When deciding to head for Astoria, the weather forecasts were for strong winds NW 20-40, changing to W 20-30. Our thought was that sailing would help us deal with the sloppy sea state. We ended up initially with winds on our nose. But finally had NW 15-18 for sailing for six hours. Then the winds were from directly behind us, and we didn't want to head away from land since the winds strengthen. Also we didn't want to get too close to shore. So we struck the sails, and motored the balance of the way. We saw a few whales along the way. Possibly a Northern Right Whale waved at us. A humpback breached for us. A whale blew as we were inside Buoy 10 on Columbia Bar. What a surprise! We arrived at the Columbia Bar in 28 hours. And we are extremely grateful for flat water on the Columbia River! We'll be back on Monday afternoon into Portland. But it sure was worth being in Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island, Canada!