Douglas De Fluter, Dorothy Mathews, and Captain Bill Johnson
On the calm morning of May 10, 2011, Captain Bill and his crew of two, friends Douglas and Dorothy from Oklahoma, set out on an amazing journey to Puget Sound, Washington. Alice waved them off and then rushed to the end of Harbor Island to capture their departure on her camera. Seventeen days later they arrived at Chinook Landing Marina, Tacoma, Washington! The guide book we'd purchased said that it would take a month if one traveled each day and rested each night.... that was certainly not the case for Grey Wolf. She took on three Pacific storms, getting damaged all three times, and the crew sought shelter three times on the way north: Morro Bay, Eureka, and Crescent City. Otherwise, they traveled day and night. Now, Captain Bill does not get seasick, and Dorothy had her home remedy of ginger juice to get her through the rough spots, but poor Douglas really felt the effects of being on the water even when it was SMOOTH.We had been warned that it would be very cold, and indeed, it was even cold coming north from Cabo to San Diego. What we didn't realize was how cold it would get: 49 degrees in the cabin as they approached the Strait of Juan de Fuca and turned east to meet the waters of Puget Sound! Dorothy was very grateful she had packed thermal underwear and Bill just kept reporting to Alice that he was COLD~ his thin "Mexican" blood will thicken in time... Now it is time for Alice to drive the Prius north and meet up with her awesome husband, Captain Bill, who now has another notch in his belt~ having conquered the wicked Alaska current in the Pacific Ocean. He reported swells way above the height of Grey Wolf and even tried to photograph them, unsuccessfully. That give him another mental memory, as we call it, for those times when one sees something so stunning that there is not time to capture it on camera.
No comments:
Post a Comment