September 15, 2014 - Newport Oregon wrap-up

Before Newport is just a memory I thought I should tell you about our last few days there.  We were planning to leave on Tuesday, but the weather just wasn't cooperating with our plans.  So we ended up with a few extra days there.  We took advantage of that time by taking a tour of the NOAA facility.  They have a little museum there, which is about all we saw of the inside.  We then got to go out to the docks where a few large boats are being decommissioned and will be auctioned off.  They are ex Navy mine-sweepers (if my memory is right).  Thanks to our slip neighbors Dean and Lynn for arranging the tour for us.  Unfortunately for them, they are Canadians, and as foreigner's they need 3 days advance notice before they can take a tour, so they could not tour NOAA along with us.  Dean and Lynn are on their big lifetime adventure aboard their 46' sailboat.  They are from Winnipeg and plan to be out sailing for years, now that they are retired.  They loaned us a huge DVD collection of kids movies.  I think our kids watched 3 of them.  Thanks Dean and Lynn!

We took a private tour of the NOAA facility in Newport.

We then walked over to the Hatfield Marine Science Center and spent a few hours inside learning all about the marine environment and wildlife.  It was GREAT and definitely a must see if you are even in Newport.  The kids spent at least an hour with their two wave pools.  They built Lego structures and then sent various computer controlled waves (of their choosing) at them to see if they could withstand the force of nature.  They even sent tsunami waves!  It was pretty cool.

Here Kevin and Cindy built a canal into a bay, complete with sea walls.  It easily
held up to the "Kevin powered" wave generator.  Great learning experience.

Kathy checks out a great fishing boat exhibit.  The Hatfield Science Center is very
well done.

Kevin still does not believe this is a real submarine, that a full-sized
adult can fit in.  But it is, trust me!

We took the bus back over the bridge and into town where we did some provisioning at Fred Meyer.  We also stopped at that playground again and let the kids play for about 90 minutes.  They really liked it as it was more challenging than most playground structures.

Cindy makes a paper mache Stonehenge as part of home school.

Kevin at home school, or should we call it boat school?

University of WA research vessel in Newport.  Steve's alma mater.  Go Huskies!!

Newport was a great stop.  We were here longer than expected, but in Newport it's OK.  There is plenty to do here.

September 10, 2014 - Newport OR

This has been a GREAT stop.  Newport is a very nice little town.  It is on the Yaquina River and is very much a seaport town.  NOAA has a large facility here and manages all of their Pacific Ocean ships from here.  There are two aquarium/research centers here.  There are scores of commercial boats as well as hundreds of charter fish boats, whale watching boats, not to mention just plain old recreational boats, like us.  Charter fishing dominates the marina we are staying in, and commercial fishing seems to be king across the river at the other marina.  The Coast Guard has a station here with several 47' motorlifeboats  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47-foot_Motor_Lifeboat.  Newport has white sandy beaches with dunes, a picturesque bridge crossing the river, and it's even the home of the well established Rogue Brewery  There are several small shopping districts with unique small shops, much like our hometown of La Conner.  There are several large RV parks too.  This is a town that can keep a visitor busy for a week, easily!

Adagio on the long guest dock at Newport Or.  Yaquina river bridge (hiway 101)

Cindy and Kevin play in the water

A tiger shark at the Aquarium

Both kids thought this was one of the best playgrounds ever.  They said it had
some challenging items.  The slide was very fast and long too.

View of the bar entrance from the bridge.

The Rogue brewery dominates our marina's waterfront.

We have very much enjoyed this stop.  We used the town bus (free to marina and RV guests) to get out to a historic lighthouse, a nice beach, hitting Fred Meyer to re-provision, and just seeing the town.  It was a great little perk.  We have ridden our bikes numerous times to beaches, to the aquariums, the NOAA facility, and simply riding the very nice bike trails that Newport has to offer.  This is a very enticing stop for a boater, or an RV'er.

Walking our bikes through the sand on the jetty.  Newport OR.

