Resilience completes her San Francisco Bay to Puget Sound expedition

Traveling Offshore is a Different World

Adult Tufted Puffin in breeding plumage, NW coast of Washington.

After 9 weeks and 2 crews, we covered the 1,100 miles between San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound. Through the images and captions below, we invite you to join us for some of the highlights of this journey.

Although unusually rough weather and seas—and vexing issues with our autopilot and a leaking rudder-post stuffing box—plagued our journey, what countered those problems and refueled us were visits with friends, marvelous offshore seascapes, and glimpses of wildlife.
For example, before reaching northwest Washington we saw only one Tufted Puffin. Then, from La Push to Cape Flattery, we spotted 14 adults, one by one, not far from a cliff-side breeding colony where they nest in burrows.

We did our best to avoid the angry ocean by watching large-scale weather systems and scrutinizing sea-state predictions to make daily “go not-go” decisions. A couple of times, we miscalculated.

Northern California

In Eureka, while we waited for gale-force winds to calm down, Glen and Leia visited from Oakland and marine mammal biologist Dawn Goley and her daughter joined us for dinner in the cockpit.

Before departing for our next port Jim returns from town with ~75 pounds of groceries.

In preparation for heading back offshore, we repacked & stowed the dory which is also our life raft.

Oregon

By chance, we arrived in **Florence, Oregon** the day of their once-a-year Community Block Party, complete with a dynamic band. Dancing with the crowd of locals—adults and kids—was just what we needed to shake out our sea legs. Behind the band is the double-leafed bascule bridge over the Suislaw River, raised the day before for *Resilience* to pass under it. It’s a remarkable feat of engineering.

Getting “stuck” in Newport due to repairs and weather had aspects of a kid’s snow day.

We visited friends, including Kate Stafford marine bioacoustics expert and my sister (previous post) from Bend, and OSU’s impressive new Marine Science Center, where they let me use an office for a virtual book interview.

**Garibaldi/Tillamook Bay, Oregon:** Blue Heron perched above a storage pen teeming with anchovies delivered by a huge seiner right next to our boat.

Anchovies netted offshore and held in pens to be sold as bait. They attracted herons, gulls, and river otters who gorged on them before a net was suspended over the pen.

Washington

To avoid getting sick, I stayed on deck and clipped in to keep my hands free. Jim, who has a more iron stomach than I do, took care of all the tasks down below—engine checks, making coffee, and later, a hot lunch. Thank you, Jim!

Motoring across Grays Harbor bar was uncomfortable but not nearly as bad as the approach. We got fuel and docked at Westport.

That was a long day.

Gray whale skeleton in Grays Harbor, Westport’s wonderful Maritime Museum.

Sunrise on calm water at anchor in Neah Bay, home of the Makah Tribe.

Day 59: We rounded Cape Flattery, the northwestern-most point in the continental US, turned east into Juan de Fuca Strait where we sailed for the first time since leaving California. What a joy to leave open-ocean swells and headwinds behind and enter the home stretch! (Photo taken using panorama mode.)

This expedition tested and stretched us and Resilience, but it also brought us closer. I had some moments of questioning whether the journey was worth it. Each time, I circled back and decided it was.

I’m glad I did.

Wishing you fair winds and following seas,

Beth