Martin Slough is beautiful this morning with the sun breaking through in the north and cloudy to the south and west. There is a gentle breeze and a delightful sailing dinghy is darting across the pond. Many little calves are drinking at the water's edge while their mothers are waist deep and eating the algae/seaweed. The wind is blowing like stink on the river as the cottonwoods make a noise like rushing river and rapids. I wait for the tide to turn so my ride back, while wild, will be easier. I hear 2 ladies on the VHF radio stating just that:"the ride was wet and wild."Indicating they had come downriver as opposed to upriver.
I consolidate the fridges and clean out the DC one. I take the side off to expose the mechanism. I clean this once 
a year and this year it doesn't look too bad. I stow it in the aft cabin. While I am back there I thought I might as well do some organizing on the port berth which is set aside for storage. Way in the back section I find 2 red bags with my blankets from Sabra. I would never have remembered this, in fact, I did not even remember I still had them. Surprise! I had bought them for our pacific crossing in 1982. I also find 2 inflatable pillows that must have come with Shatoosh, as I don't ever remember them. I'll let my next crew try them out. I send my great niece, Flora a text message wishing her a happy birthday--she is 10 months old.
a year and this year it doesn't look too bad. I stow it in the aft cabin. While I am back there I thought I might as well do some organizing on the port berth which is set aside for storage. Way in the back section I find 2 red bags with my blankets from Sabra. I would never have remembered this, in fact, I did not even remember I still had them. Surprise! I had bought them for our pacific crossing in 1982. I also find 2 inflatable pillows that must have come with Shatoosh, as I don't ever remember them. I'll let my next crew try them out. I send my great niece, Flora a text message wishing her a happy birthday--she is 10 months old.I weigh anchor and the rode is really dirty(black mud) so I spend some time rinsing it off in the water. With everything stowed, I close all the window flaps, and turn on the fan as it is going to get hot.
I am all ready for the rough water and manage to click a photo of me before I take the plunge onto the columbia. As I round the bend I can see lots of whitecaps on the horizon. I continue downriver for a while and make my timed turn upriver to have a better angle with the seas and have enough room to stay clear of the range markers. It is rougher than yesterday but not as rough at Cape Horn. Cape Horn will become my measuring stick for rough water. I maneuver my way across the river and mid way up Goat island a large trawler is peacefully anchored and sunning themselves on deck. At Columbia City I open the flaps and breathe some fresh air. It is still rough and not many boats in St. Helens or at Sand Island docks. I hold my steady speed of 6.3 knots up the Multnomah channel and find all the east docks are jammed packed, so swing around and tie up on the inside of the west dock. A 20 ranger sailboat has just docked on 
the outside.
I am all ready for the rough water and manage to click a photo of me before I take the plunge onto the columbia. As I round the bend I can see lots of whitecaps on the horizon. I continue downriver for a while and make my timed turn upriver to have a better angle with the seas and have enough room to stay clear of the range markers. It is rougher than yesterday but not as rough at Cape Horn. Cape Horn will become my measuring stick for rough water. I maneuver my way across the river and mid way up Goat island a large trawler is peacefully anchored and sunning themselves on deck. At Columbia City I open the flaps and breathe some fresh air. It is still rough and not many boats in St. Helens or at Sand Island docks. I hold my steady speed of 6.3 knots up the Multnomah channel and find all the east docks are jammed packed, so swing around and tie up on the inside of the west dock. A 20 ranger sailboat has just docked on 
the outside.I set up my sun screens to block out the sun so I can have a comfy officino to blog in. I just love being able to blog along the way. It continues to blow and is going to get very hot this afternoon. I'll see how long I can tolerate it. The wind certainly helps , but it is just a shade from being warm. I remember why I don't like boating on the weekend, all the water skiers, fast boats not heeding the slow wake zones and of course, the skidoos. It is 1600 hrs now so maybe I can hang in here and experience a nice cool evening and night.
At 1630 sailboats came from all directions and within 10 minutes the dock was full. I had just turned Shatoosh around with the help of the ranger 20 group. A guy came over to me and asked if I was the person who was blogging and owned the Albin. I was surprised and said, "yes". He has been looking up columbia river cruising on the internet and came across my blog. He loved it and thought it had some good information and was well written. He thanks me for doing it and he continues to read it. We talked about more people could be boat blogging and sharing information. I told him that I had sent in a request to the Freshwater News to have a place where blogs could be listed. They never responded. I thought it was a great idea and would be helpful to many people. After dinner he sat on the dock with his friends and played the guitar and sang songs. It was a sweet ending to a hot afternoon. My solar shower saved the day, again and the swimmers showered off with the remaining water. The mosquitoes came in droves when the sun set. I came in and put my netting up on the forward hatch. I have not used it since I left the delta.
We have had a wonderful working cruise. We have seen many new places, got lots of work done, met wonderful new friends, experienced calm and very rough water, come within 10 miles of the "graveyard of the pacific", found a new haulout yard and I have become more knowledgeable about handling Shatoosh in extreme conditions. Pashmina goes along for the ride and provides me with lots of fun times in the back waters of the Columbia River System. I can't wait for my great nieces Georgia and Flora to get old enough to come along for a special journey tailor made to fit their needs. A boat had 2 littles boys onboard, 4 and 6 years old and they did really well.
Total miles for the entire trip will be 176 nm.
