British Columbia, first few days

Sunday, Aug 2:
My Uncle Raymond, Aunt Christine, second-cousin Trenton and I left the moorage at Lockhaven at 2:30pm departing drama-free through the ‘small’ locks that separate the freshwater of Lake Union from Puget Sound. We had smooth water the duration of our first day, heading north out of Seattle and through Admiralty Inlet. Three Alaska-bound cruiseships passed us in Puget Sound, one with a golf course on top and one of the others appeared to have an iceskating rink on the stern of the boat. We have neither. We anchored for the night just off the coast of Port Townsend, Washington and enjoyed tomato basil soup and pasta with calmatta olives, red onion, tomatoes and artichokes for dinner.



Monday, Aug 3:
After sleeping solidly through the night we woke up to heavy fog laying over the harbor, which delayed the early start we had planned. We relaxed and enjoyed a morning coffee and home-baked scones with jelly and devonshire cream. The NOAA weather radio report indicated the fog was only in the Port Townsend area so we pulled anchor and headed north in thick fog with less than 1/4 mile visibility. We used the boat’s radar to spot other boats and ferries and the GPS for guidance, along with the automated foghorn playing every five seconds to warn other boaters we were coming through. At one point we were closer to an inbound ferry than we would have liked but within a few miles of travel the fog lifted and we had warm sunny weather the remainder of the day. Aunt Christine made us chicken curry sandwiches with green onion, celery and grapes (sauce consisted of mayonnaise, lemon, curry and almonds) on croissant rolls with seasalt and vinegar chips and Izze sparkling orange clementine drinks. While we ate we watched Trenton, my 11-year old second cousin turn every dial, push every button and rotate every knob in the pilothouse. He loves to be involved in every aspect of boat travel and as a result, he knows more about the rules of navigation than I do.

We crossed the shipping lanes of Puget Sound and headed northwest up the outside of the shipping lane, skirting Partridge Bank and around the west side of San Juan Island. We rounded Turn Point at Stuart Island and into Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island to declare customs. This year there was no customs agent at the dock, the entire procedure took ten minutes and was done via passport scanner and telephone at the customs dock. Because we’re up here every year at the same time with the same crew, their line of questioning was regarding pitted and seeded fruits and whether or not we had wine and firearms onboard. We reboarded the boat and headed for the northern end of Prevost Island and dropped anchor in Annette Bay in 30-feet of water. There were four other sailboats and six powerboats in the anchorage. We had leg of lamb marinated in garlic, mint and olive oil along with grilled mixed potatoes and some Italian wine with dinner. After sharing stories and pictures about my recent trip to Europe, we headed to bed.





We are now headed to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island for the night. Our goal for tomorrow is to make Comox/Campbell River and continue north toward the top end of Vancouver Island.