Author: Thomas Hamilton

Thursday May 24-25 2018

Trip Distance 38 nm

Our planned route in OpenCpn is in blue, our actual track of the voyage is in fusia.

NOAA Marine Zone Forecast PZZ255 Marine Zone Forecast

N wind 5 to 10 kt, rising to 10 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves N 2 ft at 4 seconds. W swell 6 ft at 11 seconds. Secondary swell S 3 ft at 16 seconds. Patchy drizzle in the morning.

Nice short trip was nice after the last few longer ones.

We really enjoyed Newport since there are trails out the beaches on each side of the jetty and also some town walking with shops for Patty.

We almost got stuck in Florence as mentioned in the last blog since the Siuslaw Bar closes almost every day when the current starts going out and the swell steepens and start breaking in the entrance.  We had a 0700 Florence bridge opening but when we heard S/V Tango on channel 22 getting escorted out we got going and mad it out the bar for An uneventfull short trip to Newport  where we arrived at 0100.  We ended up staying two nights where for the first day we hiked out to the beach on the south side of jetty and on the next day hiked over the US 101 bridge to Newport on the North side of river.  The Port Of Newport Marina is the first recreational boaters marina we have seen since we left san Francisco.  The working boats stay across the river to the North at Newport.

It was opening day for Halibut and the cleaning tables where packed with people cleaning fish.

For the hike out to the beach you start on the trail under the south side of the bridge and proceed down the south jetty.

You then can cut over to the left on to the trails through the dunes to get off the road as we did if you like.

Our first evening we checked out the Rogue Brewery. There are also Rogue spirits. This place is a true farm to table organization as they have Rogue farms which grow grains, hops and flavoring veges (ie cucumber gin) and then incorporate into the beer or spirits. Dinner was ok (not great food…go for the beer).

The next morning we took a short walk on the Estuary Trail across from marina to the east and then on over to South Beach for lunch of oysters and Halibut.  Freshest fish we found in Newport.

A little later in the day we walked over the US 101 Bridge to Newport proper.  A bit of a tourist town but is was nice to see a number of fish processing plants along the shoreline along the main drag.

we then took a short walk under the north end of the bridge towards the beach and then turned back to the right up the trial towards the bridge for trip back.

Sunday May 20 to Thursday May 24th 2018

Trip Distance 60 nm

Warning:  We found that the Siuislaw bar closes more often than others along the coast and opened only on the after the slack tide incoming current, twice each day.  This is even with nice seas with 3-4’ swell.  With the bridge tender asking for minimum two hour call before opening got dicey having to call bridge tender with bar closed a couple hours before high slack and you just hope the bar opens.

Here is a web page we found will all the bar status that would be a good idea to get closings as you go.

Washington/Oregon Bar Reports (Open or restricted Etc):

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/marine/BarObs.php

Fairly short leg to Florence which  we have enjoyed visiting by car so we decided to stop there for a few day’s.  About half way there the starboard stabilizer fin stopped moving the way it should on the TRAC monitor where it just floated around center.  I went ahead and went below to mid-ship space and  pinned the fin to disable it.   Water Dog handles well in moderate seas with one fin so all is well.

Florence is about four miles up from the Siuslaw river entrance and has some nice looking sandy beaches along the starboard side with more development along the port.

We pulled up to the guest dock for a side tie  that’s just past the bridge on the port side of river.

We happened to arrive on Rhody(Rhododendron) day at Florence so they had the fair in town with rides and games as well as the local Harley riders.

Had a great bowl of Crab Chowder at little floating place Novelli’s crab shack … all seafood from their own boat.

Took a walk just north of guest dock where the Port Of Siuslaw office is and their nice RV park.

The people at the port were all super nice.

The next day we want over and got 840 gallons of diesel at $2.28 per gallon, a great price right now.   No high speed pump so took a couple hours to pump but Jasen was very nice to watch the pump for that long.

We went out to dinner one night. Someone had recommended the Firehouse Grill for the best clam chowder. Another local passed by and mentioned the Water Front Depot as the best place to eat. I (Patty) had seen it on yelp as the best restaurant in town so when Alex wanted to divert I said sure. We had a great meal at the bar with an attentive and friendly bartender, Tom. When I asked for good sipping Tequilla he offered one up which was good. He suggested cinnamon instead of salt prior to the tequilla then follow with an orange slice YUM!…. Alex asked for a special drink which Tom made (bourbon or scotch based drink)

Ended up the starboard stabilizer fin hydrolic cyclinder nut had come loose so the fin was not longer attached to it and was swinging free.  Ended up taking it out to make sure cylinder OK and re-installing Wed.