The large sand beach makes for good mountain biking.

Riding one of the many great bike trails in Newport.  Improvised boogie board &
skimboard backback.  It works, but not very well.

47' Coast Guard motor lifeboat refueling at 1:30AM.  The fuel dock is right
across from us.

So far marina costs on the coast are not eating us alive, as they would back in the San Juan's.  If we tell the marina we are a 48' boat (a true statement) the cost is a mere $20/night.  If they ask our overall length (54') we jump to a still extremely affordable $32/night.  Heck, that's cheaper than any hotel in any town, for a family of four.  So far marina expenses have been considerably cheaper than we planned.  Fuel consumption is about what we expected, at 1.5 - 1.75 nmpg (nautical miles per gallon).  We have consumed quite a few fuel filters (at $6.00 each) so far, but the two tanks we are using are now completely cleaned out and are no longer clogging filters every few hours.  In fact the current set of filters have 20+ hours on them and are still doing fine, according to the vacuum gauges I installed a few years ago.  We have two other fuel tanks that have not been "polished" yet, so I expect to burn through another case of filters before the crud has been removed from those tanks.   The boat has performed flawlessly so far.  The stabilizers are working hard to keep our ride smooth.  The engines are purring away under our salon hour after hour, ticking off the miles.  All of the other systems are performing their duties without hiccup.  I (Steve) continue to work on projects that I didn't have time to complete back home, but all of the critical stuff is already up and running.  Now we are adding niceties, like our cell and wifi amplifiers/routers, and our wireless printer so any device can print from anywhere.  These things make life better, but we could certainly live without them.

Home school is a new experience for all of us.  It is certainly different for Cindy and Kevin to be in this environment compared to a classroom.  But Kathy and I are also experiencing radical changes as we become teachers for the first time in our lives.  Steve is tackling science and sometimes math.  Kathy is handling social studies, language arts, history, art, and more.  We have decided that the kids need to be separated to effectively home school.  So, one child is at the pilothouse settee while the other is at the salon settee.  This layout on the boat is proving to be invaluable for us!  Homeschool is now taking about 4 hours per day.  A routine is starting to develop, and I think with more time, it will become very "natural" for all of us.  Right now though, we are all stumbling through it at times trying to figure what needs to be done.  I can say that the time spent with our kids during homeschool is great.  Most kids are gone for school all day and don't see their parents.  This cruising lifestyle is going to allow us all to spend a great deal of time together, far more than your average parent/child.  We will be very close to our children as a result of this adventure.

The historic Yaquina Head lighthouse

Kevin boogie boarding

Kevin sizing up the waves

A large grey whale near shore, Yaquina lighthouse.

The weather is giving us some anxiety.  We are consulting several weather sources in order to try to determine when to motor.  But, sometimes we are getting conflicting information.  On a boat, weather is everything and rules your life.  A bad decision to leave port could result in a dangerous situation for all of us.  Playing it safe us our motto.  If there is doubt we will just stay put until we can eliminate the doubt.  We are not in a hurry to get down the coast, so spending another day or two, or three, somewhere is not really a bad thing.  It gives us more time to explore the town we are visiting.  Still I lose sleep every night thinking about what can go awry out there on the ocean.  We are doing everything we can to minimize the risks.

We were going to leave Newport this morning and motor 6-7 hours to Florence, OR.  Conditions look great this morning, but strong winds are coming this afternoon and will last through Friday.  If the winds develop earlier than forecast we could end up out on the ocean, with a closed river bar and no-place to go.  We don't want to get stuck on the ocean for the next 2-3 days riding out 25-30 knot winds until things subside and the river bars open up again.  There are gale warnings further south in Oregon which means motoring further down the coast rather than riding it out around Florence is not an option.  So, despite the great conditions this morning, we are staying put.

