We had a wonderful cruise around Vancouver Island. The last leg of our trip ended this afternoon.
After leaving the dock in Ucluelet last thursday, we anchored at Effingham Island in Barkley Sound. We enjoyed a nice hike out to an old Indian reserve on the island and explored a private beach. I found several shells for my collection.
We consulted with our weather router and decided a good weather window was opening up for our last 180 miles south to Astoria. We pulled anchor and headed south on Friday at noon. This would put us at the Columbia river bar in 20 hours, at slack tide 8am Saturday morning.
As we passed the opening to The Straights of Juan De Fuca we noticed a whale directly on our bow. We pulled Anna Mae back to neutral, while the whale passed if front of us to our starboard side. I was able to take a couple of really nice closeups. So exciting!!!
We made good time down the coast, we averaged about 8.5 knots. We had fog most of the way, and visibility was very poor. At times we couldn't see past the bow of the boat. Our radar was flawless, it's very nice to know we can count on our electronics. We where fortunate to have calm seas.
As we crossed the bar in Astoria we followed a fishing boat into The Columbia. He was able to maneuver through the wall of fishing boats that covered the river, and we just followed behind.
Clearing customs in Astoria was an adventure... The office isn't open on the week end. I called The Coastguard several times to get the correct phone number. We had to wait about an hour for the officer to arrive and clear us back into the US.
We are home, happy with our trip, and ready to join up with The Fubar this fall in San Diego. There are only a few items on our improvement list before we leave. Overall Anna Mae is everything we had hoped for.
After leaving the dock in Ucluelet last thursday, we anchored at Effingham Island in Barkley Sound. We enjoyed a nice hike out to an old Indian reserve on the island and explored a private beach. I found several shells for my collection.
We consulted with our weather router and decided a good weather window was opening up for our last 180 miles south to Astoria. We pulled anchor and headed south on Friday at noon. This would put us at the Columbia river bar in 20 hours, at slack tide 8am Saturday morning.
As we passed the opening to The Straights of Juan De Fuca we noticed a whale directly on our bow. We pulled Anna Mae back to neutral, while the whale passed if front of us to our starboard side. I was able to take a couple of really nice closeups. So exciting!!!
We made good time down the coast, we averaged about 8.5 knots. We had fog most of the way, and visibility was very poor. At times we couldn't see past the bow of the boat. Our radar was flawless, it's very nice to know we can count on our electronics. We where fortunate to have calm seas.
As we crossed the bar in Astoria we followed a fishing boat into The Columbia. He was able to maneuver through the wall of fishing boats that covered the river, and we just followed behind.
Clearing customs in Astoria was an adventure... The office isn't open on the week end. I called The Coastguard several times to get the correct phone number. We had to wait about an hour for the officer to arrive and clear us back into the US.
We are home, happy with our trip, and ready to join up with The Fubar this fall in San Diego. There are only a few items on our improvement list before we leave. Overall Anna Mae is everything we had hoped for.
This whale was up close and personal
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