Arrived in the dark in Neah Bay after 13 hours and a terrific sail much of the way down Juan de Fuca. The Hydrovane performed flawlessly allowing us to enjoy the sail while working on odds and ends. The approach to Neah Bay after dark is daunting as the highway that backs the bay is extremely well lit with sodium vapour lamps that are exceptionally effective at masking lighted aids to navigation. Contrary to two cruising guides, the “transient” moorage dock is not available year around, or at least not to boats such as this one. The entire dock was in use by very large offshore fish boats except for one spot, of which we took the middle portion. Despite signs that the spot might belong to a rather large boat we were somewhat comfortable until the very large normal occupant showed up expecting to pull into their slip after a hard day of trawling. The captain was very gracious and let us move back while he very skillfully parked his boat in front of us. Today we moved to a more recreational style slip, with power so that we could enjoy warmth for another 24 h before heading out Friday morning. The weather looks perfect down the coast for at least the next 5 days so we remain hopeful that it will be smooth sailing as they say.
Neah Bay looks rather like Deep Bay, which by the way, I drove by the other day while a dirt dweller on Vancouver Island. Great photo of Marathon in the middle; may she take you all safely where you are headed. It is great to be along for the arm chair sailing ride.