After days of getting up early, we could not sleep in very late, got up and did a little exploring around the park. I climbed up a few rocks until I could find some cell-phone reception and make a few calls. I told Dave Harry to put a message on the BASK email server that we were almost done with the trip. That we had broken only one paddle and called the Coast Guard only once. So far. Someone else called the Coast Guard that morning and they came out in the helicopter to pluck people off the cliff at the north end of the beach. We watched the surf and got nervous about the launch. As we did our final packing at the edge of the beach a gaggle of kids came down and swamped Roger with questions about his kayak. “You’re really going to launch HERE?!” They ignored me right next to Roger, I’m not sure why.
I launched and powered my way out. I was stopped by one wave breaking over me but stayed upright, got back up to speed and made it out to sea. I felt a wave of relief wash over me that this was the last surf launch of the trip. Well there was still Roger’s surf launch, so one last wave of relief washed over me when he had an easy time and came out to join me. I still worry too much about surf launches and need to practice this more, to get trashed a few times and still recover. I need to get more comfortable with surf launches before I come back to paddle the Oregon coastline just south of here.
As we rounded the end of the jetty into the Columbia River the ocean had a few parting shots to take at us. I saw Roger get side-surfed by a large wave. I figured there would be 50 seconds or so before the next large set, so I paddled in close. I took a picture of the end of the jetty and heard an explosive wave breaking far behind me. I figured I had time to zoom in and take a picture of the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. But the camera got into one of its modes and was slow to let me zoom. Finally I pointed it at the lighthouse and pressed the button. The camera had to think about focusing for a few million years while a roaring breaker sound got louder and louder behind me. It occurred to me that my paddle was lying across my lap and would be snatched away by a wave. So I stuffed the camera into my PFD pocket. It flashed a picture of the paddle on my deck about that time. There wasn’t time to close the zipper on the pocket, I picked up the paddle, got in three strokes and was picked up by a HUGE breaker coming around the end of the jetty. I managed to pry the bow of my boat out of the breaker and almost surfed into the Columbia River! When the wave calmed down in deeper water I found my camera had bounced out of the pocket and was banging against the side of my kayak at the end of its lanyard. It started acting strange a few hours later and eventually I found salt water in the memory card slot. The camera may not survive that wave, but it did last long enough to take pictures of the end of this trip.
I had a few wildlife experiences as we headed in. A sturgeon jumped out of the water a few feet in front of me! At least 3 feet of fish came out of the water and splashed back down. And that was only half of a pretty big animal! A few minutes later there was an explosive breath directly behind my kayak. I turned expecting to see a whale and instead saw a huge brown mouth full of yellow teeth! I was shocked into shouting an expletive before I figured out it was a large yawning sea lion. He followed me for a while and eventually came up in front of me with some sort of manta ray in his mouth. He tossed it back and forth for a minute but never seemed to bite any pieces out of it.
Roger and I turned up the channel towards the town of Ilwaco. On the maps the Oregon border runs accross the middle of the river but for some reason turns way north to enclose Sand Island which should have been on the Washington side. This island is right next to the channel to the marina so by ducking across and landing here we could say that we had made it all the way to Oregon! I found a couple on the beach that had paddled in a double kayak from a nearby B&B. I informed them that they had just paddled from Washington to Oregon and they took my picture with my still working camera. Roger had landed a hundred yards farther down so I had to repeat the ritual with him. The tide was high enough that kayaks were able to take the short cut over some shallow areas and quickly get into the marina. Roger and I landed, hauled our kayaks up the public boat ramp and the whole Pacific coastline of Washington was in the bag!