October 14 through October 15, 2015. Humbolt Bay- Eureka, CA.

Left Port Orford in the morning.  Was a little  worried the anchor would be dug so deep we wouldn't be able to get it out, but it came up just fine.  Getting here took almost all of 24 hours.  The day started out beautiful with great clarity and visibility.  What the forecast sited as a patchy fog after midnight turned into dense fog from 10 nm off the coast all the way in to the marina.  Thank goodness the seas were behaving.  We navigated mostly through our chart plotters available on three devices: Simrad chartplotter at the navigation station inside the boat, Navionics App on our tablet and cell phone.

It’s a bit eerie steering in the middle of the night, no visibility, thick fog, and the only guiding light you have is on your compass and your handheld Navionic app.  We steered not by sight or markers but by compass, chartplotter with AIS transponder, and radar.  These technologies again became lifesavers as we entered into Humbolt Bay in the morning fog.  The fog was too thick to navigate from buoy to buoy by sight, and the handheld devices had some limitations.  We didn’t update the charts for details in these areas so it didn’t have all the buoys identified.  A radio relay from the Nav Station inside the boat to the helm was started once we entered the bay.  I must say it was great display of team work. 

Found a used book store in town.  Woohoo!

Walking around Old Town in Eureka, CA.  Gotta do the touristy things like take pictures in front of a landmark. 

Came all the way to California to eat New York pizza.  It was really good.  The Force 10 just isn't big enough for pizza.

Note to readers: I noticed that our comment section is empty and was wondering if it worked.  If you'd like to leave a comment, you  have to set your profile as the commenter. If you have a google account use that or if you have other email accounts use "open URL" under the profile type and enter your email address.  You will have to sign into your email account,  After all this you will be allowed to comment and publish your comment.  Yes, it's a bit cumbersome.  You can continue to send me emails or establish yourself as a commenter. The next time around should be easier. Also you can follow our blog to get updates automatically.  Thanks for keeping up with us.  --MK.

October 13 thru October 14, 2015. Port Orford, OR

Caves in the cliffs.  On our way out of Coos Bay. 

We set out of Coos Bay, OR thinking that we’d either stop in Crescent City, CA or Eureka, CA if weather allowed.  

It was a high pressure system, clear skies, and unseasonably warm temperature most of the day.  The girls were mostly bored and didn’t know what to do.  I haven't been able to get Sophia to take another turn at the helm since leaving Jones Island, when she shrewdly observed that "the boring thing about steering is you either have to keep the wheel straight, or keep turning it back and forth."  Yep, that pretty much sums it up.  The course south was somewhat choppy but the clear sunny skies made up for the ups and downs.  Soon, as the late afternoon drew near, the winds were getting stronger and the swells were getting bigger.  The 4 pm forecast update included a small craft advisory that wasn't there earlier.  Another dark night with wind and waves- not a fun prospect.

In the lee of the Port Orford cliffs, looking south the following morning.  Despite the cliffs, we had 20-25 knot gusts during the night, a taught 250 ft anchor chain & snubber, and bow veering back and forth.  Oh yes, and westerly swells rolling into the anchorage.  Didn't get much sleep.

After studying the guide books, the charts, and the weather reports Jeff suggested that we duck into Port Orford.  It was not a marina but a sheltered cove from the northerlies. Exactly the kind of cove we needed.  It took 2-3 hours to get into the cove, and in that time we spotted a whale, pod of porpoises, and three pelicans. Dropped anchor at dusk.  The winds and the swells calmed once we were got behind Port Orford’s high cliffs.  There are launching ramps but not docks, only dry dock.  The fishing boats pull in and the lifts pull the boats out of the water for storage on dry dock.  It’s different than most ports but I guess it works well in Port Orford.  What really captured my awe here were the rocks that surrounded the cove.  High cliffs with a few mansions were present to the north, to the east was the dry dock with all of its fishing fleet, and the south was the landscape of peppered rocks standing on water.

The girls desperately wanted to hit the beach, but we stayed put on the boat all day the and a second night.

Note to self- anchor closer to the cliffs next time.

The girls and Jeff decided to make colored pencil drawings.  They are always drawing, coloring, painting, and sewing. We are going to run out of room for all their creations.

Sophia is always thinking of Cutip whenever we are enjoying the sun.  Cutip is becoming more used to the engine noises, swells, and the boat in general.  Meanwhile, Cutip seems to approve of Jeff's increasingly cat-like behavior- like waking numerous times during the night to wander around the boat.

This fishing boat joined us in the cove sometime during the night.  .

October 6 (Tuesday) thru 12 (Monday), 2015. Hanging out in Charleston-Coos Bay, OR

Always looking for that great tree to climb and they found one.

The girls made "the humble nation of dribble" castles at the beach. 

