Paused at the Pacific

This blog-post comes the night before departure for our southward run - we have been in Neah Bay for a week and a half. After the muffler was repaired we took a day to breath and prepare for sea. We all awoke with the anticipation of heading offshore, suited up and stoked, turn the key, push the start button... and the engine wouldn't turn over. Ugh. With a conspicuously smoking starter motor, we all looked at each other, let out that laugh we reserve for those times when we might rather cry, and back down into the bilge goes Tim. Jump ahead two more days to locate a starter, and another two for rush delivery and installation, and there we were, right smack in the middle of the winter's first storm, charging up the west coast. We have been waiting on the weather for the past three days. It is now time to go.

The weather forecast is telling: summer is over, and the 10-15 foot seas will likely not subside much until next spring. But the weather window has opened up now, and there is a decent break in the upcoming progression of cold fronts that barrell up the NW coast all winter long. We have a good four or five days of tame west-north westerly wind - 10-20 knots on average - so we're making a run for as far south as we can comfortably get - perhaps as far as San Francisco - but we are obviously not really in any hurry. Few people can say (or would) that they spent 10 days in Neah Bay, WA on vacation. Not that there is nothing to do...

Austen put in a couple days surfing the local beaches, a few miles to either side of the harbour. There was a museum trip to the Makah museum on which Chris wrote up a report for his Self-Design home-schooling program. He and Austen also spent a day kayaking around the harbour, exploring a recently sunken ship and an island beach at the mouth of the harbour. We made daily visits to the local Washburn's General Store, which seems to be the center of activity around here. As I'm sure we will continue to discover in most of the small coastal communities we visit, the locals have been very friendly with us, and the fishermen generous and helpful. In fact, we received daily offerrings of halibut - more than we could possibly eat - and we will set sail tomorrow with a fridge full of it. We have also made friends with fellow cruisers with whom we will be travelling down the coast, each of course with their own story, a different boat, a different crew (some very different) but all of us together on the same piece of ocean. Our radios keep us connected.

Stay tuned, as there has been alot of talk lately about adding a few pictures to the blog - but alas more patience is required, as the technology can be daunting sometimes. (We have alot of cords... where's that one for the camera-to-the-computer?) it appears to have become another "California project".

We will try to put out regular position reports, so check the tracker to follow our progress:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/winlink.cgi?call=VE0TIM

We might even get out a blog-update by email at sea. Don't be alarmed if we don't, though, as we may rather spend our time fishing, or maybe just feeding the fish...