When was it? I’ve lost track!

May 9, 2013 Departed Newport Oregon – Destination Gray’s Harbor

We got underway from Newport before daylight, knowing we were going to have a long day. 0340 – big yawn…

All anyone could talk about around the docks and in town was the sport fishing halibut opening starting the day we departed. We were long gone by the time the little sport boats headed under the bridge.

Conditions of the day

Though the voyage started out good, around noon, conditions deteriorated. Our speed was acceptable.

Tillamook Head Lighthouse – Abandoned

We passed the abandon light house at Tillamook, as the seas started building. Northerly 10-12 knot winds came up.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, OR

Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock. I enhanced the photo, to give it light, as it was a gray day. See the difference an hour or so can make in the ocean conditions?

Around 1500 it picked up about 15-18 out of the NW. We spent the day pitching. Remember? Up. Down. Splash. Over and over…and mostly we just sat and braced ourselves.Our speed dropped.  For awhile we were doing 5 knots.

We were all getting hungry. I had little desire to go back and cook in the galley. My planned menu required too much slicing and dicing, and really – I didn’t want my fingers in the mix! My mind was working overtime trying to come up with an alternative menu. I think I changed it about three times. And, still I didn’t want to go to the galley. Fortunately, conditions abated about 1730 for a brief period, as we got north of the Columbia River.

Dinner – Shrimp, Rice, and Salad

We did end up with a nice meal – all things considered.  It was a bit complicated, but we had rice, tempura shimp (Costco style), and a salad. Notice big chunks – avoids putting me in the salad, too. It was all good, and it looked great. I even amazed myself at the great meal we had under the conditions. The guys thought it was a major feat, too. Or major feed? <shrug>

In spite of all our different conditions, food on DV stayed good. No one had to suffer the indignity of a “mustard sandwich”.

And then it was sunset – and we have hours to go to Grays Harbor.

Sunset

The seas remained bumpy to Grays Harbor.

Arrived Grays Harbor

We arrived at the dock in Grays Harbor, WA, at 2335 – 20 hours after departing Newport, OR.

We tied up at the transient dock at Grays Harbor. Its long dock, and several boats our size can fit on the dock. Two boats were already there ahead of us. JT and I jumped on the dock and took the lines. Whoa…what are we walking on? I had a good idea it was tons of seagull poop – poop and feathers. It was all sort of spongy. Such that both JT and I cringed at the very idea of what was “afoot”. Ha!

There was grass growing in the cracks along the edge of the dock that made it difficult to find the cleats. It was dark on the dock.  What light there was in the harbor and marina was blocked by DV. Well, there was no time for anything but tying up the boat – wind was blowing us off the dock. We’d think about it all later.

What with all the salt spray, Captain insisted the boat get washed down before we went lights out. Though it is nice to have the salt off – we are an aluminum boat, it is a safety factor. Salt on decks make for slippery decks. And salt on decks mean we walk the salt into the house. None of this is good.

While the guys washed the decks down, I washed up dinner dishes. It was way too animated to wash dishes after dinner. And, knowing we had an early get up, I didn’t want to face dirty dishes at breakfast the next morning. An hour later we all went lights house. Man, did that bunk feel good. Really good.

We were up at first light.  This is our last day of voyaging on the ocean!

Oh, and those docks? I took this photo as we departed the next morning.

Nasty Docks

Yep, I was right. And, to add insult, the gross docks started right at the bow of DV and went after us all the way to the end. Seems that where we tied up was the cut off for clean docks. Apparently, the rest of the dock is moorage for sea gulls. <sigh>

We are still Northbound 2013 – our last day coming up!  Standby for the blog to follow.