After leaving Neah Bay at 1130 hrs we motored directly down the strait toward Victoria. We were aided by the flood current and made speeds of 8 to 10 knots. It was a treat not to be fighting the current for this long stretch. The evening came quickly and the tide turned but it was calm and the sea smooth so we made good time to Blaine marina, arriving at 0330 hrs. Just enough time for a quick nap before our 0600 wake up to be ready for Doreen to come pick up Mike and I. It was strange stepping off Music for the last time but I was glad the 3 1/2 months of caring for and delivering her were over. We dropped Mike at Bellingham airport then made our way home. I am ready for some much needed rest! Our total trip mileage was 2971 n miles.

Still under sail as we passed Ucluelet and Bamfield the wind started to peter out. By 0330 I was motoring due to lack of wind. This was motoring to get some speed so I had the Yanmar cranking 3000 rpm. Unfortunately the speed part didn't come to fruition as the tidal ebb had us pushing against 3 to 4 knots of head on current at a mere 3 knots! There was some tanker traffic to avoid in the shipping lanes as we attempted to cross them to get to Neah Bay. I had to do one sharp 90 degree turn to let a large ship pass on the outbound south lane. He had been going west outbound but turned at the intersection to go south which left us on a collision course only 20 minutes apart! Needless to say we made it alright but had to hurry across the inbound south lane as more traffic approached. We arrived at the Strait of Juan de Fuca! At just 10 minutes or so under the exactly 20 day mark we arrived at the way point I'd set up for us to track toward some 1500 miles ago. As we wanted fuel, we pulled into the Makah Indian fuel dock in Neah Bay and took on 55 gallons of diesel at $2.20 a gallon. Fuel in Hawaii had been $4 a gallon so definitely worth it to stop at Neah. By 1130 we were under way down the strait motoring at over 8 knots. We are expecting arrival at Blaine early tomorrow AM. The time will depend on the currents. Our day 20 run was 143.5 n miles.

We are down to only one more sleep at sea. Last night was quite quiet with moderate wind from our port quarter and the big seas have died down. The sky has been overcast and we have had very little solar power but at least we are still sailing. When I did this trip in 2014, I had to motor over this portion of the trip due to no wind at all. We still have half a tank of fuel and the 4 jerry jugs haven't been touched so we are definitely within motoring range should the wind suddenly die out. I don't expect that to happen but the winds here can be fickle here in July.
We have less than 150 miles to go to Tatoosh Island and the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. With current winds we should be there by 0900 tomorrow(1600Z) exactly 20 days since we left Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu. Then our trip down the strait to Blaine will take us approx 20 hours which means an arrival there sometime on Wednesday morning. Our day 19 run was 138.5 n miles.

We have crossed the 135 degrees longitude line so decided to do our last time zone change this morning. So now we are on Vancouver time and are ready to get home. We are less than 250 miles away from the strait so we are looking at being there day after tomorrow. Then, we will likely stop for fuel at Neah Bay and then get under way for Blaine. That is a 100 mile trip so it will take us quite a while. We should get to Blaine on Wednesday the 6th of July. The wind has been steady from the northwest for us the last 24 hours. The wind is not particularly strong but we are getting 6 knots out of it running with just the genoa. Our day 18 run was 143.2 n miles.

We are making pretty good time again but the winds are not behaving quite like the gribs (forecast weather data) would lead us to believe. We changed sail plan last night before dark and the wind didn't stay at the heading for long. Then we were back to our original heading and the sail plan needed to be reversed at first light. Oh well, that's ocean sailing for you. It's unpredictable and you never quite know what will happen next. The sun is out today and it's really quite pleasant. It really makes our whole world seem that much nicer. Especially since our world's just the sea and our 42 foot boat. This has been a good trip but a long one. I am really looking forward to getting home. Our Day 17 run was 156.2 n miles. Just around noon today we broke under 400 miles to the strait so they're ticking by quickly now. Take care everyone!! Hope to see you soon.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!! The wind slowed and the seas came down overnight so that by morning we were back to more normal sailing conditions. Mike and I moved the genoa over to the other side of the boat and we were able to sail downwind on one tack all day. It was pleasant sailing except that the sky stayed overcast most of the day. Tonght we found that the weather will change again and our winds are now from the south at 25 knots. We are guessing at the actual wind speed now because the anemometer which normally supplies our wind speed has died. We still have direction but don't know the velocity. We changed sail plan while we could still see and are now on reefed main and genoa and making 8 knots. I fully expected our day 16 run would be our best so far but was surprised to find that we'd only gone 159,3 n miles. Normally that's good for us but we were seeing some really high boat speeds for the day so I expected more. Anyway we are happy to be that much closer to home. We're now down to less than 500 n miles to the strait. Take care everyone. We're thinking of you!