First Pfizers all around today :-) ^_^
Now, back to Port Angeles to wait for a weather window to bring Kiki the rest of the way down.
| We motor-sailed up the Columbia river, dodging traffic of widely varying sizes. By the time we got to Kelso/Longview/Rainier, we needed a solid night's sleep and a day's rest. |
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| We arrive back in Oregon! The beautiful bridge across the Columbia and the town on the hillside are welcome sights to these tired sailors. You may have to zoom in to see :-) We got up at midnight to exit the Gray's Harbor bar on slack tide with enough travel time to get to the "graveyard of the pacific" at the best tide for crossing in. The water was fine for us, but we ran over a fishing float right in the main channel, that snagged us so badly we had the USCG on the phone before we got free. Semper Paratus! |
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| We're on the move from Port Angeles past the north edge of the spectacular Olympic Peninsula. Since we have to nearly make a U-turn from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to head south to Oregon, it's very tricky to find a weather pattern that suits a sailboat going out and down. This second try was the charm for success. |
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| Ready to head on down the coast! Web sites are predicting fair winds and following seas for the next couple days, and we are planning to take advantage. You can see on Kiki's stern the shiny watervane of our Monitor Windvane self-steering device. We have for our first time rigged and tried it out. |
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| We're learning to sail Kiki in twenty knot winds with a little wave action; that's a new experience for all of us. Sadly, the wind was right on the nose for where we thought we were going, so the afternoon became a day-sail. We could make about three knots of VMG either under power or beating into the breeze - either way would have taken a whole day to reach Neah Bay. |
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We made a quick trip to the marina to pick up some items. The cleanup and the Spring weather made a huge difference. Heuristicat is just off the right edge of this shot, and you can see the barge-full of detritus near the back.
First Pfizers all around today :-) ^_^ Now, back to Port Angeles to wait for a weather window to bring Kiki the rest of the way down. |
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| Unseasonably beautiful weather and sunset over Blue Heron Basin. We have been prepping Kiki for travel; her kanban board is a flurry of post-its! Modern forecasting technology enables us to fret about the likelihood of inconvenient winds and waves a week away. The trip back to Portland takes most of a week, and we want the very best sheep entrails before casting off ;-) |
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| Once again successfully through quarantine - this time with three negative covid tests. Now that both federal governments have recognized Kiki's name, we have removed the old and attached the new. Hailing port was printed the wrong size, so more decal work yet to come. We are "safely" at the end of our dead-end pontoon, where approaches by non-bubble-mates are almost unheard-of. |
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| Some friends put together an amusing video ^_^ |
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| I'm happily settled in on Kiki, with all my tech. You can see the third required covid test sample kit on the Nav desk - what fun! In the middle of a zoom call with a very patient nurse supervising while I tickle the inside of my nose. As quarantine proceeds, Oregon announces that they are two weeks from unversal adult vaccinations. Time and tide wait for no one ;-) |
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| The business emergency has finally abated a bit. Self-deportation is happening. Here, I'm enjoying a beautiful evening on the ferry to Canada again. The apparent wind up on the sixth deck is fierce. It's a good thing Spring has sprung ;-) Looking forward to a couple weeks of family reunification quarantine with full speed internet, back on the docks. |
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| Spring is almost upon us! Portland's cherry trees along the Willamette are budding. KN95 masks can be found on shelves. The Blazers have not yet been eliminated from the playoffs. Vaccines are just around the corner for us whippersnappers. Next week the cleanup for Heuristicat's marina begins after the unprecedented winter storm. |
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