Day 262 The search continues.

It was as I feared, there was no wire(20 gauge 4 strand) available in this area to install the fog horn.  I hit Henerys, then Napa, two more home improvement centers(one didn't carry wire at all), an electrical store(had it but only in a solid wire--not good for boats), West Marine, Radio Shack and another electrical place that was closed as it had been bought and hadn't reopened yet.  So back to our home base of Sea Marine who started looking for it and will order it in when they find it.  At the worst, Home Depot in Sequim carries a 22 gauge-4 strand if I get desperate.  It's a 45 minute drive to get there, but it may be my only solution short of the hour drive to Silverdale--a much larger town down the coast.  I started at 9:45 and got back to Zephyr at about 1pm.  So much for a productive morning.

I had a nice chat with my brother Rick who lives back in Pennsylvania.  It was his 60th Birthday yesterday.  Happy Birthday big brother!!!

Late in the afternoon, one of our friends that is working on her boat here at Sea Marine stopped by to tell us about a NOAA website that produces weather information on a global scale available for download so that we can see what is going on out on the ocean.  Some times it's not easy to get that information, especially in a map form.  There are cruise books that will tell you when it is the best time to go between point A to point B, but their information is based on yearly averages and trends, not on what is out there.  With these maps, we can better understand what we will face on any particular voyage as we see what is happening today and not as an average over the past many years.  The more information you can get before you set out the better the cruise will be.

We took a drive to Fort Worden (about two miles up the coast)in the afternoon to take a walk.  This is the sight of where "An Officer and a Gentleman" was filmed back in the 80's.  We went down on the beach and to the light house(sorry, I forgot my camera) and way out past it.  A nice long walk.  A bit chilly in the breeze that was blowing, but fun to walk the coastline on an actual sandy beach.  Our son called as we walked, so we had a nice chat.  It's always good to hear what is happening in his life.

Other than that, it was a quiet day--no sun, no wind, no rain, just cloudy skies again.

Have a great weekend.