Snug in our cottage

We have been back on land now for three months. Tis the season to count blessings, and we have many. We'd like to tell you about some of them as well as the latest on Discovery since our docking at Shilshole on August 30th.

We moved Discovery to the Elliot Bay Marina to be near Mark, our broker at Nordhavn Yachts. Yes, she is on the market and ready to be passed on to her next lucky owners. We made this decision for several reasons. We've done enough sailing for now, and we don't see ourselves doing any more ocean crossings. Maybe a road trip is in order. Discovery should not just sit; she wants to feel that ocean under her bottom. She is ready for her next adventure.

We have been getting our land legs back. Believe me, that's been real easy. With Karis and her family still in the house, we moved into the 350 square foot garden cottage in the back corner of our property. It feels like a mansion after two years on Discovery. It's really just what we needed, another small space to feel protected and cradled. It's like being in a warm cocoon. We've been giving ourselves plenty of time to re-adjust to being back in Seattle, spending simple days doing small projects, taking walks, seeing friends and family. Betty recently got a halftime position at Swedish/Providence in their radiation oncology clinic, to start December 15. It now feels right to go back to work.

In our blog titled Back to the Northwest on August 18, we wrote that the previous 24 hours had been some of the most trying of our entire trip. Here are some details. Low on fuel, we'd drifted slowly south for several hours, flopping and bobbing in the windless sea. Unsure about whether we had transferred ALL the diesel from our auxiliary tank to the main tank, Andy decided to check. He discovered about 2 gallons of fuel. Sadly, the only way to get it out was to use a small measuring cup and dip it cup by cup into the main tank. Andy had to stretch his arm down into the tank up to his armpit. It was a filthy, smelly, tedious job.

Meanwhile, Betty stayed on the wheel, trying to keep us moving in the general direction of our goal. In little or no wind, it's an exhausting, difficult task. We were both nearing our upper limits of strength.

In the darkness and silence, struggling to hold ourselves together, a pod of whales could be heard spouting all around us. We never saw them. We simply stopped and listened to their soothing breathing, as if to say "it's okay, you'll get there, we're here and won't let anything happen to you". After that our tasks seemed lighter, Andy finished hand dipping diesel into the main tank and we proceeded to start the engine.

Except the engine wouldn't start. It sputtered and died just as it had so many times traveling down the California coast. But Andy stayed cool, looked at me and said, "let's change the racor (fuel filter)". And just as happened so many times before, the engine then started, and we headed on our compass course for Neah Bay, each silently thinking, "I wonder when the engine will die again?"

As we approached the coast, the fog was thick and heartless. Several of you wanted to know if we smelled or saw the coast first. Neither. The fog prevented both until we got inside it and then saw Vancouver Island looming in the near distance. In the fog we kept an eye at all times on the AIS (Automatic Identification System), which marks vessel positions. So we always knew where we were in relationship to the many freighters and fishing boats entering and leaving the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The tide was with us as we entered the Strait. A light west wind started to blow, allowing us to motor sail toward Neah Bay and helping with our fuel shortage. More whales swam off our port beam. As we were approaching Neah Bay, Discovery began to progressively slow down, and at about one quarter mile from the entrance she was doing 0-1 knot. When we tried to increase engine rpms, there was no response and we realized we had no forward transmission. U.S. Coast Guard to the rescue.

We continue to internally process what this trip meant to each of us. We will blog about that in our next installment.

In the meantime, as we approach the end of 2014, we wish you all a most wonderful holiday season with loving friends and family. Peace in 2015.