Neah Bay to Astoria
So having read various horror stories about the Columbia River entrance, we decide to leave Neah Bay in the afternoon (14:30), so as to arrive at the bar crossing at slack tide. As Astoria is a +24 hour sail, this means several firsts – first sail in “real” pacific swells, first night passage, and longest single journey of our short sailing careers (155 miles)!
Endless 6 foot pacific rollers hitting our starboard quarter meant for a rolly night as we motor sailed directly south from Cape Flattery, keeping about 30 miles offshore. In addition to being rolly, it was cold and damp – even inside our full enclosure. sleep was out of the question – too nervous, checking the radar and endlessly wiping the rain and condensation from the cockpit enclosure so we could see something/anything outside! It was a long night!
No photos of this BTW – we were too tired/scared to think about grabbing a camera!
Our only blessing was the full canvas/glass cockpit enclosure that came with EOS – it would’ve been a truly miserable experience without it!!!
On the positive side – we argued for an hour about the presence of puffins off the Washington shore after Louise saw one, we saw our first humpback of the trip, plus some dolphins and another huge sea lion! The wildlife always makes you smile, even when feeling seasick and cold/wet.
Oh, and the infamous Columbia River bar gave us no issues whatsoever – some fantastic navigating got us there just after slack tide, and one wouldn’t have known it was such a dangerous stetch of water.
Astoria
Astoria is a neat little town with a rich maritime history, and we enjoyed the waterfront hikes immensely. We ended up extending our stay for several days – sightseeing, provisioning, ordering gear from Amazon, and watching hundreds of salmon fishermen come and go. Louise tried to get on one of the fishing charters but they were all chock-a-block.
Cannon Beach
We rented a car for a couple of days and took a trip down to Cannon Beach – a stunning section of Oregon coastline with wide open beaches and the famous Haystack Rock (in background below). This is also the first “proper’ beach that Clover had ever seen, and boy did she make the most of it! This is where she discovered her love for the beach and she is now a hopeless beach bum, whimping and pulling her leash when she is near one. Clover’s idea of heaven is an endless beach filled with tennis balls.
Astoria to Coos Bay
After our first (not so enjoyable) leg to Astoria, Captain Andy wisely downsized plans for eating up many miles with multi-day passages! So Coos Bay was not on our initial agenda, but it ended up being another lovely little stopover that many likely pass. A longer trip than the previous leg at 195 miles, this would take a day, a night and another day!
We managed to sail most of the first afternoon, and into the night before conditions left us no choice but to use the iron horse. Motoring on EOS is so much quieter and faster than our old boat, yet is still feels so wrong compared to the enjoyment, satisfaction and the peaceful nature of sailing. As it turned out, the hours of motoring highlighted a fuel supply problem that would cause us problems (in the middle of the night – as always!). I chose to ignore it on this trip – or convince myself that it would be OK, at least. It’s a bad habit that I should have learned to quit at my age…
Another bar crossing (not so infamous as the Columbia River) and a great little public dock to tie up to in Charleston. We stayed here a couple of days also – washing the boat and resting, whilst watching the dozens of “crabbers” pulling crabs out of the water from dawn to dusk. Most seemed to be undersized, and likely got hauled out & thrown back in a dozen times each day. Entertaining stuff!
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