We spent a good time but a long time (7 days) in Newport, Oregon... waiting for winds and seas to settle to a comfortable pace and height... too many horror stories from other cruisers so we decided not to be heroes but to enjoy our visit and check out the town. And, of course, we found a few good restaurants and a fun brewery and a couple of hardware stores.. what more could you ask for?? Finally, on September 4th we slipped our lines in the early, foggy morning (0600 hrs.),crept out of Newport, and headed out to sea. It felt great to be back on track; better rested this time and with the experience of the first 3-day leg under our belts. NB: something we didn't mention about that last leg was the little excitement we had when we realized that we'd picked up something (probably a large bull kelp) that felt like it had wrapped itself around our rudder a bit and then,just to get our attention, took a turn or two around our prop shaft. With a sluggish rudder and a vibrating prop shaft we decided to take a page from Lin and Larry Pardey and forgo using the engine for a spell. So we sailed... and we sailed... and we sailed some more... in confused seas requiring hand-steering for a couple of days... That's why we were so very tired when we hit Newport. The good news is that, just before arriving at the Newport bar, we decided that whatever had latched on had probably been knocked off in all the confused seas..so we started the engine and, to our delight, everything was fine. We motored in to Newport under our own steam... knocked off the remains of some kelp from the top of the rudder at the dock.. and carried on as if normal :-)
So, here we are on September 4th, a little older and wiser... but much better rested, heading off on the next leg of our journey. We planned (when we left) to go to Coos Bay; a much shorter run than our previous leg. They say the best cruising plans are written in sand, just below the high-water mark... and that's a pretty good description of what happens. With all our planning (and we are both Capricorns) we still didn't quite make it to Coos Bay. Instead, we did as we'd said we'd do and as the weather was holding and our spirits were good, we just kept going. We sailed past Coos Bay and we sailed past Port Orford. We sailed past Crescent City and finally, we came out of the fog at Eureka, California. Not the short little hop we'd envisioned.. but a great one at that. We had fog most of the way so spent countless hours staring at the radar screen. It was like sailing at night all day long except that you couldn't see any ships lights because of the fog. Again tho' we had some fabulous experiences. There were birds everywhere and they seemed to travel with us at night. While on watch you could hear them chattering away to each other, on both sides of the boat. And, we had whales... two nights in a row. The first night Kathy was on watch and it was just before dark. She heard then saw what we believe was a pilot whale surface a stones throw away from our port side. The whale blew as it passed heading north (as we were heading south) and was then gone. The next night we were both in the cockpit and it was dark...when out of no where and very close to the stern of the boat we heard a huge growl and blow of a whale that must have just barely missed the boat. There were several other blows too so we're not sure if it was just one whale passing very close by or 2 or 3. Pretty scary, in the middle of the night, with an animal that close to our little ship. But it was neat too (after the shock wore off). Anyway, our ship-board routines were much more comfortable this leg and so we kept going. We motor-sailed most of the way... had to keep the speed up with the waves as they were coming from behind and pretty uncomfortable if you weren't in synch with them. We both slept better on this leg too; shorter, less regulated sleeps... but enough.
Coming in to the Eureka bar, in the fog, was quite an experience. There were waves breaking on the ends of the jetties (huge, rock breakwaters parallel to each other and creating a safe entrance over the bar and up into the river) and the channel, although dredged, is fairly narrow. But with our trusty GPS and Kathy's skill at setting up courses, we navigated our way over the bar, into the river, and up to the Eureka Public Marina where we gratefully accepted a slip and moorage. We had only just arrived and sat down to catch our breath when we were treated to a feeding frenzy of a magnitude we hadn't seen before. Pelicans, egrets, and other sea birds... along with seals and sea lions, all thrashing about just off our transom. The pelicans hit the water like cannon balls, diving after the fish and, as each Pelican did so, they were instantly swamped by several of the smaller birds thrashing about after the tidbit left-overs. Except for the fog (all day except for 2-3 hours in the afternoons) Eureka is kind of a neat place too. We've already found the Irish Pub and the sushi restaurant... and there's a brewery in town that awaits a visit. The Co-op has good food and there's an Englund Marine store. There's also an NOAA centre here, which we visited this afternoon. A meteorologist took us back to his desk and showed us how they make their weather predictions. He also helped us look at what to expect on Sunday and Monday with respect to the bar conditions and potential weather as we head south. This is a really great service and it's the one NOAA centre that the public can actually visit. Anyway, we're back at the boat now (Thursdays are Irish nights at the Irish Pub) and ready to tuck in. Tomorrow we're off in search of a hardware store and will do some more chart planning,etc. Hope all is well with you. TTFN... Carolyn
