Fort Bragg

We left Eureka on Tuesday afternoon and headed for Fort Bragg. The forecast called for winds 15 to 20 knots, and seas not bad. I have heard that Cape Mendocino can dish up scary big waves, so I was smugly happy that we were leaving in the afternoon. This would put us around the cape during the night, when the wind is usually lighter, and therefore the waves too. I like it when I get the chance to outfox Mother Nature. My watch ended at 2100 hours, and just before going off watch I turned the boat to the southeast, having cleared the point of the cape. The wind had been picking up a little, and when I turned the helm over to Teri the wind was blowing 18 - 20 with an occasional gust up to 23 or so. The wind was on our port quarter, and the seas were on our starboard quarter. The main was reefed and the genoa was doused because we like to keep it simple for one person watches at night and the broad reach was deep enough that the genoa would have been blanketed by the main anyway.  

So Teri took the watch and I went to bed. I was awakened about an hour later by the crashing of items in the salon that usually don't crash, and I could hear the wind whistling in the rigging. So much for outfoxing Mother Nature! Ed told me later that the wind had been above 30 knots for more than an hour. We did get to see lots of marine mammals on the way - a pod of Orcas, what we thought was a Humpback, and another that we think was a Fin whale. We have a chart to help us determine what kind they are, but it's not easy and we just bought it here at Fort Bragg.

I was back on watch when we arrived here at Fort Bragg, and got the thrill and pleasure of bringing the boat across the bar, up the Noyo River, and into the slip here at the marina. The Noyo River is VERY small, and going from open ocean to something narrower than the Multnomah Channel in five minutes is pretty cool. We are definitely not in Oregon any more! I recognize some of the plants, but there are a lot of trees that I don't recognize.  The river is full of sea lions and seals. And fishing boats.

I went out today with my camera and took some pictures, hoping that my new computer would easily download them from the camera. WOW! It was simple, and the slideshow in iPhoto was incredible! We don't have WiFi here in the marina, but as soon as I get an internet connection I intend to try uploading to Facebook and hopefully will upload this blog entry and some pics with it. We plan to leave here soon for Bodega Bay.