The sailing adventures of SV Meriwether and her crew
Our destination was Port Angeles, which would serve as our staging point for the next big adventure of sailing to Alaska via the ocean. But first, we had to get there, and only the Straight of Juan De Fuca stood between us. Because the Straight is exposed to the Pacific, it can bring with it some of the ocean waves...
We spent the week in Port Angeles working our tails off to get ready for the big trip. It all started with a rental car and a day driving around spending a boat load of money to buy last minute supplies and food. This still wasn’t enough, as boxes were scheduled to arrive in the marina office each day of...
Day 1 of our passage to Alaska. We almost made it to the Pacific Ocean. It was the plan, but a well laid out plan it turned out not to be. Leaving Port Angeles at 3am meant that we would have the tidal currents in our favor, expediting the long haul out to the Pacific. Or, at least not working against...
It was still an early morning departure but we were ready after some good sleep and minor adjustments to Meriwether’s storage the day before. Kerri was back from the dead and ready for what was ahead. We raised anchor and left the safety of Neah Bay, back into Juan De Fuca and pointing ourselves towards the Pacific. This time we...
Kerri took the first watch of our first overnight at sea. From 10 PM to 1 AM she ensured all was well as we sailed west (with a smidge of south) with only the moon and an audio book to keep her company. She did tell me that she passed by a few ships during those hours, but I can...
12 hours is what it took. 12 sweet hours of undisturbed sleep. I haven’t slept that long ever in my life. We woke to a bright and beautiful Canadian cove right outside our salt coated portlights. Bald eagles were soaring above the green pines on shore. The very land that we could not legally set foot on. Life was certainly...
Meriwether and her crew (we) made it back to San Juan Island to start our week long recovery process after last two weeks of preparing for and failing at a Pacific passage. Just getting the boat back into ‘living mode’ was a whole day process. Then came the shopping for a new fridge unit. Of course, our previous unit was...
Rested and recovered, we are ready to get back to our lives living and traveling on our boat. Already supplies were being ordered and shipped into Friday Harbor – not only replacements to our broken items, but also some new items after lessons learned in the wide open ocean. We had some new estimated dates to start our hybrid inside...
We had one more week before our planned re-departure towards Alaska and we did not want to spend it in the same place as last week (Friday Harbor). All the major repairs and provisions are complete so we chose to get away from civilization and get a little relaxing on. We decided on a return trip to Garrison Bay at...
Yes! We are re-attempting the passage to Alaska, this time via a “hybrid inside passage” which will include following the east coast of Vancouver Island to its northern tip, then sailing north, across 300+ miles of open water, to get to Alaska. Once again, we can be followed via our maps page which shows our location in real time (along...
