Posts In The “North America Pacific Coast” Category
At our final anchorage along the Snake River, we biked to the Ice Harbor Dam visitor center, and also learned firsthand about goat head stickers. Passing through those locks the next day, we hit an all-time speed record for our boat of 15.1 knots. We spent the following two days in the Tri-Cities area, touring…
We ran downriver at a more leisurely pace than the upriver run, stopping earlier in the day to explore by dinghy, on foot and on our bicycles. A highlight of this leg was a 10-mile return, 1,160-foot altitude gain bike ride to Palouse Falls. While the pace was slower, our speed wasn’t. We got a…
On the next leg of our trip, we crossed the border into Idaho at 738 feet above sea level. We hadn’t been sure we were going to make it all the way, given how much the current was slowing us down at Bonneville earlier in the trip. To reach Idaho, we passed through McNary Locks…
From Cascade Locks, in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge, we next passed through locks at The Dalles and John Day dams. John Day lock, with a maximum lift of 113 feet, is one of the largest single-lift locks in the world. Transiting those two locks put us well into desert country, at an…
On the second leg of our Columbia River cruise, we left the larger cities of Longview, Portland and Vancouver behind and passed through Bonneville Lock, the first of eight upstream locks that we’d transit. Early on the first day of this leg, we got a taste of what we thought was strong current, but we…
We left Seattle on Thursday evening and crossed the Columbia River Bar Saturday morning. Conditions were rough, as they always seem to be, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but otherwise we’ve had reasonable weather the whole run. Saturday morning prior to 9am, the Coast Guard has closed the bar to all pleasure craft….
With the official start of Seattle’s boating season nearly upon us, here’s our log for the winter off-season. On our weekend trips this year, we’ve ranged between LaConner to the north,Tramp Harbor to the south, Oyster Bay to the west and Bell Harbor Marina to the east, along with a week-long stay inside the…
The maze of islands and waterways that border Queen Charlotte Sound has long been one of our favorite cruising ground. The terrain is complex, the scenery is varied and impressive, and the anchorage choices are many. The adventure level ranges from sheltered waters, to open ocean, to tidal rapids. You can laze in a tranquil…
Sunday’s snow mostly was gone by Monday, but we got another load later in the week. The weather system was difficult to forecast. Although the snowfall was less than the record originally anticipated, enough still fell to keep anyone off the roads who didn’t need to be out. And we got an unusual freezing rain…
Snow is fairly rare in the Puget Sound, so a layer of the white stuff always is a treat. We’d spent the weekend in LaConner, where 2-3 inches of snow had fallen overnight, and left around 7 this morning for the run back to Seattle. The trip through Swinomish Channel was magical in the dark….
One upside to winter\’s shorter days is the nighttime lights. Whether from a passing ship, a moored boat, or a nearby house, we enjoy being snug inside with a view to lights twinkling in the distance. The show gets even better during the Christmas season, when colorful holiday light displays are put on afloat and…
A storm warning was in effect, with winds expected to reach 40-50 knots in the afternoon. More systems were on the way. The only obvious weather break coming up in the next few days was a several-hour window starting sometime after midnight, when winds would be 15 knots or less. We weren’t pressed for time…
A southwesterly gale was well underway as we approached Ucluelet. 6-8′ waves were rolling through and crashing into the shore on either side of us. The buoy in Carolina Channel, to our west, was disappearing completely behind the waves. The calm weathers we’d experienced early in the trip had given way to storm after storm….
On Christmas Day, the barometer fell nearly 20mb in 24 hours and Environment Canada was predicting big weather: Storm warning in effect for West Coast Vancouver Island South. Wind west 25 to 35 knots diminishing to northwest 15 to 25 early this evening then backing to southwest 15 to 25 late this evening. Wind increasing…
The first time we encountered surface ice on saltwater was back in 2002, on a winter trip to Desolation Sound and Princess Louisa Inlet. We had to break ice to reach Chatterbox Falls. We’ve since seen ice on saltwater many times on our winter cruises, from as far north as Blunden Harbor to the south…
Winter boating has its challenges, but one of the many rewards are the waterfalls. Flows that might be non-existent or just a trickle in summer gush and roar in winter. Teakearn Arm in Desolation Sound Marine Park is a good example. In the summer one waterfall tumbles lazily over the edge from Cassell Lake. In…
We first planned a Christmas cruise to Barkley Sound in the fall of 2003. That November, however, we attended a presentation by Cliff Mass on the difficulties of forecasting northwest weather. Mass gave several examples of major storms that had, with little warning, swept up the Pacific Coast and pounded Barkley Sound with storm and…
We’ve just arrived in Barkley Sound for a Christmas tour, so we’ll be updating the live travel map to show the current trip. Our fall travel log is below, or you can display it on a map view. 12/09/11: Canal Boat Yard It’s 32F and frosty this morning, with sea smoke drifting across the water….