Beam Reach

 
Saturday, October 20, 2007
 
We woke up to a rainbow ending behind the harbor master’s office and a light dusting of snow on the Olympic mountains. We left Port Angeles after a breakfast of Jason’s homemade pancakes. Transient killer whales were spotted briefly on our way to try to catch up with members of L pod [...]

Friday, October 19, 2007
 
The storm had settled, but there was still no sign of the whales, so we decided to sail over to Port Angeles.  After scrambled eggs for breakfast and offloading our recycling, garbage and compost, we untied the Gato Verde from the dock at Friday Harbor Labs.  Progress was slow through [...]

Thursday, October 18, 2007
 
Whistling winds woke us.  Weather predictions warned of gale-force winds up to 45 knots and wind waves up to 8 feet.  Mike had secured extra lines to the dock overnight, so we ate breakfast, completed our chores and sat down to our morning meeting.  We decided it would be prudent to stay [...]

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
 
We took advantage of the land facilities while we were docked at Fisherman’s Bay this morning.  After a quick breakfast, chores, and a few phone calls, we sat down to our morning meeting.  We decided to make our daily round of phone calls to try to see if there was any news [...]

Tuesday, October 16, 2007
 
Waz up
USA?  Today tha Ghetto Verde was hoppin fo sho.  This be S. Fowla in da crib.  Tha crew said my grill was shining extra bright dis mornin.  We woked up at Mickey K’s.  We was fini go get T.S. when tha electrizil went to s*^@!  We ate some grub and [...]

Monday, October 15, 2007
 
We woke up at

Mackaye
Harbor and had a quick breakfast before making some phone calls to try to figure out where the whales were.  The morning was spent working on sustainability projects and data analysis.  Wes cooked her special Lebanese surprise soup and toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Independent work continued after lunch [...]

Sunday, October 14, 2007
 
Over breakfast, we enjoyed a rare connection to the outside world over the internet.  Afterwards, we cranked up the anchor to head out to meet Western Prince for Tim’s vessel noise recordings.  We began the weekly clean up of the boat—cleaning the oven, bilge pumps, under the sinks…Alex put forth a good [...]

Saturday, October 13, 2007
We woke up to news of whales off Val’s house, so enjoyed a quick breakfast of Leslie’s zucchini bread before cranking up the anchor by hand and heading out of Snug Harbor. We encountered whales almost immediately, but the animals were very spread out. We deployed the hydrophones, but the [...]

Friday, October 12, 2007
 
After filling up our water tanks and paying our harbor bill, we motored away from civilization at
Port Angeles.  The team took turns on the bow searching for whales, while the rest of us listened hopefully to radio chatter and worked on data analysis.  After crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca, [...]

Thursday, October 11, 2007
 
After waking up at Roche, and having breakfast shortbread freshly baked by Alex, Tim and Anne took a shot at raising the anchor by hand.  With about 15 feet left to go, time had run short and they let the motor take over.  We motored out

Mosquito
Pass and met Peregrine so Tim could [...]