Cathlamet, Washington to Warrenton, Oregon

I am up early again, about 0500hrs.
I ate a few nuts, had a mug of coffee, dumped the trash, unhooked the electrical cord, started the green machine, computer, radar, gps, depth sounder, vhf, and shoved off at 0640 hrs. Gray weather with a slight NW wind. I was so excited to use my new route that I created last night.  You can double click the photo and see we are at Pillar Rock on the chart plotter. It was so helpful and I enjoyed learning how to do that. Slowly, but surely, I am getting better at using and understanding the Sea Clear program. Thanks Dan, of Whiskyjack, for all your inspiration and help to get it up and running.I ran the entire river without seeing one person or boat. Did everyone disappear during the night? 4 ships are anchored upriver of the Astoria bridge. Hailing ports are Majuro, Limasol, Hong Kong. 

I run with the current which has now weakened some due to the widening of the estuary. The tide is ebbing and the most speed I make is 9.5 knots. It takes me 2 hours and 40 minutes to make the entrance of the Astoria west basin. The trip was really easy, 1-2 foot wind waves. I tie up at the fuel dock and take on 8 gallons. Diesel is $4.05.

I ask the dock attendant if I could spend a few hours on the transient dock to have coffee and breakfast. I gives me the OK, and off I move across the marina. I call and tell Jean that I have made another leg of the trip, Too Tall calls just as I tie up again. We talk about Lewis and Clark, as he is a great fan of the Corps of Discovery. I am really hungry, so scramble me 2 of those huge, yellow eggs and have a piece of toast.
I am ready for leg 2 of my trip today.

As I pull out of the breakwater walls there is a big smiling, snorting sea lion to greet me. What a blessing for me.











I pick up my next waypoint and in no time I am at the entrance to the Skipanon River. The tide has turned so shoaling just inside the entrance shows 8 feet of water, but jumps to 15-16 ft in a matter of minutes.  A mallard mother has only 2 goslings remaining and a large family of Canada Geese have 6 remaining.  Many fishing vessels harbor here and there is a huge boat emptying their holes at the fish factory.

I dock at the boat yard, and Charles has gone to lunch. The small vessel is being worked on by a mechanic on the ways that I will use. I go across the street and get ice, and check out the laundromat. Charles shows up and says everything is a head of schedule and they will launch the other boat about 1630 and then pull me out, rather than wait for high tide tomorrow. He was happy to see me early so we could haul out today. Charles says, "Shatoosh is cute as a button." I'm sitting in the laundromat, doing all my dirty clothes and by the time I am finished the tide will have risen enough to haul out.

The Salmi Brothers launch the little Carver and in no time, Shatoosh is out of the water and on the ways. The zincs and cutlass bearing are good. In the morning they will begin power washing the hull and painting. Also they will put on the swim platform I made many years ago. I'm staying on Shatoosh and we are on a slight slant, but nothing too great.







I empty out the aft cabin and take off the cockpit liner so the guys will have access to mount the platform.

Offshore there are small craft warnings and Gales at Cape Flattery, but the 10 day outlook looks promising. I'm taking it one day at a time and today was just perfect.

Days run: 26.7nm

Total: 98.7nm

What's in the Dry/Survival Bag?

This is a good question and I packed it with the thoughts that since we will be within the 3 mile curvature of the coastline that survival needs would be short term. All items are lashed in Pashmina.
 Contents are:
1. dry clothes for Joyce and I, including socks, long underwear, warm caps, turtle neck shirts and pants.
2. Flares
3. 2 gallons water with 2 drinking bottles
4. Green drink( has about 12 fruits and vegetables/ digestive enzymes) for 1 week
5. Electrolytes/ vitamin C to go into green drink.
6. Simple tools: knife, screw driver, hacksaw, pliers
7. Head lights with white and red lights
8. sunscreen/ simple medical supplies
9. fire starter
10. Zodiac repair kit.
11. Batteries for lights/strobes on jackets

Cathlamet Day 3

Our beautiful weather  has changed again and is now overcast, but breaks some in the afternoon. I splurged on another $.25 shower this morning. My friends departed today, heading back to Tacoma. We really had a nice time hooking up together in this lovely, quaint town. Linda and I had breakfast together. My sunday special of french toast made with organic eggs from Pam's little farm, seemed to hit the spot. We all sat in Shatoosh's cockpit and talked about spiritual journeys and concepts, while the mantra, Om Namah Shivaya played. Linda and Ardine are thinking about meeting up with us with along our route. We spoke about them hanging out in La Push and them doing some of the beach hikes while they wait for us. I hear they are spectacular and they both like to hike and walk.
I put on my new cap for the crossing to show Linda.

