Don and Sally's visit.

Jerry's brother, Don, and his wife, Sally, came for a quick visit the middle of September.  They arrived on Tuesday,  September 14, about 1230.  After a quick bite of lunch, we "saddled up" and headed south down Swinomish Channel.  Our plan was to go through Deception Pass, across Rosario Strait, and anchor in Hunter Bay that evening.  The afternoon was lovely until we got to Strawberry Island on the east side of the pass...yup, you guessed it!  Fog.  Thick, rolling fog coming under the bridge.  "Well," we said, "we've come this far.  We'll just fire up the radar.  How thick can the fog be?"  Famous last words!  The fog stayed with us until about 2/3's of the way across Rosario Strait.  I cannot say that it was pleasant proceeding in the fog, especially when the visibility is zero, but we did it well.  Jerry is a very capable boat captain!


We did have a couple of exciting moments just as we emerged on the west side of Deception Pass.  Our radar showed a "hit" about 1/4 mile away so Don and I each stood at a pilot house door, watching and listening.  Out of the fog a sailboat emerged, crossed from port to starboard about 50 feet off our bow, and yelled at us to slow down!  At this point we were idling through the pass, letting the current just before slack carry us!  Captain Jerry immediately put the boat in reverse and stopped our forward movement.  I have no idea why the sailboat chose to change course in front of us.  The appropriate approach is to pass to port, where there was plenty of room.  I think the guy panicked!


The second event happened minutes later.  We had the radar set at a range of 1/2 mile, but could hear a deep, multi-toned, sounded-like-a-really-big boat horn!  More than half a mile away and our visibility was about 1/8 mile.  Our horn was out of commission (something else to look into!) so Don rang our boat bell every 30 seconds.  We hoped they were listening and looking for us as intently as we were for them!  Suddenly, out of the fog and well off to port, (whew!) I could dimly make out what looked like about a 100' yacht, headed into Deception Pass.  Yikes!  Sure glad we didn't meet that boat 5 minutes sooner.

The fog soon lifted and we had a beautiful evening in Hunter Bay.  In fact, this was our best weather!  We BBQed halibut and enjoyed the views from the boat deck.  We didn’t get the dinghy down, but chose to enjoy cocktails and conversation instead.  There were fewer boats anchored this time…looks like the boating season is drawing to a close!

The next morning, when the fog finally lifted, we headed for Victoria, BC, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Again it was very foggy as we got out into the deep water.  So, once again, we turned on the radar and had no trouble whatsoever.  This is a busy shipping lane, but did not see any tankers, etc., as we cruised across the water.  We took about four hours to make the transit from Lopez Island, which surprised us.  Eight knots just isn’t very fast.

We checked into customs in Victoria and, of course, it was raining by this time.  The customs officials decided they wanted to board the boat and do an inspection.  So, we stood in the rain while they pulled up cushions, peeked into every cupboard and generally made a mess.  We have no idea why they felt they had to search us…practice?  Harrassment?  Who knows!

By the time we got to our marina slip it was after 5 PM, but the rain had stopped so we took off to explore Victoria.  Have you been there?  What a pretty city.  We’ll have to go back when we have more time.  Lots of history, architecture, and First Nation art to learn about!  Some of our photos:

Sally, Don, and Jerry at the Empress Hotel

Looking at the totem poles at the Empress Hotel.

The Parliament Building at night 

We wandered around until time for dinner and then headed for Pagliachi's, a restaurant some of our slip neighbors in La Conner recommended.  As you can tell by the name, it's an Italian restaurant with all sorts of yummy Italian ways to serve seafood.  They're quite popular and were busy, but they've got a great plan to keep their waiting customers happy.  They dole out coffee cups of delicious red table wine to sip while waiting.  We actually had to wait outside and sipped our wine there!  That wouldn't happen in Visalia!  Jerry certainly enjoyed it.

The next morning we did some more exploring and walked around the harbor.  The flowers around the harbor were just amazing.  Dahlias as big as saucers!  Sally and I spent a lot of time oohing and ahhing, much to the guys' dismay!  We took a ride on the harbor ferry and got delivered from the far side of the harbor right to our dock.  What service!



Unfortunately it was soon time to take off, even though we still didn't have beautiful sunshine.  Our goal was a quiet anchorage on Shaw Island or Lopez Island...depending on how the weather evolved.  More immediately, though, we hoped to see Orcas as we crossed Rosario Strait headed east.  As we came into Cattle Pass, between San Juan and Lopez Islands, we noticed a cluster to whale-watching boats...a sure sign of orcas!  We saw sea lions, in addition to harbor seals, resting on some of the many rocks in this pass.  we also saw the dorsal fin of at least one orca!  Yay!!!  They do exist in the San Juans!  I wish I could attach a photo, but no luck!  They're too fast for my reflexes.

The weather was still crummy so we decided to just stay in Friday Harbor after we had cleared customs.  Thursday night football was on the activity list, too, and it's harder to watch football when we're anchored out.  The satellite receiver struggles to hold onto a satellite as we rock and swing.  We found a comfy place on the guest dock, right across the dock from a cruise ship.  Not a huge one...about 110 passengers...which had returned from Alaska.  We bought some shrimp and settled in for football.  Sometimes, things are never simple!  What should have been a comfy rainy night tucked in on the boat in front of the TV totally fell apart.  We could not get a satellite signal and decided that the cruise ship parked next to us was blocking us!  Rats!  After a brief discussion about moving, we decided to stay put and just enjoy the evening.  Good call!  We had a wonderful time talking.

I should mention that checking into the US at the customs dock in Friday Harbor added a new wrinkle.  After we got the boat tied up, all of us climbed back on the boat while Jerry could check in.  He was on the phone for awhile and then came back to the boat to get everyone's passports.  Even though Jerry had given the customs agent our passport numbers, that wasn't adequate.  Jerry needed our passports so that he could hold them up to a camera at the customs station!  What will happen next??

On our way back to La Conner we cruised by Dakota Creek Industries, a huge commercial boat builder in Anacortes that faces Guemas Channel.  They've been building an offshore supply vessel that will support a drilling platform for about two years.  They had recently put it in the water so we took a good look as we went by.  You can see the large helicopter pad on the bow of the boat.  The ship is called "Cade Candies" for the owner's son.  Otto Candies, the owner, has quite a fleet of commercial ships and names all of them after family members.

We had a little time after we moored in La Conner, so we took a driving tour around the area.  The photo at the left is taken from Cap Sante Park, a promontory at the eastern edge of Anacortes, which overlooks Guemes Channel, March Point where the refineries are, Fidalgo Bay, and the Cascades.  This was our last stop with Don and Sally.  The next morning they left early for points east, particularly Glacier National Park.  What a great time we had with them and loved all of our new adventures.