We are ready to cross into British Columbia, CA and after doing everything we can to be ready, we head to our favorite check-in point. The weather and the water was perfect, we easily ran at approximately 1300 RPM doing 9-10 knots. The little boat did great, the autohelm was awesome and we had a great crossing. We motored for 3 hours to Mayne Island, traversing through Active Pass only to learn the website we reviewed wasn’t accurate and we had to go somewhere else. Frustrated at ourselves more than anything, we headed to Van Isle Marina in Sidney. An hour and a half later, we arrived at a great marina. Docking was open and easy and it was a smooth check in. But now we were way out of our way for our first night’s destination, so we picked a new one.

We tucked into Royal Cove on the north tip of Portland Island, an easy 30 minute motor from the marina. We shared the small bay with a sailboat and enjoyed the occassional gentle rollers from the passing ferrys. Most small bays require you to stern tie but with only the 2 of us, we both just anchored. We made a light dinner and played games. We have several favorites, Scrabble, Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Dominos, Backgammon - tonight was GR and I lost bad. I had to be a good sport though, I creamed Keith last night at Scrabble…. and yes, we keep track.

Thursday morning we wake to rain and even though it’s light, it doesn’t show any signs of stopping. We had hoped to get the dingy set up so we can be ready to stern tie, but that isn’t going to happen in the rain. Keith spent the morning working in his garage (the trophy) and I made bread.

Clearing Customs

Hiking Portland Island

Adventures by sea