July 25-26, 2013 –
Sidney and a Crew Change
LOVE the Port Sidney Marina …. Great docks …. Great
location!! We arrived with no problems –
weather was sunny and all was good….
AND we have arrived to an evening street market … LOTS of
vendors and things to check out.
Brian will be disembarking in Sidney and heading off for a
fun “guys weekend” on Gabriola with LONG TIME best buddy, Christopher
Laity. Before he left, we got a chance to wander around
Sidney which Brian enjoyed because he has not spent any time enjoying this very quaint town.
A beautiful sunset at Sidney Marina ….
Also before he left, we got the boat all washed up ....
The boat is now clean.
The Captain is happy!!
Eleanor, Holly, Su and Anne joined us in Sidney on Friday
and we’re heading to Friday Harbor.
Holly and Anne are taking the ferry over because Anne, as a British
visitor to Canada cannot enter the USA via a private vessel ... Luckily we found out about this STUPID rule prior to heading off, thanks to a heads up from fellow boater, Alan. We planned accordingly and will meet them in Friday Harbor in time for dinner !
July 26 – Friday
in Friday Harbor
No more “peaceful and quiet waters” or "private little bays"
…. Its summer and the waterways are BUSY with reservations required!! Luckily the first (and only) mate was on top
of that and had made all the necessary reservations. Welcome back to "civilization" ....
Friday Harbor was a hub bub of activity … starting with
clearing customs at the dock. I PRIED
Eleanor’s beefsteak tomatoes out of her hand and handed them over to the
customs agent ….
The world is now a safer place.
No sign of the one-eyed seal, Popeye, the town’s mascot. We asked at the dock and he IS still around,
but comes, then goes for days at a time.
We were glad to hear he was just spotted in the last day or so ….
Holly and Anne arrived on the big ferry, NO PROBLEMO, and we
were waiting for them with a cold beer and a hot dinner!!!
July 27th
– Rosario
You’ve got to love pulling up to a busy marina and have your
auto pilot and all electronics totally fritz on you (given that you’ve spent a
year and a half getting the damn autopilot working properly in the first
place!!!!!!!!)
DAMN !!
So … “hand steering” into our slip, with the big wheel was the only option ….
We arrived at the dock to Cam and Nancy Cleveland, ready and
waiting to assist!! It was GREAT to see
them and after lots of hugs and greetings, we all grabbed our bathing suits and
headed to the pool to sit and enjoy the sunshine before going to Christopher Peacock’s
piano and pipe organ presentation inside the Moran Mansion. Its SO well done and SO interesting to learn the history of the mansion and the area .... then back to the pool for a Mai Tai before returning to Sea Level, where
Cleveland’s joined us for dinner…. MANY laughs and a delish “team effort” dinner
…. It was GREAT fun ....
The beautiful Moran Mansion at Rossario …..
Cam and Nancy join us for dinner ….. as you can see, we are having NO FUN AT ALL !!!
July 28, 2013 –
Hiking to Cascade Lake then on to Roche Harbor
Up bright and early, feeling well-rested and in a GREAT mood, until we were nearly side-swiped by the tender accompanying a large boat named CROWN ROYAL. Holly (who was watching the whole thing from our flybridge) very appropriately pointed out that they were getting a little too close to our boat. They assured her they were fine and inappropriately flipped her the bird. (I'm not sure how they would even know they were fine as they were travelling towards us, but looking backwards!?!) The tender was thrown into a full reverse and narrowly missed us.
Thankfully obnoxious boaters like these ones, are few and far between.
Luckily our captain was in the shower and missed the whole thing, until all was over !
Thankfully obnoxious boaters like these ones, are few and far between.
Luckily our captain was in the shower and missed the whole thing, until all was over !
After coffee and breakfast, Cam, Holly (with Daisy)
and I, joined the Clevelands (with Sadie) for a hike up to the beautiful
Cascade Lake. It was as pretty as I
remember, BUT I didn’t remember the start of the hike being as “vertical” as it
was! It provided us, our much needed
cardio workout …
Sadie leads the pack …..
Up at the lake ….
Twin Cams .....
After returning from our hike, Cam got to work trying to sort
out the “damnautopilot” (that’s its new name!)
After a total system reset,
we were ready to head off … and with waves to the Cleveland’s, we pulled away
from our slip, throttled up, started to weave our way through the traffic of boats
…....... when the auto pilot decided to throw us right towards a floating sign !!
YIKES !!
(Well I said YIKES … I can’t print what the Captain said ….)
It made for a bit of a tense departure, to say the least.
Cam is SO OVER this damnautopilot .... as you can only imagine
!!
(HEY !!! His birthday is August 14th …. Maybe I
can buy him a newautopilot ?? He LOVES
getting things for the boat !! hahaha)
Anyways … we are off to Roche Harbor to enjoy some Pig War
Martini’s … complete with little plastic pigs (they’re baaaack !!
YEAH !!) …. And the flag lowering ceremony in the evening !!
And so continues on, the "San Juan Experience" !!!
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