“Kinship” away again...

koliver said:

Dave

Great to see that you and SWMBO had a good time at the market yesterday. Interesting also to know that your wife and mine had a similar career path. We too raised our kids on Raffi and now have introduced the GrandKids to him. Ours live in Europe, so don't get the same exposure to guys like Raffi. We bought a collection of his songs and took them to the GKs a few years ago.
I have been away (Revelstoke) Tuesday to yesterday, and had no opportunity to review your posts until this AM. When are you leaving Ganges?

Click to expand...

Hi Keith, we left this morning. Had a really nice time in Ganges. We were going to gi to Cowichan Bay but when we called then yesterday they said to call back today. When we called under way this morning they said they had a Yacht Club coming in today so they would be completely full. I know anither club was heading over to Genoa so I figured it would be full as well.

We decided to go to Butchart Gardens. Got a mooring and am at the gardens now. Very wet but nice.

Wxx3 said:

Thanks so much for sharing so much. I know it's not a small task.

Your batteries will be fine. on a routine basis 50% is a good floor or even higher, but it's even more important to get them back to 100%.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I tend to baby them. Most of the time they dont get below 80% SOC.

AlaskaProf said:

Very pleasing cocktail hour; let's do that again soon.
'Prof, aka, Bill


Here's our daughter Olivia with Raffi last year:

Click to expand...

They both look very happy. Lovely girl and yeah, lets do it again.

porman said:

Dave, what marina were you at in Ganges? We had trouble with power at the Harbour Authority Kanaka dock this summer. We ended up having to use our generator instead of shore power.

Click to expand...

We were at Ganges Marina not the Harbor Authority docks. There was a lot of wave action so maybe the connection just got loose.

Just got back to the boat. We are completely drenched but had a great time. The rain kept the crowds down which was nice and the Gardens were lovely. Relaxing on the mooring tonight and will figure out what is to come tomorrow.

Are you on a buoy on the backside of Butchart, anchored in Tod Inlet, or?

dhays said:

... and yeah, lets do it again.

Click to expand...

David, Karen, and my wife, Gina Belt:

dhays said:

Just got back to the boat. We are completely drenched...

Click to expand...

We're in Sidney (Gina has a flight home tomorrow), continuous rain here, but there is a bookstore on every street corner... and we were rewarded with what may be the most intense rainbow I've ever seen:

Thank You

Great thread...thank you all for the effort and sharing. I enjoy other people's cruises!

Rain and poor vis here in Port Angeles.

Butchart is always great. Anchored in Tod, and walked to the gardens for the last fireworks show of the season a few weeks ago, it was great. All the buoys in Butchart Cove were open when we went by, but thought we were over the size limit, anybody know what the limit is on their buoys? Glad you are having a good trip, awaiting your next update!

Rebel112r said:

All the buoys in Butchart Cove were open when we went by, but thought we were over the size limit, anybody know what the limit is on their buoys?

Click to expand...

Her you are Butchard Garden Mooring Buoys........
Anchoring in Tod Inlet is one of our favorite places.

drb1025 said:

Are you on a buoy on the backside of Butchart, anchored in Tod Inlet, or?

Click to expand...

Mooring buoy on the backside of Butchart. After breakfast we are going to explore Tod Inlet for a bit. May stay the night there or not. Kind of playing it by ear at the moment. Karen wants to explore then park there at Tod.

Thks Rochepoint.

Here is where we are from a phito taken from the Gardens yesterday.

Should be pretty quiet in Tod. A very good place to swing on the hook.

Rebel112r said:

Butchart is always great. Anchored in Tod, and walked to the gardens for the last fireworks show of the season a few weeks ago, it was great. All the buoys in Butchart Cove were open when we went by, but thought we were over the size limit, anybody know what the limit is on their buoys? Glad you are having a good trip, awaiting your next update!

Click to expand...