We called for 0700 bridge opening the night before but at 0700 bar was closed so we called to cancel.  We then heard Tango being escorted out by coast guard and called bridge back to open and we where lucky enough because he was still on bridge (we actually ended up going through at our scheduled time of 7am).

Sunday May 13 2018

Bodega Bay To Fort Brag (Noyo Harbor)

Trip Distance 83 nm

This leg of the trip is the first of one of the longer legs so we decided to leave at 05:00 in the dark from Spud Point Marina.  We had our track into  Bodega Bay on OpenCpn which I could follow on the way out.  Murphy’s law hit and our hand held search light went out when we cleared the marina and in the dark went slightly past “R”34 marker and ran aground.  Luckily we were going slow and I was able to back off and get off the ground but it was a bit exciting since could see nothing.  Patty was a real sport and stood on the bow trying to use a flash light to find the markers on the rest of the way out.

Calm flat seas today and we rounded Point Arena with no problems but did have to dodge a lot  of crab pots.  On night trips we cannot see the pots so we keep outside at least the 300’ depth line where the water is usually too deep for pots.  On the way we have noticed pots out too 270’.

Arrived at Fort Bragg (Noyo Harbor) at 13:30 in good shape.

This harbor is for smaller size boats and we fit in but with some effort.

Noyo Harbor is another fishing working harbor, like Spud Point Marina, where not many pleasure boats visit.   Many of the nice older classic wooden fishing boats as well as newer steel hulled ones were in the harbor.

There is not much to do at Noyo Harbor but there is a nice stretch of grass in front of the marine for the dogs to play with the chuck it.

Monday May 14 2018

Monday morning we took a hike out the front of the marina and out to US 101 to the Pomo Bluffs park that is on the ocean on the south side of the entrance to the harbor.  On the way back we stopped at the Harvest Market which is a high end very nice market just outside the marina.

Trip Length 52 Nm, Approximate trip time 6 hours

Saturday morning we got out at 7:00am bound for Bodega Bay for the first leg of trip up coast to the PNW.

Nice day but not perfect conditions with the forecast for 10-20 kt winds with wind waves 3-5 ft and NW swell at 4-6 ft.  Did notice buoy data at Station 46214 – Point Reyes showed wave hights of 14’ but this station is quite a ways out from Point Reyes at 21 nm and should die down a bit by the time we got there.  Made the decision to go since things should be improving later in day according to grib data from Predictwind.

Here is the NOAA forecast that morning:

12NM SW San Francisco CA

Marine Zone Forecast

May 12 NOAA Forecast

NW winds 10 to 20 kt…with gusts to 25 kt this morning. Winds becoming SW 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. NW swell 4 to 6 ft at 12 seconds. Patchy fog in the afternoon.

Due to swell from NW it was almost too much to take short cut, not use the shipping channel through Bonita Channel but turned out OK to cut across.  Did hit some good wave though cutting through.

When coming across Point Reyes the 3 to 5 ft NW swell was easily 10-14 feet and we pitched heavily until we rounded point and headed toward Bodega Bay which took the waves off our nose and more on our beam which the stabilizers took care of.  Hollie looked a bit sea sick, sea dog Terra just got a little wide eyed.  Patty took a meclizine sea sickness pill at this point, I had taken one at Bonita channel crossing.

The winds clocked around to the SW which helped push us to 9-10 knot speed for final leg in too Bodega Bay Spud Point Marina when we docked at end of C dock at 1:30pm.

Spud point is mostly a working fishing boat marina with many very nice old wooden fishing boats.

Week end guy at Spud Point Marina was very nice and too good care of us.  If no one in office just look for a guy/girl in a blue uniform and ask to check in.

That afternoon for Lunch we got white clam chowder st the Spud Point Crab Co across from the Spud Point Marina office, amazing stuff.  We went back the next day for another bowl each it was so good.

Saturday May 12

Got going on our hike for the day walking down the back road just outside the main road circling the North end of Bodega Bay to go in too town across the bay on the east side from marina.  Plan was to walk to town and then do a dune walk on the way back.

We passed the other small marina and bay side RV Park on the way.  RV park has small spaces and looks like it used mostly by people fishing.

On the way back via the same route we cut through the Bodega Bay camp ground in the woods too find a path to the dunes to the west.  Really nice looking camp ground for an RV or camper.