to cross the Columbia Bar on Monday.

We pulled up to the docks in the Astoria West Basin in the afternoon.  The winds had kicked up considerably. While we were getting the boat secured with the dock lines, a huge motor boat crash landed into the slip next to us. I rushed over to help.  One of the guys on the boat threw me a dock line that wasn't attached to the boat.  He let go of all of the line and I ended up with a slack line to nothing! They finally got the boat secured after a few more bangs into the dock and angry shouts at each other.  We left Bliss to pay the dock fee at the marina.  A few minutes later the attendant for the marina came over and asked us if we had looked at our depth. He said that they were experiencing some pretty drastic tides at the marina and we may want to consider moving from the dock because it could get quite shallow.  We looked at the depth sounder and the reading was six feet! We fired up the engine and quickly moved to an empty slip.  A little while later, after we got settled, we witnessed another crash landing. A couple in a large sailboat, ended up sideways to their slip.  We heard a big crack as their boat made contact with the dock and another boat.  What a day!

As the sun set, we made our final preparations for our transit up the coast and checked the conditions for the Columbia Bar crossing. Here is our preparation list for the next leg:

Take down grill

Sail tie on sail cover

Secure below

Check steering cable and rudder post

Upload GPS waypoints to cockpit

Check anchor and insert Nerf balls into chain locker holes

Rig jacklines

Tethers and strobes out

Turn dorades around

Check engine oil

Check transmission oil

Check coolant

Check belts

Check engine intake strainer

Check Racor Vacuum gauge after startup

Check propeller shaft

Inspect batteries

Take cover off man overboard module

Lash down anchor

Gloves and hats out

Prepare meal plan

Weather check

Rig main halyard

Check lifelines and stanchions

Check water level and top off

Draw up watch schedule

Check navigation lights

Douse WiFi antenna

Take TV down

Watch Schedule

2100-2400 Sean

0000-0300 Geralyn

0300-0600 Sean

 

 

Portland, OR to Rainier, OR

We had been planning this trip and preparing the boat for months.  The departure day was finally here.  We were well provisioned and just received a shipment of tools and accessories from the Meyer girls at Ace Homeworks - (love them!), we were all set.  It was the beginning of our adventure.  

We left the marina with clear skies at 0730 to the music of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra (better known as the opening music to 2001 Space Odyssey) playing from our friend Matt's boat.  Very moving.
 

When we brought Bliss home from Seattle we navigated the Columbia River at night and found that it was not the most fun thing to do.  Since this was our vacation and we had time, we decided to travel on the river by day only.  Rainier is about halfway between Portland and Astoria on the river so we decided to stay there on Saturday night.  After clearing the Interstate Bridge and Vancouver KQ9049 Railroad bridge we headed down river to our first destination.  

About an hour before reaching Rainier, I (Sean) went below to make lunch.  I heard a loud ticking noise coming out of the engine compartment under the companionway steps.  I opened the top step and the noise got louder.  I knew this was not a normal sound and decided to investigate further. I removed the companionway steps, which gives full access to the engine, and noticed one of the alternator belts was coming apart.  We got the boat out of the traffic lane and turned off the engine.  I cut the remainder of the belt off with a knife to prevent it from damaging anything.  We started the engine back up and motored slowly to Rainier.  We managed to get to the docks without any problem.  Even though we had a spare belt, we decided to buy a replacement rather than deplete our spares. We had not replaced the two large alternator belts before so we called our friends Bill and Yvonne for some advice on how to replace them. Bill assured us that it's quite easy.  We called a cab to get us to the auto parts store in Longview to pick up replacement belts.  We weren't sure we were going to see Bliss again when the redneck driver of the dark-tinted-window cab started talking about guns - especially after we saw how excited he was about his assault rifle that he keeps above his bathroom door. :) 

After returning safely to the boat we set about replacing the belts (we found out that we have to replace both belts at the same time). Bill was right, it was actually quite simple. The adjustment arm made tensioning the belts easy. We fired up the engine for about five minutes and monitored the movement of the belts and the motion looked good.

While we were working on the engine, we heard another boat pass by and then some shouting and a motor rev up.  Boom!  Another sailboat had hit our bow pulpit as they were trying to dock.  Fortunately, there wasn't any major damage to either boat.  Phew!

We broke and alternator belt coming out of the river. We managed to fix it fairly quickly, so we made a nice dinner to celebrate our first breakdown of the trip!



New Alternator Belts
 

Broken Alternator Belt

Dock at Rainier
http://marinas.com/view/marina/3833_City_of_Rainier_Marina_OR_United_States

Leather Wheel Cover

This past weekend, Geralyn installed a wheel cover. It took hours to herringbone stitch the leather cover on the wheel, but it looks and feels great!

Monel Rivets For Mounting Radar Reflector To Mast

This weekend we installed a Tri-Lens Radar reflector on the mast. The instructions called for monel rivets to mount the aluminum bracket that holds the radar reflector. Pretty happy with how it turned out.
I was so nervous going up the mast that I forgot to take a picture of the radar reflector!

Solar Panels From Above

I thought it would be interesting to take a picture of the solar panels from above and see how it matched up with my imagined placement of the solar panels. Not bad!