The buoys say a limit of 40’ (we saw after we were already attached and had a stern tie. I talked to the person at the dock entrance and he said the size limit is so boats don’t ground on the rocks at low tide. I told him my boat is 40’ long with a 3’ swim step. He said that isn’t a problem.

Sorry we missed you in Ganges - we were at Saltspring Marina with pretty full schedule. We are now at our home marina of Anglers, just around the corner from Butchart Gardens. I highly recommend the pub at the Brentwood Bay Lodge near the ferry terminal. Blue's Bayou (Cajun) near Anglers is closed Mondays I believe. I am racing around today after being gone most of the summer but will do a drive by paddle in the kayak in later afternoon. My cell if you need any local advise - we are one block up the hill from Anglers: 250 480 6753.

We spent the night at Tod Inlet. Very nice, quiet spot. Lots of rain, but that is fine.

Heading to Roche Harbor now and just submitted my arrival via the CBP app. It is pending at the moment. We’ll see if it actually works.

Well, as I was about 100 yards from the Customs Dock I got a call from a CBP officer. He said that they just got trained yesterday on the Roam system and asked if I had already cleared customs.

Since I hadn’t we used the app. The officer said he was going to try and initiate a video call. It took about 5 tries but eventually we were connected. I could hear the officer but not see him. He could see and hear us. Since he had all the information from the app it made it very simple. He had a photo of our passports and the information off them. I had indicated that I did have some fruit and vegetables on the app and he asked me to specify what we had. He then asked to have us show him the veggies via the video connection.

I had ordered my 2018 re-entry sticker late and had the 2017 number in the app. I had forgotten to change it. He asked for the new number and then input that information in for me.

All in all, a reasonably painless process. There will be a bit of a learning curve for all concerned but it went pretty smoothly and sure is a lot more convenient than clearing at Roche or Friday Harbor’s custom dock.

I used ROAM this week, twice. Seemed to work ok for all, and easy for me.

Eating dinner at the Madrona Grill at Roche Harbor.

In the PNW, we develop a fondness for clouds. They can be beautiful. This was the view from the fly bridge when we got back from dinner.

We decided to spend out last night in the San Juans at Sucia Island. Haven't been here in a while and it is a special place as some of my Dad's ashes we're spread here.

Forcast was for SW winds so we decided to stay in Shallow Bay. I've not been here before. Only a few boats so we grabbed a state mooring ball. We are noticing the wakes from the commercial ships coming down the strait of Georgia and then through Boundary Pass.

Will leave early tomorrow for LaConner. Don't have reservations but we should find a spot.

Kinship out in Shallow Bay and Karen on shore.

Evening looking out towards Boundary Pass from Shallow Bay.

Just leaving Anacortes-Skyline. Anchor out at Bowman Bay, I think.

Conditions too good to waste. Port Townsend it is.

AlaskaProf said:

Conditions too good to waste. Port Townsend it is.

Click to expand...

The weather did settle down nicely. Did you make it to Pt. Townsend?

We left Sucia close to sunup. My wife has been making it very clear that she doesn’t want any rough seas this trip. So, I’ve been avoiding them. So around here, that means avoid places where wind and current oppose each other. Sound wind this morning around 10 knots so I caught the ebb. Made for a a slower trip but the water was smooth. Went behind Lummi Island and then downs through the Swinomish to La Conner. I grabbed a time laspse of the trip and posted a quick and dirty version of it.

https://youtu.be/0FDLN-kHVHA

dhays said:

The weather did settle down nicely. Did you make it to Pt. Townsend?

Click to expand...

Yup. Caught a free yacht club slip at Boat Haven. I actually prefer the Point Hudson Marina, mostly because of the historical significance, but the liquor store is on this end of town, and a man has to have priorities.

Probably ease on down to Port Madison tomorrow and anchor out in Gig Harbor Saturday night.

No hurry to conclude my 5-month cruise. Gina is driving up for UPS Parents' Weekend on the 25th... then I suppose I'll have to go home <sigh>.

Enjoyed your video of the Swinomish Dave.
Thank you