roll on columbia

10/23 Cape Disappointment.

For the first time aboard the Sea Bird I awoke to a violent rocking. I quickly dressed and went above to figure out what was going on. Apparently we were 2 miles west of Astoria introducing everyone to the Columbia River Bar. The only other spot on earth as difficult and deadly when it comes to navigation is Cape Horn. This extremely shallow and rough section of water is the result of fierce ocean currents combining with massive amounts of water pushed down the Columbia. Over 2000 ships have sunk and at least 700 lives lost within the 17 mile section of water making up the Bar. Once again this was all new to me. Having gown up in the state I was shocked never having learned this fact. Everyday huge barges enter into Columbia where they are loaded with grain or unload electronics and other supplies. Each and every one of these vessels is piloted by a local pilot who is dropped off via helicopter to assist them through the narrow 17 mile stretch of the dredged channel. The men who are trained to pilot these barges make around $180,000- $300,000 a year and one little mistake can result in death or the loss of millions of dollars in product! Astoria is also the home to the National Motor Lifeboat rescue school which is the only school for rough water rescue operations in the U.S. In the town of Astoria we got 6200 gallons of fuel costing around $10,000 and taking a little under two hours to fill! The guests were unloaded to explore the world class maritime museum and then shuttle across a 4 mile bridge to cape disappointment WA. My duty of the day was to watch the entrance of the boat and make sure that nobody but guests and employees entered...t’was a long and wet day!