Sitting in Friday Harbor

Woke up in Neah bay to high winds which made it almost impossible to get fuel. The generator also would not start. Otto!!!!  I am not happy with you.  I plotted a course to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. 90 miles, 9 hours.

Going up Juan De Fucia was a little rough.  Short 3 foot waves close together.  ASD would pound the second or third wave.  After about 6 hours this get old.  We reached Port Angeles and the water started to lay down.  By the time I turned toward the islands we had smooth water.  Kathy found the opportunity to take a shower.

I seemed to have guessed right as we hit cattle pass at slack.  We met John and Tracey of the boat Pairadice.  It was nice to see some smiles.

Friday harbor is a cool place and Kay loves it here.  The next day John and Tracey said goodbye.  They where heading north and we would catch up.

Kathy and Kay went into town the next day, while Otto and I had an intimate discussion.  With the help with Cummins Customer Care, we troubleshot the issue to the fuel cutoff solenoid had shorted out because I had soaked it with fuel.  New one on order ($375) and will be here tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

This is the second time I had to wait for parts at Friday harbor.  Maybe next year we can bypass the San Juans.

Kathy making yummy lemon bars

Sunset in Neah Bay.  Native canoe.

Straits of Juan De Fucia

Olympic Mountains

Are we there yet?

San Juan Islands

Friday Harbor

State Ferry

View from the dock

Talking troubleshooting Otto

Kay is fascinated by sea life

Sunset at Friday Harbor

Sunshine!!!  Kathy and the Admiral

Attempt at a night shot

Enjoying the sun!!!!

Life is good even when you are broke down.

I will NEVER do that again!

I will NEVER EVER cross that bar on an ebb tide.  We crossed an hour after high tide and the USCG called for 4-6 feet building to 8-12 AFTER 9 AM!!  BS.  It came early.  10+ with breakers over the top. I swear we dropped 20 feet out of the sky.  Couldn't turn around.  The only option was forward.  As soon as I hit the gap between the first and second green buoy I started to head north.  Took about an hour to clear the Columbia River influence.  It was uncomfortable for about another 2 hours.  Then we started to get SE winds and following seas.


Then my stomach turned loose.  The Admiral offered to give me a patch for behind the ear.  Did I accept?  Oh no!!  I am a macho man!!!!  The girls took over for the next 3 hours while I laid on the floor flopping like a fish!


Made Neah Bay.  Had to untangle the anchor rode as it "jumped" out of its storage well into the guest bed!  No big deal.


Cranked the Genny.  It turned 1/4 turn and stopped.  Now I am thing new generator.  Crusty to the rescue! (Pairadice) He told me that he had read on TF about the genny sucking up water causing a hydraulic lock.  We discussed the procedure.  2 hours later, I had a running generator and a very big mess to clean up.


Thanks TF and Crusty for the help.


Pics tomorrow.  I am going to bed

So it begins

Spent the weekend in Astoria for the Crab and Wine Fest.  Lots of fun.  Weather window opens tomorrow, Monday May 1st.  We will be heading across the Columbia River Bar tomorrow at dark thirty.  Neah Bay next stop tomorrow.

Disconnecting ASD from the winter dock

Columbia River

Sun!!!!

Clear Cutting

Sharing the river road

Old Cannery

Kay's Castle

Sand bars of the Columbia River estuary.

Astoria

Parking Lot

The "Bridge"

Astoria Marina

Last Piece of Equipment Delivered

With the canvas cover for the dinghy delivered we are ready to go.  We pick up our Friend Kathy tomorrow afternoon.  Thursday mid-morning we start our cruise north.  We will overnight in Cathlament WA, then Friday to Astoria.  The Astoria Crab and Wine Fest is this weekend, however if all holds up, a weather window will open up on Saturday.  If it does, we will cross the Columbia River Bar and 190 miles, 13 hours later we should be in Neah Bay WA.  The next day Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands for a few days.

Follow us on our Spot

If you all want to see where we are on our trip, click on the below link to our "Spot." Save the link to your favorite. It will start tracking when we leave Thursday morning April 27th. If you open the shared page now, you will see our trip to Kalama for fuel. Play with the shared page. 

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0nFfVKzQcEPBWrISXhqYlZ6LsSd7evQYI

ASD Haulout Completed

Well the dinghy and davit are installed and ASD is back in the water. Due to the rain, we could get everything done we wanted too, but she is shining nicely.

Guyer Boats out of Ferndale WA did our install. He made first beefed up the swim platform with SS brackets he made on site. He told me that the stern is solid fiberglass with no fillers, above and below the water line, so that made me feel good. He then installed the davit, ran the wiring and the remote switch. The next day we put the dink in the water, measured for the cables and we are good to go.

With the dink in the harness, the davit sucks it in at the bend. When we are going around or in big water we need to add additional SS straps which he will be send me a set (he forgot them).

The Admiral and I took it out yesterday and the lowering and lifting is quite easy and fast. I will be bring a tow strap this year but most likely won't use it.

The brackets installed below and above the waterline

These are the heavy duty brackets they made to beef up the swim platform

Top part of the davit (lifting mechanism)

ASD's Tender

Check out ride with dealer

A Loon keeping us company

Installed and lifted out of the water.

Heading to the Winter Dock

Pulling out of Ilwaco WA

Coming into Winter Dock after a long 7 hour cruise from Ilwaco