So here we are in Canada. I received notification, on my birthday, that my Permanent Residency had been approved and that I had to be in Vancouver on June 5th to attend an interview and bring all the original documentation that I'd previously sent as copies. I tried to re-schedule it but apparently it wasn't an option, and after waiting 18 months to get to this point I didn't think letting it go was the way forward. That gave us ten days to get organised!

Luckily James finally got back to the boat the following Tuesday and agreed to stay on to look after it (and Toby and Nellie), so we booked flights and left on Monday the 4th for Vancouver (via Barbados and Toronto). The flights were actually quite good, even though we ended up having two Mike Nelder announcements out of the three different airports. We arrived in Toronto at 9.30 pm and our friends Maurice and Sue, who we'd met in Trinidad and Bequia, picked us up and we stayed overnight with them. It was great to see them and even better not to have to attempt sleep in the airport like I did last time. We were back at the airport just in time (literally) to catch the 8.15 am to Vancouver. After the five hour flight we landed at 10.15, met up with our friend Sharon (who we met in Tobago Cays a couple of years ago), had sushi for lunch and made the Citizenship and Immigration appointment with time to spare.

After travelling 6,000 miles over two days to get there it took all of three minutes for me to get the residency. The card was already made up and I just had to sign for it, they didn't ask me any questions at all. It was something of an anti-climax, not that I'm complaining, it could have been a lot worse; like trying to re-new Mike's driving license which they won't do without two forms of ID and he only has his passport so we've had to send off to the UK for further ID. He's been issued a temporary one in the meantime and hopefully the further ID will arrive soon.

Anyway ... we stayed with Sharon and Phil in North Vancouver for five days, getting acclimatised and sorting out turbo fixing and stuff. Mike brought the broken turbo off the Yanmar generator but apparently they don't fix them anymore, they're classed as disposa items. We had sushi for lunch four out of the first five days and we've had drunken crab, salmon, prawns, halibut and lots of beautiful fresh vegetables: all the things we'd forgotten we missed.

The weather's been cold but beautiful with wonderful misty mountain mornings and thankfully not too much rain. Of course we're in boots and coats and had to make a few trips to the Thrift Store to stock up on warm clothing, but it's great to be snug and warm. It's the first time Mike's been in temperatures under 24C since we got to the Cape Verdes which was ... quite some years ago.

Last Sunday we met up with Mike's friends Rene and Claire. Rene is a marine surveyor and he'd arranged for us to go and look round the St. Eval which is currently in North Vancouver. We've had a brochure for the St. Eval for over six years; it's a private tug from 1931 which is almost identical to ours in shape and size and has been renovated extensively. To be able to go on board was great, it's obviously much, much better than ours on the inside but only has two main cabins and has nowhere near the amount of space inside as we do, and definitely no glass-roofed funnel.

We stayed with Rene and Claire in Tsawwassen for two nights, visited the Ladner Street Fair, had a great tour of the area, finally managed to get a Canadian sim card and a working phone, went to more Thrift Stores and then caught the ferry across to Vancouver Island on the Tuesday. Ian, our friend from Maryport who now lives in Brentwood, met us at the ferry and we stayed with him and his wife Kitty for two nights. On the Wednesday we went into Victoria to have lunch with Joanne who works for Transport Canada and who we've dealt with for the past five+ years, she has been so helpful and human in getting our ships registration sorted out, and so different to the UK officials that we first encountered. It was really great to be able to put a face to the voice and the emails; it's just a shame that the powers that be have decided to close all regional offices and transfer to Ottawa, an increasingly common problem over here apparently.

Yesterday we caught a local ferry over to SaltSpring Island and we're staying with Ted and Jane (Jake) for a couple of days before moving north to Naniamo, Gabriola and Qualicum. All in all so far it's wonderful being back, and sitting in the hot tub amongst the trees on SaltSpring is sheer heaven. The people we've stayed with have been so great and hospitable and we've been made to feel like treasured friends ... and the sun's even shining today. Oh and Mike's being his useful helpful self, he's done some dry-walling for Phil, killed a rat for Rene and is helping Ted put on a new roof as I type.

My daughter Jess who normally lives in Vancouver, left for the UK on June 1st for a month, which was great timing. And then last week she got notification that her Canadian Citizenship has been approved and she has to attend a swearing in ceremony on 22nd June. That means she's had to change her ticket to come back a week earlier ... it also means we'll get to see her sooner and be there to welcome her officially into Canada. It'll be great but has messed up our plans a bit; we now have to leave Vancouver Island to be back there next Friday and then probably come back again afterwards.

We spoke to James earlier today and things are going ok on the Buzzard. He's had a few minor problems with Toby, apparently he ran off on Hog with his girlfriend again and James had to spent a couple of hours waiting for him to show up, but apart from that alls fine as far as we can tell. I'm surprised Mike's not missing it more but he seems pleased to be back here for a while. We didn't book return tickets as there's no financial incentive with WestJet and we weren't quite sure how long things would take. It's probably just as well really as we're now waiting for things to arrive from the UK and for Mike's driving and radio licenses ... and then we have to see exactly what awaits us on Gabriola ... should be fun !!

Love to all from the wild west of Canada ...

PS Sorry for the delay in posting this. I couldn't remember our Sailblog password ... I know it now so will endeavour to update more regularly.