boat work

Back into the US at Port Angeles and hauling out in Port Townsend

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From foggy Sooke, we motored south across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to check back into the US in Port Angeles. The check-in was effortless; as soon as we crossed the invisible border in the water I used the CBP Roam app to check in. A few minutes later we had a video call with an agent and were cleared back in.

We spent a night at the dock in Port Angeles before sailing east towards Port Townsend, where I’d made a reservation to get the boat hauled out at the DIY yard so we could fix the damage the anchor had done to the gelcoat on the bow of Kestrel when it got loose going around the Hesquiat Peninsula, as well as replacing anodes and other minor maintenance that is easier out of the water (especially in cold water!).

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Daajing Giids and preparing for Gwaii Haanas

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We’ve spent the last five days anchored out front of the Haida village of Daajing Giids relaxing, resupplying, getting our laundry done, and going to the mandatory orientation required for visitors to Gwaii Haanas. The weather has been mostly gray and rainy, though we had sunbreaks in the late morning on Saturday when we attended the very small farmer’s market, and on-and-off sunshine on Monday and Tuesday. The village is lovely and being somewhere with restaurants meant we could take a break from cooking dinner for a few of the days. Blacktail Restaurant provided us with an elegant arrival celebration dinner (the mushroom pasta was everything I hoped for), and the Korean fried chicken style sandwich Steller’s Jay Community Pub served up was spicy, sweet, delicious, and great with a cold beer.

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So much boat work… but we’re almost ready

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Our one year delay will, thankfully, be only a one year delay. My partner and I are nearly ready to go, and even have a fairly solid date for untying the lines: April 24th. As I write this, we’re living out of a hotel while the boat is hauled out to deal with some under-the-waterline modifications we need to make. Hopefully we’ll be back in the water in about two weeks, and then we’ll have about a month to finish our prep.

But first, let’s back up a little bit and take a look at what we’ve gotten done in the last eight months since I last posted. Not just boat work either; I finished a few knives and am finishing up a few more in the last few weeks until I close my workshop up.

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