I checked in with other local boaters that I had met here. One boat, the Lady Louise, is headed north in about 10 days. They will be harbor hopping and they even go into Willapa bay at times. This is a very shallow bay south of Grays Harbor and north of the Columbia River. Local knowledge is wise to get across the breaking seas and the misplaced buoys. I'm not planning on going in there, but it is nice to know that it is possible and to have met someone who has done it. This will be one West Coast River that I won't explore.

I haven't been able to post photos here, as the cell coverage is not the best. I depart in the morning for Warrenton, Or, which is west of Astoria. I explore my navigation program more tonight and discover that I can convert a previously stored tracking to a route with waypoints and then activate and use it. I look in my log book, find when I cruised from Cathlamet to Astoria last year. I matched the date with the stored files and transferred it to the route editor and presto I had my new route with waypoints. I can't wait to use it tomorrow.

Cathlamet day 2

Linda fixes breakfast at her rig and we have a beautiful view of the slough. The sun is up, the skies blue and it might be in the low 80's. Hurray.

We take a walk over the the far docks so that I can put some books on Russ and Marsha Matta's Baba 30, named Cicero.













Linds'a friend Ardine arrives in her newly acquired RV and she gets set up next to Linda. It turns out Ardine and I took the same Reiki class in 1985 in Tacoma taught by Helen Haberly. A very small world.

 
We spend a casual afternoon and have a wonderful meal with fresh food from their personal gardens. The day is cooling off and we take a small tour of the Cathlamet waterfront in Shatoosh. Going under Puget Island Bridge and getting to see the granite cliffs were a treat for them. We went up the slough a bit to see the new houses and private docks.





Linda and Ardines vans, looking from the slough as we head out for a evening cruise.






As we were tying up a couple came to see Shatoosh. They have been looking at Albins and had never seen one. He knew who we were, as he reads the blog. His friend in the marina had called him to tell him an Albin 25 was in the marina. He asked ,"Is it Hira and Shatoosh?" How great this is, I get to meet a reader of the blog.

Westport Slough to Elochoman Slough(Cathlamet, Wa)

Lewis and Clark stayed here Nov 1805 and had great help from the Waikiakum Indians. They were fogged in and the indians showed them a back way through Elochoman Slough to the river. In 2006, Pashmina and I journeyed this route, as it is a wonderful ecosystem to visit. This is really river rat country. You can find  many a man who hangs out here and makes a living by fishing for Squaw fish. These are a type of pike that has over taken the waters of many of the natural fish. In washington state there is a bounty on them, so these ole river rats, catch craw fish up in the slough, then use them for bait to catch the squaw fish.

I found in my logbook a few of my writings from several years ago about my trips with Pashmina and hanging out in the back waters.

Hidden Back Waters

I seek  solitude along the shores of a sweet cove.

The wind whistles through the cottonwood trees creating the sound of rushing water over a cobblestone bed of rocks.

The osprey and turns fly in the wake of Pashmina searching and diving for their next meal.

The eagles soar and tree hop, escorting me deeper into the hidden lagoon.

It is all so sacred, I ask them for permission to enter.

Stillness

The stillness awakens me in the middle of the night.

I lie in my warm bunk, anchored in a back water slough.

There is no wind blowing, a weakened Fall current and slack tide.

That special moment between tides, much likened to the space between the breaths, where one experiences the totality of stillness and oneness with the Divine..

The fulcrum of the universe smiles and suddenly slaps his leg in total delight.

There is an early morning minus foot tide, which will affect the mouth of the slough at the river's edge. I will wait until mid day to depart. The sky is blue, blue, blue and the marina is full of busy people. I talk with John off and on who I met the other day. He lives aboard a Westerly 40 ft center cockpit ketch. He takes me aboard and shows off his large ketch. He has a huge aft cabin stateroom. Another man  shows me his Chris Craft that he is restoring in a floating garage. So much work to bring back these vessels that have been left to the rot.

The NOAA research boats return about noon. I go over and talk about the water levels at the mouth, which they had no problem returning to their home port. So I proceed to depart, and John stands by to see me off. I beep my horn to the Champagne Lady and her owners and I am off at 1220. I have plenty of water at the mouth and make my turn down river at the red nun "56". Within minutes and against the flood tide my speed is 10 k. The sun feels and looks good to this white skinned north westerner. I hear the Bar report on the VHF. This is the first one to receive, so now I am in Astoria Coast Guard District. The report states 1-3 foot waves.  This is what I want to hear next week. the 10 day forecast calls for 30 % chance of rain on the 11th June--our departure day. We are getting closer to the pacific.

