The marine forecast warned us that the waves were 3 meters, but they had already reduced and would be diminishing for the rest of the morning until they died right down. We’ve done this size of wave before, and this time the skies would be much clearer. It could be a training mission of sorts. If it got too uncomfortable, we could always turn around. But the thing is, our next stop is Port Renfrew. We have friends who will be camping there this weekend. We would rather get there the day before everyone else does so that we can recover from our journey at sea before we rendezvous. So we’re not as knackered. Up came the anchor and off we went.
It was OK for a while, I was able to post blogs as we left the inlet, and even finished editing a video I made of our trip to Meares Island (which will be posted once the internet connection is stronger!). But the farther we got out into the chuck, the lumpier it got. We were not going with the current, we were cutting across it and smashing into some decent sized waves side-on. First I had to close the laptop and turn to face the horizon. Then I strapped on the electric-wristband-thingy. Then I felt like I needed to bundle up a bit, it got chilly. Then I needed to lie down, so with a small struggle I converted the table to a bed, and I got horizontal. Then I realized that the strength of the sea’s swell had overpowered by internal balancing system, and I was going to hurl. Thankfully, there was an empty cooler beside me that prevented me from needing to launch myself to the stairs at stern of the boat, while somehow not falling off and into the ocean. The cooler could just get a little scrub-down later, it’s all good. And then I felt a little better after that. (“Oh mighty sea, you may have won this battle, but you haven’t won the War!!”) Cap’n Adam, as always, had guts of steel and was not bothered by the swell at all.
Once we got to the end of Trevor Channel, and after we took a wide turn around Cape Beale, we rejoined the SE flow of the Pacific current, things were much calmer. We were still in some 2-3 meter waves which is nothing to sneeze at, but surfing with the current is much more tolerable than crashing through it. As we entered Juan de Fuca Strait we could see the mountains of Washington State off of our starboard side. We arrived at our destination accompanied by a sea lion who was surfing our wake and jumping out of the water to wave at us. He hung around until after we anchored, then went on his way. Port San Juan, the minimally protected large bay that Port Renfrew banks onto, has part of the West Coast Trail coursing around it. We anchored next to a spot where many hikers spend the night – Cap’n Adam counted 18 tents on the beach. Tonight we will sleep with waves rocking the boat as the Pacific influences this anchorage a bit more than we’re used to.
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