 Our next stop is Florence OR.  Not many cruiser's stop there.  Those that do rave about it as a stop.  There is a bridge that needs to be opened for boats over 17' tall (we are more like 35').  I have talked to the bridge tender a few times now and he has told me that they only have to open the bridge (hiway 101) a handful of times per year.  When it's opened, highway 101 will be closed until we get through!  We can't wait to explore Florence!

September 6, 2014 - Astoria Oregon to Newport Oregon

Saturday and exhaustion has hit us adults today after our first overnight cruising.  We left Astoria yesterday at 2pm or so.  The online Columbia River Bar report seemed just fine and so did Buoy weather so why not leave?  Nineteen hours later we arrived in Newport.  Well, it turns out the VHF bar report gives a little more info than the online version.  After listening to the VHF report while we  motored down the coast Steve figured out the we exited the Columbia at a high Ebb tide which is worst for wave height and periods for the notorious Bar.  We had a rough ride of it, granted only for about 15 minutes of the crossing, but it presented the beginning of this first overnight journey for us with some anxiety.  Once out, things smoothed out but not as smooth as our first journeys down the coast.  Moving around is not so pleasant and makes some of us not feel so good, but sitting we all seem to survive and thrive.  Steve and Kevin are using the compression point wrist bands, Cindy and Kevin have tried some Bonine, each one time, and I have not done anything yet.  The responsibility of keeping everyone fed, feeling OK and any needs met, gives me a responsibility that if I did not have, I think I would probably feel ill.  Prior to sunset was a bit choppy but all were eating and it seems that food is keeping the peace in some of our tummies.   I am able to microwave and cook on the stove so pasta was the item for tonight.

We experienced whale sightings before dark which were incredible.  The first was a sight I had while on watch, a sight of blowing, something I know well from working in Alaska.  Well, it was close off of our bow so Steve got out quick and got a great picture of it's tale as it dove just before us coming by it.  We are not deviating from our course in these encounters.  The second was also my watch but as it was daylight I was reading and watching, something nice out here compared to a car!  Anyway, Steve yelled and I looked immediately up to see a huge GRAY whale above the water horizontally.  Steve saw the whole thing.  It was one of those images you see on TV with the whale leaping completely out of the water, turning 90 degrees in mid-air, and crashing down into the water with an awesome splash.  AMAZING to say the least!  We yelled this time at the kids who came quickly up from the salon to the pilothouse.  It was moving west while we were heading south.  It actually went off our starboard side and headed in the same direction south with us.  Opening the Pilothouse door, it surfaced and we all saw and heard it blow, the whistle and air sound, also AMAZING!  I would estimate only 50 or so feet off of our starboard.  It was huge.

Sunset soon came which was quite beautiful.  The almost full moon was out hours prior so it lit the sky for us.  Steve took first watch 8:30-midnight.  When I came to relieve him, all was good and Steve was to sleep close by for this is my first night watch, 12am - 3am.  The moonlight and our bright light lit the waters well.  It was amazing to watch the ocean swells go by and the seagulls flying in front and trying to fish again and again using the light from our spotlights to find the fish.  Well by 2am fog started building and by 2:30am visibility was almost nill.  It got very dark and our spot lights became useless and instead presented just a while wall of fog in front of us.  Stressful to say the least!  Once we lost visibility, and the water became a bit shallower we did an abrupt course change and headed out to deeper water.  We headed further out to skip the crab/shrimp pot floats so that it would not be an issue when in 450+ft of water (if you are looking at SPOT that is why we did a sudden swing west).  Two radars are running at different ranges so I can check both for boats versus noise from waves and we have each at different distances going out to about 6NM (Nautical Miles).  Another boat, a sailing vessel headed our way, calls at about 3am using our AIS call sign which I am not sure of (Steve posted above our VHF but in the dark I could not see it).  I check in with Steve and he was calling us so I answer and let him know that we see him and understand we are catching up and heading his direction.  We are twice his speed and both understand we are going to the same location.  Thanks to AIS I know his vessel name, direction, speed, location, etc.

