Day 11: Tuesday

Today we completed loading of the soda ash and prepared to sail from Portland and take the six-hour journey back down the Colombia River to the Astoria Pilot station.

We left Portland at 1600 hrs and had a pilot change at 2000 hrs from Colombia River Pilots to Colombia River Bar Pilots. At 2300 hrs, as we passed the last outbound pilot station at Astoria, a helicopter landed on the hatch cover to take the pilot ashore.

By this time it was quite windy. I actually enjoyed talking to the second pilot since he was a graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy, which is an institution I would also like to attend.