The Dalles to Chula Vista

1996

Mon, 19 Aug

Sunday at 6PM we finally left The Dalles. We spent the day doing all those "last minute" things and waiting for the gorge wind to die down. It did not! The wind had to say it's good-byes too. It was with us all the way to Hood River, but not as strong as it sometimes is! We were docked in HR by 10pm, after a minor fiasco with the anchor. By 6 AM this morning we were out of Hood River, with no wait at the Bonneville lock, and a still good current in the river, we tied up in Portland at the Rose City Yacht Club by 3PM. Dinner was had, not on board, but at a Mexican restaurant with Dick and Sally Hewitt, our friends that we had traveled to the Queen Charlotte Islands with in 1994.

Wed, 21 Aug

Lanikai is now in Cathlamet WA and only one day from the mouth of the river. There are errands to run in town, dingy to fold up and offshore goodies to install on deck. If all gets finished early enough we may head off to anchor behind Tongue Point, closer to the mouth, for the night, or we may stay here at this nice little marina. We always meet interesting people (on their boats) here in Cathlamet and the same was true last night. More people to keep in contact with! Doreen even got some good info on the local marine Ham Radio nets.

Later... Schedule at this point looks like we're out of Cathlamet at about 9:30 tomorrow morning and will cross the Columbia River bar into the ocean at about 2:30 in the afternoon. That will put us into Newport OR at about 8AM on Friday morning. All the times, of course, are set to make crossing both of the river bars at their "slack" times.

Friday, 23 Aug

We are now in Newport. We had a rolly ride down but a great sail the entire way. Winds varied between 20 and 30 mph on our stern so it was a sail the entire way, and we even got the autopilot to steer most of it for us. We arrived here in Newport in dense fog that lifted as soon as we cleared under the beautiful 101 bridge here.

Tuesday, 27 Aug

We are currently in Newport Or. and have been here since last Friday about noon.. We had a good although rolly sail down from the Columbia River with nice NW winds. After we got here the winds turned to southerly and still remain so.

Sunday night while checking out the engine, Bill discovered transmission fluid in the bilge and we spent yesterday tracking down the needed O-ring. We acquired one but Bill could not get it to fit right so the part is now in the shop so that the "expert" can put the ring in. We hope that he can do it this morning, but he was last seen upside down in a large fish boat trying to get their transmission back together.

There is a little people ferry that runs from the south shore, where we are moored, across the river to the town. Saturday we rode the ferry into town and explored the waterfront, then walked up to the old lighthouse. It has been restored and is currently a park, so we had a nice tour of the structure. They are currently working on getting the light working again....this time with electricity. On our way back down the hill we walked out to the high span of the 101 bridge. It is sure a long ways up but affords a great view out the channel. I think that it is a real pretty bridge, built when major structures were still made to be pretty.

Sunday was a rainy day so the two of us gathered up a stack of back magazines and read. It did clear up in the late afternoon, for a while. We took the opportunity to walk out the south jetty and watch the waves crashing into the north jetty opposite. We also watched several incoming sailboats and some out going large fish boats. Much of the fishing fleet is still in but the seas have calmed down enough that some are out. From the stern of our boat we can watch them coming and going.

We did get the transmission fixed today, and then went back to the town for a good fish dinner. Rather than worry about the schedule for the little ferry, we walked into the main part of town to the grocery store, then along the coast back to the Hwy 101 bridge and then over the bridge back to the boat. The sea looked pretty calm from the roadway above the cliff.

Northwest winds are expected to return by Friday so our hope is to get out of here by then and travel as far as we can toward Eureka.

Friday, 30 August

We have made the hop to Crescent City and are now in California. We left Newport on Wed morning in what promised to be light south winds but turned out to be no wind at all. We motored the entire distance to Crescent City (about 200 miles) arriving here at dusk last night in a dense fog. Wednesday late afternoon we finally had enough wind to raise the main; it gave us an extra knot of speed and dampened the rolls. About dark we realized that we would get to Coos Bay about midnight so decided to continue on to Crescent City. Our calculations then had us arriving here late afternoon but then the wind never stays the same and this time it chose to die out. We had sunny weather through Wed. and a beautiful full moon in the evening until early morning when the fog came in. It stayed with us most of the rest of the way here.

Our current plan is to head off to Eureka tomorrow morning. It is only 55 miles away and we should be able to cover the distance in one day. Winds are expected to be from the NW, about 20 to 25 knots.

Sunday, 1 Sept

It is already September and we did make it to Eureka yesterday; I guess we are mostly on schedule still. We crossed the bar into Humboldt Bay at 10:15 PM, only 15 minutes after our planned crossing time. We left Crescent City in dense fog which lifted as we got off shore and had beautiful sun the rest of the day. The winds picked up and we sailed most of the way down but the seas were quite lumpy and confused (some waves in excess of 15 feet); poor Gilbert dog had to stay below and got tossed off the seat at least two times. We had clear skies as we entered Humboldt Bay, but even though it was "slack" on the bar we had big waves to fight through. It was also exciting after we entered, trying to sort out the blinking green and red channel marking lights as it took about an hour to get to the marina. The winds are predicted to be stronger for the next few days so we are planning on staying put for a while and then we'll head off toward San Francisco, maybe on Wed.