At 1320 hrs, I turn up the channel to the village of Cathlamet and the Elochoman Slough and my speed drops to 5.1 k and later to 4.8k. Mind you, now I have the flood on my stern and my bow to the current. I pull in and there are several big( 50 ft) boats on E dock. I dock at the pump-out station and empty my holding tank. Then pull in front of the second boat tied up. It is 1400hrs. I check in at the office, get some ice, take a wondrous shower and in no time my friend Linda shows up in her RV. She and another friend of hers will boondock out on the peninsula for the weekend. Her friend has a new RV and will join us tomorrow.

Linda and I drive her rig into town for dinner, pick up some things from the market and head back to the marina. Linda has a beautiful view of the slough and since she has been feeling a little sickly, she retires early to bed. The sun is dropping, the breeze cool and this has been my best day in months. I'm wearing a Tshirt, shorts and barefoot. The temps are to be in the 70's this weekend. Oh, do I love this weather.This is what I want for the coastal trip.

Today's run 9.3nm
Total: 68.7nm

Kerry West Marina 2 June 2011

In, The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame writes:


Take the Adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes! Tis but a banging of the door behind you, a bithesome step forward, and you are out of the old life and into the new! Then someday, some day long hence, jog home....when the cup has been drained and the play has been played, sit down by your quiet river with a store of goodly memories for company.

Thank you, oh great rivers of the west, we are blessed. You have filled our mug full of wonderful stories that people around the world now enjoy, by sipping, one tale at a time. I savor each moment, each encounter, every bend in the river, as I know, I will not pass this way again.

Kerry West Marina Westport Slough

Up at dawn again after going to bed right at dark. The sun's cycle rules my waking and sleeping. I like being in rhythm with the universe. I've got another to do list for today:
1. stow water; 2 gallons in Pashmina
2. stow survival bag
3. clean steering wheel
4. clean a dirty galley drawer I discovered last night looking for my can opener.
5. Restow my anchor line from last anchorage. I didn't have time to tidy it up with that swift current flowing.
6. Make lashings for my vinyl banner.
7. Fill Solar Shower

survival bag and 2 gal of water

solar shower

Banner: Cruising the Navigable Waterways on the West Coast
To put on the rail when we are in port.

Too Tall was telling me that my Lat and Long from Walker Island did not coordinate with Google Earth. this made me think about my GPS. I looked and discovered my system was set in degrees, minutes and decimals, rather than degrees, minutes and seconds. I reset it as I don't want to deal in decimals. Thanks.I put in my coordinates for position here at Kerry West Marina and they were right on Google Earth.

The rain and the sun took turns showing themselves all day long. I have learned when the rain stops, jump outside and do the outside jobs and when the rain starts, jump inside and tend to those items. So in and out all day long, I scampered taking care of business. I found that all my to-do list got done and I had time to visit with some boat owners.

A couple from Arizona have gotten the winter dirt off the Champagne Lady, and she is looking good. We have had a nice time talking about cruising up the inside of Vancouver Island, which they have done.

The Florence A has been my favorite vessel of all the Columbia river boats. Built in California after the war, The owner  has cruised many a mile in Alaska, BC and the Pacific coastal waters. I always stop by to see her and today the old man was there and gave me a tour. Boy, is she interesting. Its my dream boat, and is one that could go anywhere. I remember him telling me that he'd take his friends caribou and bear hunting and he had to take the stern windows out to get the bear meat into the freezer. After that he put in a stern door. The main living salon is large, with wood stove, workbench that converts to chart table, several bunks, a swivel rocker.

He doesn't watch television, but he has a big speaker that he hooks his guitar up to and a stereo system which he plays Chet Adkins and strums along with him. He says, with a twinkle in his eye, you can really learn to play that way. In the pilot house he has a cut away opening at the radar station. The watch person at the helm sets the auto pilot on, then comes over to sit and watch the radar. With this opening into the galley area the captain while bunking in the settee berth can look up and see if the watch person has fallen asleep. He says he's caught several snoozing. Since he is getting up in years, he'd sell her for a comparable piece of property. He takes her to Astoria for haulouts, but hasn't cruised her in many a year. I loved standing at the wheel looking out. The Pacific coast of Washington would be a piece of cake in this steel cruiser.




I have had an easy day and it was fun meeting new and old friends. I looked up the Ocean Racer that I saw yesterday, The Rage, and she was in the Astoria Victoria Offshore race. It is a Wylie 70. I knew they were serious looking sailors, as opposed to the rest of us River Rats.