NW Cruise Day 4

We had a quiet night on the boat and woke up to the usual foggy mist. We left the boat at 9 AM with the documentation required for Customs. After a coffee we visited the Customs office at the appointed hour of 10 AM.

The meeting went well. Our personal documents and those of Pachuca were in order. They took a very understanding view of the situation and basically wrote off the past. Within 48 hours of our departure to Canada we will obtain clearance from Customs either here in Friday Harbor or Roche Harbor a bit further to the north on San Juan Island. Brenda and I will make our entry into Canada at Bedwell Harbor in South Pender Island. On the passage from Vancouver to Victoria we will be allowed to navigate through US waters as long as we do not either land or drop anchor in U.S. Territory. We will then make our formal exit from Canada at Victoria, and now comes the important part. We will make a fresh new formal entry into the US at Port Angeles and it is then when I will apply for a cruising permit. Things should go smoothly there but if there are any problems I am to refer the officials to Customs at Friday Harbor. Under a cruising permit I will have to report my presence whenever I enter a new district. The Customs official thought that Washington state is a district, so is Oregon, and California may have two. I'll find out what these are in the internet. The district thing was a relief to me. I was afraid that I would have to report my arrival to every place I visited in US waters.

We returned to the boat, had lunch, then moved Pachuca another 20 meters away from a smaller boat to which we were just too close. To do this we left the Zodiac in the water, the clothes hanging on the line above the foredeck, cranked up the engine, raised the anchor enough to break the ground, then motored the 20 meters. Easy.

We then returned to the township, started off a load of washing at the laundry, then made the long-ish walk in the suddenly hot sun to a bakery that had been highly recommended by a woman in the customs office. (She is going to feed her Mom, who is soon to visit and loves sweet things, on their excellent cheesecake.) The walk was very informative because we learned the location of the major shops.

We then returned to the boat where we had a relaxing meal in the cockpit watching the activity of the harbor in the waning light.

Our plan is to fuel up the boat at mid-afternoon and proceed to our next anchorage, Parks Bay on Shaw Island. Parks Bay has almost everything going for it: easy entry, excellent shelter, good holding ground, plenty of room, surrounded by a heavily wooded nature reserve. However it has one drawback: it is ridiculously close to Friday Harbor, a 4-mile trip across San Juan Channel. But so what? As in the Whitsundays off the Queensland coast there seems to be a distinctive and interesting bay around every corner.

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