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August 24

We cruised out of Hardy Island Marine Park on the morning of the 20th, after meeting some fellow Montanans who were anchored next to us.  They had an even smaller boat than ours and have been cruising to Canada in it for 8 years!  Mike has even made this trip in a 17’ canoe with a small outboard, camping ashore!  And some people thought WE were nuts.

We had more rough water, so we only went 9 or 10 miles to Pender Harbor, where we were glad to settle in early.  The next day, the seas were very calm, so we crossed Malaspina Strait and the Strait of Georgia to Nanaimo.  We called out buddies at Stones Boatyard to let them know that we made the trip north without further boating mishaps.  We spent the night at Newcastle Island Marine Park and I caught some nice sunset photos:

We cruised through the southern Gulf Islands and saw some coves and bays that we will check out next year.  We crossed back into US waters yesterday, checked in with customs, and fueled up in the San Juan Islands.  We made it through Deception Pass (wrong timing yet again) and spent the night anchored off of Hope Island in N Puget Sound.

We are now headed for Port Townsend to take the boat out of the water.  Bill and I are both a bit sad to have the trip end, but we have so much to look forward to this fall.  We will be hosting the Roving Rods’ crab gathering in Winchester Bay from September 20-30 (come on over!), and we will be visiting South Dakota, so that I can renew my drivers’ license.  It will be a good chance to see my aunt and cousins who live in and near Rapid City.  Then, it’s back to see all of our RVing friends at North Ranch.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about our trip and that I will soon have more to post about our continuing adventures.