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.
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| Crossing the Columbia River Bar |
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| Bouy 1 with guests |
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| Passing Close to Research Bouy |