While the girls enjoyed playing at the beach, Monica thoroughly enjoyed scrubbing the boat and getting rid of the green grime we carried from Sandy Point. 

 

Bus ride into town for a grocery run. For a 20 min ride, we spent 1 hr getting to Safeway.  There we found a recycled can and glass compartment.  It’s Anna’s great fascination with making money with no-investment: take Washington bought canned goods and recycle it for 5 cents a can in Oregon.  I believe there was fairly popular episode of Seinfeld where Kramer went all over NY with cans from a different state that doesn’t charge for can deposits.  You guys know which episode I am talking about. My Anna may become future Kramer! Ahhhhh!  Real successfully funny shows become popular and are so amusing to us because we all identify closely to these ridiculous characters.  Dilbert is another good example of how some really smart people have made comedies out of our miseries in cubical based corporate world in the case of Dilbert and weird deep desires we all have but are too ashamed to admit, comically Kramer has no shame.

Though the bus ride was a lot longer than needed to be and louder than desired, we took the opportunity to observe the town of Coos Bay and its bus riders.  We noticed that everyone was very helpful and went out of their way to accommodate each other.  Coos Bay was a small town inhabited with really nice people. 

Fog rolls into the bay as we return to the boat from shopping.

As we approached the marina we noticed a group of photographers taking pictures of the marina in the fog.  Did I get this right, teacher?

As Saturday approached I started to get nervous about whether we’d be able to make it to mass.  That morning, I reserved a cab ride for the vigil mass at 5PM on Saturday.  The weather turned really blowing it’s forecasted 25 to 35 knot winds with rain.  This kind of weather was not my idea of sightseeing around town and going to mass.  So, I changed my cab reservation to Sunday Mass.  Sunday morning I had a weird feeling that I needed to be extra vigilant that they haven’t forgotten about us.  Well, when I called that about 45 mins before pick up time, the dispatcher didn’t have my reservation.  They said their computers are down but they now have the info to pick us up at 9:45 for a 10:15 arrival at St.Monica’s Catholic Church.  Yes, the church happened to be named after my saint. We all rushed out of the boat to line up at the Marina Office by 9:45AM.  No Taxi.  To keep this long story short, let’s just say that the taxi arrived 10:15AM! This is when I wanted to arrive at church.  It’s always better late than never so we gratefully climbed in the taxi and attended mass late.  Never before had I felt such gratefulness and great longing to attend mass.  As I was waiting for a taxi that didn’t show a sign of picking us up, I had a little tantrum within myself towards God.  Why would God not want me to go to mass?  When I am trying so hard and go out of my way to attend mass, why would God make it difficult for us to attend mass?  None of this made sense. By the way I don't believe in bad luck or coincidences. There is always a reason and purpose for the good and the bad that happens in our lives. After mass and after having a nice greasy lunch at a local diner, I realized why God created that wrinkle on Sunday morning.  My understanding is that he wanted me to know what it felt to really desire God.  It was a blessed day with a beautiful mass that I immensely enjoyed.  This all may sound a little nuts and overly dramatic but attending mass has almost become a mission impossible on this trip. Not knowing which port we are going to be or if we are going to have transportation to get to the nearest church, we have to trust in God to lead us.   I am going to take it as a blessing. 

This sand bar was a 1/2 hour walk from where we tied up at the dock, but could not be ignored since it was in the girl's direct line of sight.  Most notable feature was the squeaky sound the sand made when you walked on it.

October 5th, 2016 (Monday) Arrived in Charleston Marina near Coos Bay, OR

Entering the Coos Bay bar.

Hecklers

Boy were we happy to see a dock again!  We toiled over 10 hrs trying to stabilize our boat from swells and resultant bow lurches.  Leaving Grays Harbor, WA we knew that we’d be dealing with 5-10knots of southerlies.  The night started out clear with surfacing of a bright crescent moon around 9pm.  In a moment, I looked down into the cabin and then looked up to find no moon, no stars, but sudden darkness – an ominous feeling set in my gut. According to our chart plotter, I didn’t make any progress south during my 3hr shift at the helm.  As we approached dawn, more light was available and the winds and the swells calmed down, probably out of pity for us.  Our 60hP Perkins engine sped up to our top speed at 3000 rpm (about 6 knots) to head toward our nearest refuge, entrance to Coos Bay.  After Grays Harbor, we felt a lot more comfortable entering another bar entrance despite numerous entrance markers and sharp right turn toward the marina.

A moment's rest after the engine shutoff. Certainly reached a milestone.

The girls waste no time checking out the catch.  Note the observation stance.

