It’s right there

After decades of dreaming, years of planning, months of execution, thousands of miles driven, flown and sailed, all that separates us from the open sea now is that breakwater:

 

We are anchored in Neah Bay, just at the mouth of Strait of Juan de Fuca. This is a man-made harbor, created with the construction of the mile-long breakwater, to support marine traffic between the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound, I suppose.
Because of its location, Neah Bay is pretty much a transient place for cruising craft, and a strategic port for the fishing fleet. The marina is crowded with competent looking fishing boats, and there were a handful of seaworthy sailboats anchored in the harbor when we arrived.

It is also darn cold, probably due to the greater impact of the cold sea current.

 

It took us one long day of motor-sailing against a 20-30kt wind to get here, as documented on this post (i’ve added pictures from the trip).

And here we are now, resting, getting ready, and waiting for the right weather window to initiate our descent south.

Behind that hill, it’s the respectable Cape Flattery. We will round it tonight and finally start our long way south.

 

Conditions have settled. Dry weather, light winds from the NE-NNE, and a gentle swell from the NNW. All sailing boats have already left the bay. And we will be leaving tonight – around 2AM.

Our next destination is Westport, in Greys Harbor, just over 100 nautical miles from here. We should take 15-17 hours to get there. Will post as soon as we get some decent wifi again.