Change of Latitude in the Pacific Northwest

Change of Latitude in the Pacific Northwest

Who: Don/Debbie/Katie Baxter/Sarah Leu
Port: Bellingham, WA

To Cordero Lodge

07 August 2015
It was raining in the morning as we left Sointula and the fog was forming. We were headed down Johnstone Strait, where the wind funnels and typically works against the current forming steep waves that make you pound all day. It is about 40 miles long. The weather forecast was promising, though, in terms of winds. 15 knots rising to 20 knots in the afternoon. That is good for Johnstone.

Otto worked fine the entire trip so it appears that the lose ground was the issue. Who wants to work with a lose ground? Deb took over for me at the helm, and I took a nap, just s things got exciting. Logs, boats, kelp all appeared at the same time. She handled things like a pro though and got us on a good course to avoid all the issues.

We hit Current Passage with a bit of current running but we made it through fine. Our radar got a good workout today since it was foggy much of the time and we navigated with instruments. We decided to take the route that we came north on and try out Cordero Lodge this time so we could time the current in Gillard Passage and Devil’s Hole. We had stopped there a number of years ago with our daughters. It was a german place with great schnitzel. It had changed hands so we were uncertain about what to expect but thought we would give it a try. It was really foggy as we approached but got tied up in the current without too much of a problem. Santuary, the 72 foot Grand Banks Alaskan was docked right behind us.

There was a nest of barn swallows right by the entrance to the restaurant and we watched the mother bringing food to the big mouth babies. Great fun to be so close and watch. The mom was not afraid of us at all. Deb took a few photos. Dinner was good, schnitzel, and we headed back to our boat. We charted a course for tomorrow and made certain of the time for slack water at Gillard Pass. It looks like it is about 12:30 pm so we made plans to depart about 10:30.
Comments
Vessel Name: Change of Latitude
Vessel Make/Model: Grand Banks CL 42
Hailing Port: Bellingham, WA
Crew: Don/Debbie/Katie Baxter/Sarah Leu
About: We live on the East Coast but enjoy wilderness cruising in the Pacific Northwest.
Extra: We enjoy crabbing, shrimping, fishing, and clamming. Some of us are crazy enough to swim in Northwest waters during the summer.

Change of Latitude in the Pacific Northwest

Who: Don/Debbie/Katie Baxter/Sarah Leu
Port: Bellingham, WA