With such a late start from Neah Bay, we arrived late at PA. Everything at the marina was closed so we tied up, waited till morning, then pulled over to the old fuel dock and topped off Estrella’s main tank. She took 34 gallons and at 36 hours since the last fuel up in Astoria, she got about 0.8 gallons per hour going north in the Pacific. Not bad. Most of the time she was running at 1800 rpm and pushing hull speed against the current.
After fueling we headed out of the big PA harbor to find some current and wind. (nope).
Motoring is not as much fun as sailing. After an attempt at tacking upwind to get around Admiral point, and getting nowhere fast, I relented, pulled in the sails and started the motor.
Of course as soon as you pull in sails the wind blows and the current changes so we ended up with a beam wind, a flood current and no sails up! Oh well. Best we get on with finding an anchorage south of the ferry terminals at Port Townsend.
The afternoon at PT was gorgeous sun and a breeze from the NW. After anchoring we set up the dinghy and found a place to tie the dinghy in Boat Haven so that we could hit the grocery store. We topped off the beer supply and other consumables. Poked around the boat haven boat yard, visited the tall ship ‘Adventurous’ and returned to Estrella.
Knowing the wind was predicted to pick up, I put my snubber to use for the first time. My snubber is 18 feet of 5/8, 3 strand nylon. Very springy, The snubber is attached to the bow eye at water level. Very efficient at soaking up the shocks from wind tramping.
The wind blew through the rigging most of the night and layed down before dawn. It was an eggs and bacon breakfast. First real breakfast since arriving.
This was July 7 and I wanted to explore PT to see how this port was handling the Coronavirus. July 7 was also my birthday! 68 trips around the sun.
PT had many more shops open then I expected. Most cafes were serving takeout and had outside distance seating. We had coffee and snacks with a ham radio couple that I had become friends with on the Great Northern Boaters net. They had a local condo and heard, on the net, that we were anchored nearby.
We finished up the day with a birthday beer at an outdoor beer garden on the edge of boat haven, exchanged lies with nearby salty dogs and found our way back to Estrella.
Next day stops would be Deception pass, Hope Island and Laconner.