On Sunday morning we got up to rain... actually it rained throughout the night. No big deal... it was almost comforting and had mostly stopped by the time we peeked out from the companionway. Even though the weather wasn't the greatest, the night was pleasant. I have always liked this anchorage because in the darkness, you can look north up the Strait of Georgia and see the buoys and aids to navigation blinking away in their various colors and flash patterns. It's amazing how far you can see.

We diddled around at the anchorage for probably too long (can't figure out why we were so unmotivated to pickup and get going each day) and finally a little before eleven we untied ourselves from the buoy and reluctantly headed off. Who knows if we would ever get a buoy here again. And... just like yesterday, we had no idea where we were going. Generally, I guess we intended to cross into Canada unless something else came up.

We headed west and were able to look up at Eagle's Rest as we passed by. It was a long way up there. Took some pictures (see below). Seeing it from the bottom, I felt justified in urging Jack (probably a little too shrilly) the day before to stay back from the edge.

Then... a miracle occurred... the wind picked up... AND it wasn't from directly ahead either... Donna and I began to scurry around the boat stowing stuff and then I put up the sails. I hadn't sailed this boat before so we started with a reefed main. This quickly became embarrassing as we wallowed around so I shook out the reef and we were on our way. Jack even drove for awhile as I trimmed the sails. We got to keep the sails up all the way to Upright Head (or thereabouts) before having to fire up the engine again. We took the short cut through Pole Pass (between Crane and Orcas Islands) and started to head more north towards Canada. From there we kept Jones, Speiden and Stuart Islands to port and made a bee line to South Pender Island to clear Canadian Customs at Bedwell Harbor.

Customs was a breeze. I like talking to the Canadian Customs folks. They're pleasant and often have a fun sense of humor. That's the way it should be for folks on vacation. There is no reason for these customs folks to be grumpy (Canadian or U.S.) up here in the islands. I mean how unpleasant can this be? Now then, I have passed through U.S./Mexican customs way too many times for work in El Paso/Juarez and I believe that THOSE folks have every reason to be grumpy. Those are almost hellish conditions to work in. But up here in the islands?... If these folks are grumpy, they have some issues.

While we were on our way north, Donna discovered an out of the way set of Gulf Islands that sounded intriguing... Tumbo and Cabbage Islands between Saturna and The Strait of Georgia. I had never heard of them so we decided to check em out after clearing customs. It was an easy drive over there (about two hours) but it was starting to get late in the day so no dilly dallying. We arrived at Tumbo about 6:30 PM. The entrance to the anchorage was a little sketchy but our trusty chart plotter (Raymarine 435) found a hole in the reef and we squirted through. There were lots of buoys and we grabbed one. This turned out to be the first, and at this writing, only time that we have ever gotten a buoy in Canada. They don't have as many buoys in the Gulfs as we have in the San Juans so if you're going up there, get used to anchoring. That's not really as horrible as it sounds though. Anchoring becomes pretty routine.

After tying up, there was the usual dinner routines. The boys took the dinghy exploring while Donna and I used that time to prepare dinner and do boat chores. We had a little excitement when a Canadian Customs boat stopped by. Spencer had been crabbing and had caught a couple rock crabs. We had just come into Canada so didn't have a crab license yet (turns out that we didn't need one as long as it was only Spencer who did the crabbing... he's under 16). However we didn't know that then. The crabs were in a bucket on the stern when this very official looking Protector or Zodiac pulled up with three uniformed Canadian customs officers on board. Turns out that Tumbo and Cabbage Islands are very near to the border and sometimes people come here without checking in first. We chatted for awhile and I tried to divert the officers attention from the evidence of our crab poaching activities. As always, these Canadian officials were quite pleasant and soon were on there way to talk to the other boaters. Phew! Unfortunately, when they stopped by, we were barbecuing and I completely neglected the food on the grill. Burned shish kabob... and abuse from the boys was my reward. Oh well, at least we had the crab.

The next day we decided to stay in this anchorage and were all looking forward to a low key day to recover from all the excitement so far. Some of our activities... all of us walking around Cabbage Island, me taking the dinghy to the other end of the anchorage, Donna and Jack making an epic trek around Tumbo Island and my getting to read and nap on the foredeck during the afternoon. Spencer (our little carnivore) also did some more crabbing (poaching). It was a very low key, pleasant time. When we return from vacation, I always regret that we didn't have more of these.