Mon June 27th

Up-anchored early and went to the fuel dock to fill up on diesel. Had to wait for them to open up the store at 8am so we had oatmeal for brekkie. Then we headed out into Admiralty Inlet, turned to port (left for all you landlubbers) and headed up the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is the body of water between Vancouver Island, Canada and the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA and leads from the Puget Sound out to the Pacific Ocean. When the winds blow hard down the Straits, it can be pretty nasty to be on a little boat out there, plus there is a lot of traffic with freighters, tankers and cruise ships headed into and away from Seattle and Vancouver.

On that Sunday there was no wind and no waves so we motored. The Strait was glassy and reflective, we’ve never seen it so calm before. The sky was cloudy but it didn’t rain. We spotted dolphins fishing in the water, the beautiful and majestic Olympic mountains in the background and we looked out for traffic. We passed Victoria on our starboard (right) and Port Angeles to port then we kept motoring and motoring. Our intention was to anchor at a place called Pillar Point which was 2/3 along the northern Washington coast but by the time we got there at 7pm we had a good current taking us out so we continued onto Neah Bay.

Glassy Strait

The most interesting thing along the way was a huge fire we spotted on land. At first we thought that it was a bonfire. When we looked through our binoculars, a building was being consumed by the flames which went up a couple of stories high. There was a larger structure next to it but the flames were starting to die down. I baked a raisin and pecan loaf in my bread machine and the recipe I downloaded off the Internet made the most perfect whole wheat raisin bread I’ve ever made! Definitely a keeper! We had a lovely spaghetti dinner and it occurred to me that cruising around is like traveling in a big ole RV except we don’t get to do the road stops and stretch our legs out or stop to eat greasy truck stop food! We arrived at Neah Bay in the setting sun, after 13 hours of motoring, dropped our anchor and went to sleep exhausted! I was woken occasionally to the locals lighting up their fireworks on the beach!

The burning garage

Tue June 28th

We got up early to check the weather and decided to spend a day checking out the town. Neah Bay is an Indian Reservation. There is limited cellphone access ie, AT&T don’t go out there and it’s a small town, mainly catering to fishing boats. We had pancakes for breakfast then we hopped into the dinghy and headed for town. It kinda reminded me of a small country town in Oz where its quiet and slow moving except for the lack of a pub! Its a dry town! We walked to the grocery store, which was well stocked and got some stuff that we inevitably had forgotten! Then we walked 10 mins down the street to the Makah tribal museum where we looked at the exhibits. The museum is a tribute to the Ozette indian community that was buried in a mudslide, preserved, and eventually discovered and excavated. I must admit that I didn’t get to read much of the placards as I found myself chasing Jacintha through the museum. She wanted to see everything and touch everything, including the big whaling canoes. She did enjoy the walk-in replica of the interior of a tribal longhouse, with fake fire pits and beds. When we finished the exhibit she decided she wanted to see everything again so around she went again! This time Jim chased her!

Picking daisies outside the tribal center

We walked back towards the marina and stopped at the Warm Cafe for lunch. It was run by a couple of ladies and when we walked it was busy so it took awhile to be served. The fish and chips were real good! Light crunchy batter and fresh cod that wasn’t overcooked. I asked our waitress if it was locally caught fish and chips. Nope! The fish get caught here but they all get flash frozen and sent to Seattle to get approved by the USDA. Then they get battered and shipped out to the restaurant! She would not be able to serve me fish caught off the boat and cooked there as it needs “approval” to be served in a restaurant. Kinda sad I thought. We only get to eat flash frozen days old fish! But it was good! Maybe I should have asked her what brand they used! She also told us that the fire the night before was a garage in the town before and it was probably a large one as they asked for help from the Neah Bay fire department! News travels fast in small towns.

After lunch we headed back for the boat and we did boat chores. Jim partially deflated the dinghy and hoisted it onto our foredeck where he lashed it down for our “ocean passage”. He also prepared the wind vane (a mechanical autopilot that steers the boat to the wind) to use in the forecasted 20 knot winds and tied on a jack line (a safety line that runs from the cockpit out to the front of the boat that you can harness onto).

I made chocolate chip cookies with Jacintha – ie I made them and she licked the bowl and spoon! Then I secured everything so that nothing could fall when the boat heels (when the boat is under sail the wind pushes it sideways so it can lean up to 20 degrees). That is a job in itself when traveling with a four year old. She gets things out and forgets to put them back – I think I have to train her a little bit more!

Saw lots of bald eagles!

Neah Bay

That night Jim and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary early! He gave me a pair of leather boat shoes, which coincidently is the gift for 3rd wedding anniversaries! Thanks for my new shoes!

My New Shoes!