Waiting for weather

Great Retail Opportunities

I confess. Waiting for weather mid-voyage is good – sometimes it is really good. We are in Eureka, CA. We’ve waited for weather here several times over the years. And we waited long enough, that we are familiar with the area. We know where our favorite clothing shops, coffee shop, book store, restaurants, brews, hardware, marine, and grocery stores are located. In fact, we almost feel at home here, we are so familiar. So, you can imagine, now that we’ve been here for a week, that we visited most – okay, all – of our favorite places. In fact, some of the places were visited multiple times.

Celebrating the coast

We spent the weekend resting and making lists for when we get the car on Monday.

Our crew member, JT, rounded up some Dungeness crab on the dock.

Hello boys! Hmmmmmm…..

Yep! They were simply delicious – an unexpected treat, not to be denied. (Thanks for the crab and crab photos, JT!)

The Big Hammer

There is a wonderful hardware store – Pierson Building Center. These murals welcome you to the store.

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It is local owned and operated. It is the most hopping place in the town, and I believe Captain and Crew made over a half dozen trips for parts and pieces. Look for the Big Hammer out on Harris. And be prepared to be wowed – by the amazing inventory, their garden center, the size of their parking lot, friendly sales staff, and the tons of people shopping there!

Lost Coast Brewery

Another favorite is the Lost Coast Brewery. They craft wonderful brews – and the food? It’s awesome. I think they have the best halibut and chips on the west coast of America. We made a couple trips there. After all, we never know when/if we will be back. We got our fix – though maybe one last visit wouldn’t be so bad…

Waiting Projects

Waiting for weather doesn’t mean twiddling our thumbs, heaving great sighs of frustration, and pacing around the boat. No. Waiting is boat projects opportunity time. Most important on the list was replace a watermaker membrane. We picked up the replacement a few days before we left So Cal. We didn’t have time to install it, and the system was working so we decided to delay that project until we got north. We ran the watermaker while underway on this last voyage. And, somewhere along the way on the second day, the old membrane gave up.

• The new membrane is installed. It will get sea trialed on this next voyage. Initial water flush ran successfully, so they believe they have a good installation. Water is gold. Water makes decisions. Water is back on DESERT VENTURE.

• New LED lights were added to the water heater and block heater timers. No more guessing their status now.

• Pencil zincs on both main engines and the generator were replaced.  They are galvanic anodes.  Read about them here.  This generator pencil zinc did its job.

• Cabinet handles throughout the main salon were replaced with new ones. After looking in every hardware store along the way, Pearson’s had them – of course!

As with any boat, there is never a boring day. There are plenty of projects left – don’t worry. We will never run out of projects!

And of course there were hours spent looking and analyzing weather – multiple times, daily.

Waiting is almost over

At this writing, our departure is set for daylight Monday morning, though the plan may change (remember, weather drives the plan). With an overnight voyage, we should arrive in Newport, OR – about 30 hours later. We will refuel there, and if the weather holds, we intend to spend the night. We will depart at daylight the next morning.  It’s possible we will go to Westport, WA, and overnight there.  Then, early the next morning, we will run north. We prefer to make this run in daylight hours.  The crab traps, on this part of the coast, are endless.  We need to see what’s ahead of us!  After voyaging for eleven hours  – give or take an hour – we should arrive at (drum roll, please) Hole in the Wall/ Cape Flattery/Strait of Juan de Fuca!! Yeah!!!!

Here’s hoping the Captain has a good eye.

Just like this fellow (night heron), who has a bird’s eye view.

Standby, for more sea stories when we get underway, on the next leg of our – Northbound Voyage.