At 5am a bilge pump light started coming on which indicated that is was running and appears to be cycling on and off all the time.  Cindy and Kevin are sleeping in our stateroom on our bed since it is the smoothest ride in the boat.  This particular bilge pump is located under this bed.  Well, we forced Cindy over to the other side into Kevin to get underneath and see if there is a leak in the stabilizer.  Water is in the bilge but does not appear to be from that source.   There is also a raw water intake for the master toilet, and also one depth sounder transducer.  Not sure which is leaking.  More anxiety now in Steve.  More investigation and no known source or reason so something to look at before we leave Newport.  It does not appear to be leaking now, but there are a lot of carpet remnants floating on top of the water from when our carpet was installed.  Perhaps the pump intake is just clogged with carpet debris and just can't pump out the little water that is sloshing back and forth in there?

Also about 5am or so we heard a big thump as if something fell or we hit something in the water while it was still dark and foggy.  Listening a bit further, there was scratching up above on the fly bridge.  Steve went up to look as I was sure there was some bird that was trying to get it's footing.  He saw a large seabird sitting on our flybridge floor.  Looking later today there is nothing there so I imagine he was able to recover and fly away.  We certainly did not expect birds to be hitting our boat.

Arriving at 9am, we had help on this nice guest dock.  We have seen or met two boats that will run in the San Diego to Cabo San Lucas run for Sailboats called the "Baja Ha Ha."  We have so far seen 5 sailboats flying the red "Ha Ha 2014" flag.  They all have flags, makes it easy to see/know them!  There are about 250 boats converging on San Diego in mid to late October to travel together down the Mexican coast to Cabo.  This event has been run every year for almost 30 years now.  When we returned from the port office to check in, we found the sailing vessel we spoke with overnight was tied up right behind us.  Nice to meet them and they have the same schedule as us to go to CA and then Mexico and see what's next.  A very nice couple from Canada.  We have not gotten back with them today but I imagine we will soon.  This is exactly what we are expecting at finding others in the same general area where we might see them occasionally and visit.

Gray Whale diving in front of us!

Sunset on September 5th, first overnight trip for us.

The pilothouse at dark.  Light of the moon outside to left, spotlight a bit on the right.

Newport River Bar entrance, foggy!

We did get out today to a museum, more to come on that and our experiences in Newport OR.

September 4, 2014 - BF - Astoria, OR

 Hi, (or as mom and dad would put it, Hi to all)

     Kevin and Cindy reporting for duty! Have any of you read Captain Underpants? Well, In the fourth book, The Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants, they give you a weird name. Kevin's is Flunky GirdleChunks and I (Cindy) am Buttercup GirdleChunks. The BF is our first initials of our "code name". All of our posts will have our "code name" initials after the date. Remember that now.
     Today we were walking around Astoria when Flunky had an idea. We put a penny on the Astoria Waterfront Trolley's train tracks and waited for the trolley to come around the corner. When it came, it ran over the penny. The penny was then flattened and bent during the process as the trolley passed. When we picked the penny up, it was hot and bent. Then Buttercup had an idea! I knew that we had two more pennies and had gum with us! As the trolley came back around, Flunky quickly stuck his gum on the train tracks and I stuck a penny in it. The trolley crushed the penny into a smooth oval and the gum was carried away on the wheel of the trolley! We then found the penny and tried it again with the next. For some reason, I didn't work! Later, Flunky accidentally put too much gum on the track and the gum stretched all the way around the wheel. The penny was still in it's original shape, and was a little bit dirty.
     Later, we went up on our bikes to the Astoria Column! We were all tired when we got to the base of the tower from pedaling hard up a very steep hill. There was 164 steps inside the tower! It was beautiful and also very high up so a little bit scary... At the top, their was 2 people that each had a wooden glider. They had bought it from the souvenir shop down at the bottom, and one of the guys had thrown his glider off of the tower. It flipped around and around and glided in a spiral motion downwards! The glider then landed in the bushes. Then the second man threw his glider off of the column and it spiraled down and landed closer to us than the other plane did, but still in the bushes. Then we rode down the hills back to the marina on our bikes.
     Finally, we went to a brewery to eat. At the desk of the hostess, their was a huge bowl of candy! As the hostess went off to get someone seated, Flunky and I each grabbed a handful of candy and shoved it in mom's backpack. We both giggled quietly... When we were leaving, we grabbed one more handful each and shoved it in the backpack and walked out smiling. Hee hee hee...
     We started homeschooling this week but we don't have much to say yet so our next topic will include homeschooling thoughts and other stuff like that.

