We were unable to find the fuel dock that he has suggested and after we had begun to drop anchor near the public jetty he yelled out that we could go into the public public floating jetties where I dock my dinghy. After he assured me that the jetty would accommodate my 7.5 ft draft we motored in and tied up just as he had to depart to process the 12 PM ferry from Victoria, "Coho".
Brenda and I had lunch and an hour later he returned with a colleague. I was handed my cruising license and asked that we stay in the cockpit while they inspected the boat. They poked and prodded, and at one point I heard one of them tap on one of my water tanks. After ten minutes they emerged from the boat and after confirming my future plans they departed giving us good wishes in our sailing.
The cruising license is good until March next year, based on our stated plans that Brenda will fly back to Australia for Christmas and I will depart USA waters for Mexico after the end of the hurricane season in November and definitely before Christmas.
Obtaining this cruising license closes a period of great vulnerability for me because of the bad opinion I got from Customs in Hilo that I did not require a cruising license. The Customs agents here on the mainland have handled the issue professionally and treated us very well. I can't speak too highly of them.
After the Customs inspection I took advantage of being desensitized to taking the boat close to shore and dropped anchor only 50 meters from the public jetty in less than 7 meters of water. By nightfall there were three boats anchored off the public jetty and for once Pachuca was the closest in.
One of the boats had a hull similar to Pachuca's. The owner said that it was a Tartan. He picked Pachuca as an S&S and said that Tartan, like Swan, is an S&S design. The Tartan does not have the same amount of tumblehome as the S&S but the stern is almost identical.
In mid-afternoon we ventured into town and went to the visitor's center for advice on showers and available tourist facilities. After a bit of shopping in which I managed to get a $50 phone recharge card at Safeway we returned to the boat, got our laptops, then went back into the town to do some internet work.
Because of the time spent with Customs we decided to spend a second full day at Port Angeles.
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