One now is able to tell what kind of marina you enter by that familiar waft of fish remnants that have preserved its atmosphere.  We are now used to this scent and is ever so welcoming after a bad night at sea.  One thing I am learning is that boaters are macho.  They don’t like to confess that they had difficulty with the sea in any sort of way.  As we talked to some who have ducked into this marina as we have, they all start out saying that their trip was not a problem. While we talk further about the weather and the swells in transit, the truth of the same “minor” roughness is revealed. To be fair these guys are on 60ft+ motoring vessels probably equipped with fancy stabilizing technologies (i.e. built in gyroscopes for stabilization) and their master control stations in the comforts of a pilot house, out of the elements.  This sort of attitude reminds me of the competitive air in the field of engineering.  We never want to admit we don’t know something. 

Kindness and the camaraderie are present in the area.  A skiff with 3 crabbers stopped behind us once we tied off to offer us 4 crabs.  One of the guys on the boat asked if we were heading to Mexico and saw that we had young kids.  They were awfully generous.  I have never seen so many crazy about crabbing off the dock as we do here.  Everyday there is a new group of people that show up near our docks to drop their crab pots.  Apparently, these docks are known for having good crab harvests.  Many seem disappointed by the less than legal size, though.

October 2nd, 2015 Friday- Looking around Westport Marina in Grays Harbor

We ducked into Grays Harbor waiting for the next good weather window to head south. We are likely to depart on Sunday Oct4th for probably a 36 hr shift at the helm. With 10 kts of northerlies, we hope to test out our hydrovane.

Again, Grays Harbor like Neah Bay is a fishing marina.  They tout that Westport Marina of Grays Harbor has the largest fishing charters on the west coast.


At the end of our dock, Anna found this floating "office?" that the Fishery department houses their employees waiting for fishing boats to come in and report their catch of the day.  She is very fascinated by it and plans to make one just like it for herself.  She has taken measurements, made sketches, and even had thoughts that she needs to end her trip now so that she can get working on building her own floating "office".  It can be steered with its 50hp outboard motor.  

Upon examination it does seem very doable to build one of these yourself.  I wonder how one gets one of these registered with the state and whether some entity has to approve it as a house boat or a recreational vehicle.

On our way back from our long search for the shower, we stopped at the Newport Heritage Museum. If I had visited this museum before entering Grays Harbor, I probably wouldn't have due to numerous mega tankers and large fishing boats that landed on its shoals over the years. Actually those were when they didn't have as accurate navigational beacons, GPS, and chart plotters. Thanks to those sacrificial ships we probably have better charts in these areas and of course the satellite technology.   

In front of Westport Heritage Museum which used to be a Coast Guard station until 1930's. 

Fresnel lens technology (developed in 1700's) used in all light houses to send out light beams to far distances. 

Now that we caught up on some sleep and showered it was time to gorge on some good food.  

Tonight's Dinner Menu: 

• Pan seared and pepper encrusted tuna steaks (bought from the next dock over)
• Sugar-soy glazed potatoes
• Steamed cauliflower sprinkled with shredded cheese
• Pressure cooked steamed white rice
• Dessert: chocolate cake

Made them wait so I can take some pictures.  Patience is a virtue. 

Sophia learned a new word today, "gluttons"!

Note to the readers: I realized that in the excitement of starting a blog that I felt I needed to document each and every day.  As this was only possible due to our stays at marinas, we will probably be spending more time on the ocean from now on.  Thank you all for such kind words about our blog. I am hoping to reach a natural and practical cadence to blog updates.  If you return and there are no new posts, wait in great anticipation for new pictures and stories will surely surface soon. 

-MK

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. 

September 30^th, 2015 Wednesday- Leaving Neah Bay heading toward Grays Harbor

Looking east out of Neah Bay's Makah Marina Seal Rocks remind of the Sea Lions sunning at the docks.

We left Neah Bay around 4:30 PM with much indecisiveness about whether we should leave or stay another night.  With rougher weather report for Friday, we had about 36 hrs of motoring ahead of us targeting Astoria.  This leg was to be the BIG COMMITMENT, thus the back and forth and a lot of discussions about navigational plans and weather forecasts.   During most of the waking hours we decided to do 2 hour shifts and during the night we resorted to 3 hour shifts so that we can at least get 2 hours of sleep assuming about an hour of getting to sleep.  Jeff valiantly started the shift at 6pm while Anna steered around the buoy marking Cape Flattery. 

Cape Flattery in the background while Anna steers around it and into Pacific Ocean with leather driving gloves. 

Through the night, we kept about 15 nautical mile (nm) away from the coast.  While on my shift I reminisced our first boat’s, Wandering Star, auto-pilot.  It had a slight drift but at least we didn’t have adjust constantly at the helm.  On Luminesce we have a hydrovane designed to keep course while under sail which serves as the auto-pilot when we are not motoring.  Once we shutoff the engine and under sail, we will be testing out the hydrovane performance.  

The red piece is a part of the hydrovane.