JoLee & I have arrived back home following a wonderful 33 day trip, visiting the San Juan Islands state parks, attending the C-Brat/C-Dory boat gathering with 41 other C-Dorys & their owners at Friday Harbor, then a cruise into British Columbia, Canada to Princess Louise Inlet & Chatterbox Falls. 551 miles on the water & another 1950 miles towing.
Sunday, May 11, we left Friday Harbor early morning with the crew of My Iggy, Dennis & David following with their planning on continuing to Alaska after PLI. We both arrived early at the Customs dock with hopes of a quick check in & it was with only a 5 minute stop & the quickest & easiest crossing ever of our many entries into Canada. Original plan was to spend the night at the dock on Newcastle Island across from Nanaimo, but with the forecast for Georgia Strait showing a very good weather window, starting about 2 pm & the next couple days not so favorable, along with knowledge of a flotilla of large boats planning on arriving at the PLI dock on Tuesday, decided to continue on after showers & a break. We were very glad for that decision, as when we approached the entry to Malibu Rapids, we were greeted by three orcas swimming directly at us, also upon reaching the dock, we found plenty of room to dock, where we wanted to be on the outside with a great view of Chatterbox Falls. During the next couple days several more C-Dory’s arrived including, Gary & Colleen on Day Break, Steve & Jodi on C-Time, Rick & Kerry on their Tomcat, Carl & Nancy on Nowhere Fast & Chris & Kathy on CC Rider. Blue sky & unusually warm weather made for a great time walking the trails & sharing time & stories on the dock. Tuesday the dock did fill to max as the other group arrived, even after some of our group had left. Early Wednesday morning both DayBreak & us left. While Gary & Colleen headed out PLI & up Queens Reach, we went the opposite direction, but after about 6 miles found choppy water & with plans of continuing across Georgia Strait, thought, if this bad here, probably a no go for the Strait, so back through Malibu & our same spot on the dock. Fortunately for us the timing of slack at the Malibu Rapids is not a concern for us, so no problem making these decisions. There, I got a good weather report from a Yacht with Starlink, saying the strait should be good to cross by 2 pm, so off we go again. This time, the channel chop was even worse, so a bit of a beating & in my opinion worse, than any of our crossings of the Malibu rapids at mid flood or ebb. At Georgia Strait, the conditions at 2 pm were just as forecast, so a good ride back to the Newcastle Island dock, where we found Harvey & Carol on Sleepy C & Jeff & Dianne on their Grand Banks. It was great to see them again & we had a good time sitting out at the dock end, that evening with us all sharing stories. They were still planning on going to PLI with hopes of reaching there after the large Yacht group had left.
Upon leaving Nanaimo we had planned on spending a few more days in the San Juan Island area & then visiting JoLee’s sister on the way home, but she had broke a tooth, so after Nanaimo headed directly to customs clearing at Friday Harbor & then across the Strait of Juan De Fuca to Port Townsend area, where we stayed at the Fort Flagler state park dock before pulling the boat the next morning.
Over all another wonderful trip & cruise & all we met other than our US customs officers friendly with the only down side the worst customs clearing, we have ever experienced, when arriving back into the US at Friday Harbor in all of our many trips to & from Canada. There is a iPhone app, customs now uses for entering back into the US, when doing so by boat, that was unfamiliar to us, as it’s been 2 years since our last crossing there. In the process of trying to figure the it out over the phone at the dock with my poor hearing & unfamiliarity with the app they required we use, the customs officer became very upset with us & denied our first attempt at entry. Then three agents showed up in person with a drug dog & did a complete search of our small boat with the dog, while being very curt & degrading to our explanations of why, we had so much trouble trying to use the unfamiliar phone app. The complete process took at least a couple hours, whereas the crossing into Canada was about 5 minutes. I believe the reason for the bad experience crossing back into the US was due to our unfamiliarity to the the present process mixed with officers, that were either having a bad day or just able to be rude & arrogant if so desired. We both remained calm & respectful throughout the experience, as we knew if not it would only grow worse. At the end, she lightened up some after realizing my poor following her instructions over the phone was due to my bad hearing & new system & the two handlers with the dog did seem a bit sheepish upon finishing & actually seeing what & who they had decided needed such a thorough inspection.
In hindsight, if I would have just read or otherwise become better informed about the present requirements for US reentry by Boat this bad experience may have been avoided.
I just uploaded the remainder of my planned itinerary in my findpenquins blog. Colby