- Buttercup GirdleChunks

September 4, 2014 - Astoria, continued....

We are still in Astoria and very much enjoying it.  Our folding mountain bikes have proven to be a great asset here.  We have taken several bike rides now, and I think we've logged about 32-35 miles on them here.  It is great exercise, and we certainly cover a lot of ground quickly.  Today we rode the bikes up hill after hill, to the Astoria Column.  It is located up high over the city.  The 360 view is spectacular.

Astoria column home page

I think we might have some sore legs tomorrow.  We have done a lot of biking here in Astoria.

Homeschool was much quicker today.  Both Cindy and Kevin were done around 12;30 today.  Kathy and I certainly hope that it is more like this everyday so we have the afternoons free to explore wherever we might be.

Astoria has been a great stop, but it is time to move on.  The conditions offshore are improving and should be quite favorable tomorrow and for the next few days.  Kathy's Mom and aunt's are in Garibaldi/Tilimook right now and we were hoping to stop in for a visit.  But, after calling the Coast Guard station in Garibaldi this afternoon and talking to a very helpful man there for about 20 minutes, we have decided it is just not worth the risks.  The winds will be a little strong there tomorrow, there is a chance of fog, and the best time to transit is between 10:00AM-10:30AM.  But we are 7 hours away which would mean leaving Astoria at about 3:00AM, and the conditions here are not so good at that hour. We are all about safety, and taking a chance here at the Columbia River Bar (the GRAVEYARD of the Pacific), or arriving at the wrong time in Garibaldi are just not part going to be part of our plans.  Safety first.

Tomorrow we will leave ion the afternoon, after home schooling is done.  It will be about an 18 hour transit to Newport Oregon and will  be our first overnighter.  I'm fine with this as I've done it for about 12 days on prior trips coming up from San Francisco to Seattle.  Kathy on the other is not so ready to do this.  We will head way offshore so that we can get into much deeper water for a smoother ride, and so we can get away from all the crab/shrimp floats that exist in shallower waters.  The boat is ready.  I ready.  Kathy will quickly gain confidence, and I will be sleeping on the pilt berth in the pilothouse, just 10 feet from her if she has any doubts.  I can be awake in seconds to help her out.  I am actually looking forward to this.  We will have several more overnighter's in Mexico before reaching Cabo, so we need to start getting used to it now.

Specacular view of the Columbia River from the Astoria Tower

The impressive Astoria Tower

The kids put pennies on the Tolly train tracks.  It was a lot
or fun for them.

The kids getting ready to work on THEIR blog entry!

September 3, 2014 - boat projects

Today I installed our AIS transponder,  Well, actually I started yesterday but I somehow didn't make the adapter cable correctly and it had very poor performance when broadcasting.  It did great receiving but not when transmitting.  So, I made another adapter cable (BNC to PL-258) today.  Now I have a VSWR of 1.5:1 instead of about 65:1.  1.0:1 is theoretically perfect, so 1.5:1 is outstanding.  Our AIS transponder is able to pick up signals from 65NM away.  In fact, it is receiving an A to N (Aid to Navigation) that is more than 90 miles away.  That's unreal!  But, I'm a marine electrician, and I've been meticulous in the installation of all my electronics.  Using only the best antennas, cables, and connectors.  It shows now though, seeing targets 90+ miles away when most people think anything beyond 50 miles is amazing performance.