We traveled from Crescent City in the company of "Red Sky" with Jack and Bonnie (and a hired crew person). They are also headed for San Diego. For those that understand, Jack is also a retired computer programmer who spent much of career using PL/I. They were appreciative of our leading them in over the rough bar here last night.

We spent a delightful evening with Chip and Charlotte Dixon whom Doreen had met while on an AFS bus trip from Seattle to Los Angeles earlier this year. Chip is a professor of Computer Science at Humboldt State University, so he and Bill had lots to talk about. Many thanks to them for the wonderful time! (and Gilbert had a wonderful run in their yard and stream!)

Sunday, 8 Sept

We are sitting at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. We did leave Eureka on Wednesday and arrived here in the bay on Friday afternoon. We tied up in Sausalito for two nights so that we could do a little shopping. West Marine has a store nearby and there was also a convenient grocery store. We moved to a mooring buoy here at Angel Island this morning and spent the day watching people coming and going to visit the park here.

We had a great time in Eureka and found several great places to eat; even a super ice cream store. We left with the prediction of light northwest winds. When we got out to sea, we had light southwest winds for the first 6 hours then light wind for a short time before it finally filled in from the northwest building to 30+ mph winds between Cape Mendacino and Point Arena. After that the winds began dying and were just about gone when we rounded Point Reyes to head into SF Bay. We had, mostly, a great sail all the way and arrived at the bridge about 50 hours after leaving Eureka.

We left Eureka in a little "fleet" of four boats, all headed for SF, San Diego and eventually Mexico. Our new friends from "Red Sky" as well as John and Sharon on "Encourager" and a family from Victoria BC on "Abraxas". Red Sky and Abraxas stopped for a night in Bodega Head, Encourager anchored for some sleep in Drakes Bay (just east and south of Point Reyes). Which put us (the slow boat of the fleet) into San Francisco and Sausalito in first place!

As luck would have it, the transmission was gone again, with no reverse gear just at the final moment of docking. Two more quarts of transmission oil spilled into the bilge. All is well with just the addition of more oil, but we can't really figure out what the problem is!

Wednesday, 11 September

We anchored today in front of Ghiridelli Square in Aquatic Park. We spend the day on shore exploring the tourist waterfront section of San Francisco. Tonight I am looking out at the bright city lights. So different from the quiet of Angel Island where we spent the last three nights. On Tuesday we spent most of the day hiking the 5 miles around the island and exploring the historic sites there, from the Civil War era to the Nike missle era. The park is closed at sunset so we had 3 very quiet nights, and for the two weekdays that we were there we almost had the whole island to ourselves; although on Sunday, when we arrived, it was quite crowded.

Friday, 13 September

We arrived in Monterey today after a quick motor down from San Francisco. The seas were as calm and flat as we have ever seen them and there was no wind at all so the little motor could move the boat along quite well in the flat seas. The transmission performed admirably, with no leaks; how confusing!

We met with our daughter Ginger (who is stationed in the Army at the Presidio) and her new husband Chris for a dinner on the town.

Monday, 16 September

Spent a good weekend with Ginger and Chris; they even spent Saturday night on the boat (to avoid the barracks I would guess!) with bar-b-queued hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner. Sunday we visited the Aquarium in Monterey; what an excellent place! Doreen and Gilbert the dog remain with the boat while Bill is in S.Calif to get some "work" done.

Thursday 26 September

We are just approaching Channel Island Marina (in Oxnard) where we hope to find a slip for the night. The weather was very calm and the waves not too big when we exited Monterey Bay, Tuesday noon; so after rounding Pt. Sur, we set a course for Pt. Conception. That Point was passed last night about 9PM.

There are sure a lot more oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel than I remember from eight years ago, and they are all lit up like Christmas trees at night. The engine has again decided to mess up the bilge for us; this time it is engine oil.

Monday 30 September

Bill worked on the oil leak while we were in Channel Island Harbor and the bilge got another cleaning. Many loose bolts were tightened and now it only is leaking a little. We spent two nights in the moorage there and then moved south to Isthmus Cove on Catalina Island where we spent a night on the boat before traveling to Dana Point yesterday. Lanikai is now back where she started many years ago (her previous owners had her here in Dana Point for 17 years), but tonight we leave for San Diego and our new home in Chula Vista, for the next year. We have had an interesting trip with a variety of weather, but no rain yet, and have had a real enjoyable time of it. Both of us are looking forward to further adventures when we leave for Mexico in a year.

Wednesday, 2 October

We are now mostly settled here at the Chula Vista Marina, with a telephone and a new mailbox right in the local marine hardware store. Everyone here (both the staff and the other tenants) seem to be very friendly. We've even met a couple from West Yellowstone MT that know Doreen's parents. Also have privileges at the pool and jacuzzi in the RV park that is part of the marina complex. After picking up the US mail from Bill's mother's house, we are now two months behind again on our magazine reading. I guess we'll catch up!

Last May we laid out the goal to be in Chula Vista on the 1st of October, and indeed we arrived right on that date. Lots of wind and "weather" north of San Francisco, pleasant weather and absolutely no wind south of there (even while rounding the infamous Point Conception!). An exceptionally good trip!

Another year from now we expect to get underway again, headed further south: Mexico and beyond.