06/14/2012, Cabbage Island
Our first stop in Canada is at Cabbage Island. We called Border Patrol from Blaine and checked into the country by phone, the anchorage had nice bouys, $10 per night. The island, along with its close neighbor, Tumbo Island, were used in times, past to raise foxes. They kept horses on Cabbage Island to feed the foxes kept on Tumbo. We dinghied over to Cabbage to check in and water the dog. As we entered the island, there was a young buck deer standing, and a raccoon partly up a tree looking at us. Boy, did we feel like intruders. Tumbo Island was much larger, we hiked to the far end. The island was also used for unsuccessful coal mining.
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06/14/2012, Blaine
This morning we leave for Canada. Yesterday weather was not good, so we stayed on Blaine one more day. We have enjoyed looking around the little town that will be our future home. It seems strange, everyone waves at us, part of the small town deal. We were walking downtown with Oliver, a pickup stops, blocks traffic, rolls his window down to tell us that "your dog dropped his ball back in the street". Found some good shopping and good coffee. We went to Bellingham and had dinner Tues night, seems like a big city. Well time to shower and go check in to another country. Posts may be infrequent, we lost our data connection across the border, wireless only. Will try to keep up to date
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06/08/2012, leavind Sucia
Well we have enjoyed Sucia since Monday. We hiked from one end to another, much to Oliver's enjoyment. Yesterday had us stuck on the bouy till 4 pm with 20+ knt winds. We finally got Ollie to shore. Today we are moving 16 miles to Blaine, where we plan on living after our voyage. We're going to have pizza, wash the boat, do laundry, charge the batteries, change the oil and go to a wedding in Wenatchee. We will head to Canada on Wednesday. Still working on AIS for those tracking us.
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06/04/2012, Sucia Island
Off we go thru Deception Pass. This is a narrow rock opening that all the water has to flow in and out of when the tides change. We had to pass thru as close to 9:37am as we could. We are in a period of extreme tides, which increases the speed of the currents. We shot thru and headed up past Bowman Bay to catch the current. We had plans to go thru Thatcher Pass, then north on the inside of the San Juan to protect from the current. We were flying across at 6.5 kits when we saw the Victoria Clipper pass by. They weren't' on there usual route, we soon found out why. We suddenly slowed below .5 knts and were moving sideways. We had lost our current. We turned with the current and it was like skiing downhill. Swirl, whirlpools and overalls. We moved to the inside just as the current switched to our direction. We flew to Sucia, hitting 8.9 kits at one point and averaging 7.5. We normally go 5.5, a fast walker co uld keep up with us. We have some 30+ mph winds coming so we are going to hole up till Friday. Tried out our new 2.5 horse Suzuki outboard, worked great. Oliver continues to amaze at his ability to adapt. All is good onto Blaine on Friday.
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06/02/2012, Coupeville
Well two days in Kingston and now we have moved 35 nm farther north to Coupeville. We enjoy Kingston, nice little shops and stores. We saw a huge Russian Wolfhound on the beach,he weighed 200 lbs. I was a little nervous when he ran up after just being bitten by a Great Dane while protecting Oliver. The Coupeville docks have no breakwater to protect from waves, so its a little rocky and noisy. Oliver is a little nervous, though he did well today travelling. We left at 5:30 and got here at 1:30. Coupeville is noted for their "mussels", but a ship has sank and is leaking diesel. Tomorrow they are going to raise it. The town and docks are full of cleanup crew and state environment people. Next we move on to Deception Pass, then farther north. It is a leisurely pace, in 5 days we have only covered 94 miles. Oh well, we will make it eventually.
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05/30/2012
Second day underway,just going under narrows bridge. Weather is mild, with overcast. Our destination today is Blake Island. We have about 18 mm to go.
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