The adapter cable I had to make to connect the AIS transponder to our AIS-tuned
antenna.  It is working great, with a VSWR of 1.5:1

AIS targets of 60+ nautical miles.  One Aid to Navigation (A to N) is more than
90NM away!!!!  From Astoria I am seeing more than 130 AIS targets.  Wow.

What is AIS?  Here's a good explanation:

AIS explained

Typical Astoria charter boat.  This one has a 300hp Yamaha, tiller steer!  He really
does have one arm, the other is an artificial limb.  300hp and tiller steer?  Yikes!

Today I also installed another Rigid Industries LED spotlight on our radar mast.  This one is brand new, with the newest LED technology.  It is REALLY bright.  With this new light, our previous Rigid light, and our GoLight HID remote control spotlight, I think we will be able to run at night now pretty easily without too much fear of running over crab/shrimp pot floats.

The Rigid LED lights.  Two 10" light bars.  One spot light, one combinations spot/flood.

The LED lights, as viewed from the side

What they can illuminate at night.

Some really bright lights

I've also been organizing the engine room (spare parts, tools, supplies), as well as the salon, master stateroom, and pilothouse.  I think by the time we return, I will have everything organized  :-)

September 3, 2014 - Astoria Oregon

Well, Astoria is a wonderful stop!  We are waiting out a little storm front on the coast so we will be here another day or two.  But, Astoria has plenty to offer for a visiting family.  Yesterday we spent a good portion of our day at the Maritime Museum.  It is definitely a worthwhile stop.

Large prop in front of Maritime Museum

After seeing all of this info, Kathy is now nervous about heading back out to sea!

The first 42 motorlifeboat, quite a display!!!!

Huge anchor,  Lightship Columbia (a floating lighthouse).

Astoria was all built over the water.  Two fires (late 1800's and 1920's) wiped it out.
They then dredged and filled in the waterfront to make some land to build on.

Info about lightship Columbia.  Roland, where you ever stationed here????

Home school is proving to be a bit of an adjustment.  Kathy is handling all of it so far while I work on boat projects.  The kids being used to summer vacation are not really into school yet, so progress is somewhat slow.  A school day so far is going from 8:00-2:30.  From other boater's we've talked to it should really end around noon, perhaps 1:00 at the latest.  I'm sure as we settle into a routine, and the kids become more focused, the time will shorten.

Today after home school was over, we off-loaded the bikes and wen't exploring.  There is a great waterfront trail that is about a 20 mile round trip.  We rode the whole trail.  There was a lot to see along the way.  We stopped at Rogue Brewery for dinner (along with a couple of IPA's).  We also stopped at Safeway to fill our backpacks with some essentials.

The great bike trail along the waterfront

Freighters and the Astoria Bridge

Cute Trolley ($2 for an all day pass).  

We rode more than 20 miles today.  Good exercise, great views,

Old Cannery building, from 1875!

Info from the Bumble Bee Seafood Museum.  A great little find, because we were
on our bikes.  This is the kind of stuff that makes our trip uniquely interesting.,

It's been great so far here at Astoria. This is an interesting stop with a huge amount of history.  If I recall my info correctly,  Astoria was the first settlement west of the Missippi way back when,

Working in the Salmon cannery around the 1930's.  This was the 3rd largest
cannery in America at the time.

My friend's Ryan and Mike will appreciate this :-)
Great beer AND great food!

Lightship Columbia and the Maritime Museum

lucky seagulls enjoy the "leftovers' from  great season.  According to a couple of
regulars we've talked to, this years fishing is the best in 20+ years

About 10 years ago, when I was harbormaster for the Shelter Bay Marina back in La Conner, I attended a Harbormaster's Conference here in Astoria.  I distinctly remember visiting the Astoria Marina East Basin to view their problem with seals.  Well, it was bad 10 years ago.  They had no real remedies to the problem of seals taking over their docks and making life miserable for the marina tenants.  I hate to say that 10 years has NOT helped the situation.  Today it is far worse than when I was here last.  This marina basin is all but abandoned for use by humans.  Seals are in control.