Oct 8 - 10th: Gonzaga to Puerto Refugio

Oct. 8th: We set sail out of Gonzaga Bay about 6:30 in the morning to a beautiful sunrise. Within moments, our friends Jim and Darda were hailing us on the VHF radio wishing us fair winds and following seas. They are good people! As we exited the Bay we could feel the effects of the last 2 days of Norther, the seas were up; at one point we had a train of 10 footers on short period come through, but mostly it was 4-6'ers ... and very little wind. By 10:00 am the north wind filled in and we shut
off the one engine we were using, enjoying a crossing to Puerto Refugio under beautiful sailing conditions.

The crossing takes about 48 miles, all tolled, but it was nice and we were snug in our anchorage by 4:00 pm. There are 3 other boats in here, but we haven't had a chance to meet them yet. Cruisers are, in general, remarkably friendly and giving people, but also respectful of privacy. There's a reason people cruise vs. going to mega-all inclusive resorts. Both can be fun; one is more quiet than the other.

We tried to take a picture and "dumb" it down enough to send via ham radio. We got the "dumb" part done correctly (17K size) but haven't figured out how to place it into the text. We'll try that over the next few days.

We should be leaving tomorrow morning, early for Bahia de Los Angeles and hope to arrive about 3:00 pm or so. We haven't picked an anchorage yet, but we'll have time while sailing. Thanks all for following our blog!