<(leaving victoria)

Victoria, B.C. - Sausalito, CA

We stopped in Gibsons and Victoria to see friends and finish last minute boat jobs.  Victoria was great fun hanging out with friends, climbing at Crag X (the indoor climbing gym), movies and swimming. 

August 13th, 2009 - We're good to go!! Off to Port An

geles to clear customs. Great sailing but not much luck fishing!

August 15th, 2009 - We're off!!  Out the Juan de Fuca Strait. Exciting moment as a whale followed us 10 feet off the stern - panic! Dad turned on the motor and we changed course. The whale moved on.  Caught a salmon while we were tuna fishing. Too funny. It was delicious and we figured a good luck omen for the trip. 

August 16th, 2009 - First night out was bumpy and rolly, there was no wind so we motored. Then the motor stoppped at about 6am this morning. We put up sails to drift along while Dad worked on repairing the problem. He thought it might be the lift pump (what is that? It "lifts" diesel from the tank to the engine so it's a bit important).  Hours later Dad had the engine running again! Go Dad!

The wind picked up and we had porpoises off the bow (Dall porpoises ) They are small and their dorsal fins are triangular. They are very cool and love to play around the boat. 

We hooked up the monitor windvane and nobody had to steer! The wind picked up and up and we were flying along at 6.5 knots with 2 reefs in the main and no head sail.  Another bumpy and rolly night! Em got up to look at the stars with Mom - the milky way was amazing. We have to learn the names of the other constellations.

August 17th, 2009 - gale warnings for tonight and tomorrow so we decided to run into Newport Oregon. It was a bit of a race to get in before dark and the seas were picking up. We surfed a wave at 10 knots! The engine died as we headed to the bar but Dad dove below and got it running. He stayed down there keeping the engine going while Mom steered us over the bar. It was a bit bumpy and Chris got soaked by a wave! Once at anchor we all relaxed and tied up to the transient dock. We'll sleep well tonight.

August 18-19th, 2009 - Exploring Newport Oregon.  Great little town with some good second hand bookshops. Visited the aquarium which was pretty cool. The giant Japanese spider crabs were amazing, they are really big with very long legs. We also visited the Hatfield Marine Centre which was even cooler. It shows lots of the science behind the sea. We saw the machine designed to capture wave energy, we saw a film about bioluminescence, we looked at experiments on salinity and tons of other really good stuff. 

Chris found a great fossil shell at the beach off the South Jetty. It is really cool.

August 20th, 2009 - Off again. We are headed to Charleston (Coos Bay). We had our first watch. We steered the boat and didn't really do much else for the half hour.  Mom and Dad do 3 hrs  on and 3 hrs off.  We arrived early in the morning so bobbed around waiting for daylight. The bar was calm so we entered easily and tied up at the fish dock in Charlston.

August 21st-23rd, 2009 - Our friends Jason, Nicole and Rowan met us and stayed a night on the boat. They brought great veg from their garden. Mom was really excited about it and it did taste really good.  There was a  great beach 15 minutes walking. Lots of sand and big waves but the water was freezing cold. We tried flying the kites but it didn't go that well.

We all went to the Blackberry Festival in Coos Bay on Saturday - very yummy food and lots of art things to look at. 

Dad changed one of the Port lights the old one was not stuck in very well! He is going to change all of the them as we go along.

August 24-27th, 2009 - Off again. Left the dock early. No wind so motored and motored and motored. We sailed finally. We were going to stop at Brookings but the weather sounded good around Cape Mendocino so we decided to keep going.  Dad sorted out the autohelm  on the windvane so no one had to steer. We helped out on watches -  looking for boats and checking our course.  We had lots of dolphins on the bow and once we were surrounded by over 50 of them jumping and splashing. It was fantastic. There were whales too. Some close and some in the distance. As we passed Cape Mendocino the fog came and went. Sometimes you couldn't see a thing but we had the radar. At night the phosphorescence in the water was incredible, wherever you would see white in the waves during the day it was bright green at night! 

As we got near San Fransisco we started dodging big boats in the fog. Mom and Dad were a little busy. We anchored at Drake's Bay. It was cool how the fog lifted just as we passed Point Reyes.  You could see the fog pouring down the sand cliffs. Yuck, you could smell the birds and the sea lions.  The rocks were white with guano.

We anchored in the Bay, it was really blowing hard so we didn't go to shore.  Too funny, there was a buoy we passed covered with sea lions (Chris counted 15, a record so far) Then we looked over at a little boat on a mooring and it was covered in sea lions - we called it the Sea Lion Hotel. 

August 28th, 2009 - We were up early and started sailing to San Fransisco via the Bonito Channel.  The wind died and we ended up motoring again! There were lots of sea lions, dolphins and fish jumping! The Pelicans were pretty cool too. It was sunny with no fog.

As we approached the Golden Gate Bridge Mom had to take way too many photos! Chris steered the boat under the bridge and into the bay.  It was suddenly hot when we entered the bay. We anchored off Sausalito - it is really shallow! Dad rowed off the check in with customs while we cleaned up and tidied the boat.  Finally Dad was back and it was off to shore for a quick adventure!