October 1st, 2015 Thursday- Arrived in Grays Harbor

Although we planned to end our shift at the helm in Astoria the decision was unanimous to head into Grays Harbor primarily due to our desire to be off shift, enjoy some sleep, gourmet food, and play with our girls.  Downside of being on shift is that one can’t do much other than tend the helm, navigate, or sleep. Meanwhile the girls’ attempts at occupying themselves and pestering Cutip waned and their need for our attention grew, i.e. especially the younger one became whiny and cranky.  Whenever I am bombarded by my needy children, I am reminded that our otherwise independent children need their coddling time with their parents.

While one occupies herself with times table...

the other is, uh, getting crabby?

The next day it's almost 180 with a full on stage production.

Our main entertainer gave an operatic rendition of "Over the Rainbow" in full costume.  

The diva takes her rest with our other furry diva after the performance.

 The approach into Grays Harbor is not especially difficult but we were checking and rechecking the chart plotter and counting the series of red and green buoys positioned to help us avoid our ship from getting grounded. I made a mental note to get a charting app on our tablet as soon as we can get WIFI connection. Currently, we don’t have a repeater screen with a chart plotter at the helm.  If I had visited the New Port Heritage Museum that chronicled multiple pictures of shipwrecks and displayed a map locating a few dozen shipwrecks in Grays Harbor before, I would not have entered into this harbor.

Navigating between the north and the south jetty that shelters the harbor.  Submerged jetty is present to the starboard and creates pretty big waves.  

Jeff steers us into the Grays Harbor entrance as Anna is looking out for buoys.  What is the second mate doing?  Yes, someone has to document our first bar entrance.