We are back from Neah Bay. We had a wonderful time there. We spent three days, the first evening after we arrived we anchored and then untied the dinghy and headed over to the dock. It is a wonderful dock and the facilities were great. We walked around town and hit a grocery store. Day 2 we spent wandering around on local beaches, doing some beachcombing, Barry found a skookum 30 ft. piece of line and I found one heavy duty orange rubber glove suitable for handling fish. Then we headed back to the dock to watch the fishermen cleaning their catches, their filleting skills were amazing. Some docks that landed had guys in wet suits on board and they had been spearfishing. Hanging about in the background were sea lions waiting for the left overs. There were fisheries officers noting the particulars of the catches, they told us that the sea lions were spoiled, all they wanted were the remains of halibut, they weren't interested in the leftover sea bass or ling cod!!!! At the other end of the dock we saw about 5 eagles fighting over some scrumpcious morsel, one took off with it and another attacked him and the goodie was gone, sunk in about 15 feet of water.

That evening we were treated to a workout of about a dozen aboriginal women on a dragon boat. They did a brisk warmup of about a kilometer and then after a rest they took of for about a 5 km paddle, man did that boat ever move, and they paddled in perfect sequence. I wonder what they were training for?

Day 3 we headed for Canadian shores, planning on checking into customs in Port Renfrew. We phoned a customs number and were told we would have to go back to Victoria to enter Canada. To heck with that, we weren't about to go back 50 NM to check in so we headed out into the Pacific and took a look around the corner of Cape Flattery. After you round the cape you don't have to go west anymore you can head south. I asked Barry if he had any desire to just keep going and got a resounding NO for an answer. We anchored at Neah Bay again for the night.

Day 4 we headed back to Port Angeles with a west wind on our backs. We just flew down the strait, we did the 50 miles in less than 8 hours, WOW. My arms got tired from wrestling the wheel with the 5 foot swells pushing us in directions we did not want to go. We certainly figured out how to sail the boat downwind today!! As we got into Port Angeles the wind howled down the harbour hitting 30 knots. We saw an ocean going rowboat practising for a race across the Atlantic. I think they are even crazier than we are. I give them credit though they were rowing upwind in 30 knots, good practise, better them than me. We will stay on the American side for a few more days and explore Port Townsend and maybe even stay at John Wayne Marina.

I can't seem to add pictures at this site so will have to do it later. Keep in touch, love to hear from all of you.