The last 200 miles were better than expected. The winds held up until just inside the Strait of Juan De Fuca. A fabulous last week all in all. I got in some good naps in anticipation of an all nighter in the strait. About 20 nm from Cape Flattery, I came through a pod of humpbacks. I believe there were 3 – 5 around me, and two coming very close to the boat. Watching it approach and hoping it would dive soon was exhilarating. One is supposed to avoid getting close the whales, but by the time I saw them, it was too late. They are magnificent creatures and a lovely welcome to the home waters.

The anticipation of the all nighter was based on a couple of things. The autohelm has been kicking out of automatic again, and it doesn’t sound any alarm, so I did not trust it. There was no wind so the wind vane would not work, and I expected to motor that last 60 miles. Further, the strait is a pinch point for all the freighter traffic going to Seattle, Vancouver and similar. In fact, I was passed by at least a dozen behemoths on my way in. Finally, I felt like a little kid a Christmas and was too giddy to sleep anyway. Thus, as dusk descended, I stowed the sails one last time, cranked up the Yanmar and hand steered for a couple of hours. Then, I switched to the Autohelm and went below, keeping a close eye on the course. Turns out the system never wavered the entire time. I did manage a 45-minute nap when there was a large gap in the freighter traffic.

I pulled into the customs dock at 0800 as planned. Unfortunately, the agents read me the riot act on quarantining. In the end, they understood that I should not have to quarantine, but did not have the authority to issue an exemption. They gave me a phone # to call and I am hoping I can convince someone that 21 days at sea is sufficient quarantine!

From customs, I proceeded to the Victoria harbour marina to be met by good friends Stefa and Jurgen, cold beers and fresh peanut butter cookies in hand. Coincidentially, their boat was shipped up from Mexico on a freighter and was right across the dock from me. After a great greeting, I got some rest and then saw most of my family on board for a couple of hours. A wonderful delight and so pleased to see everyone. The 3-year-old twins were fascinated by the boat, and who knows, they might be back for a voyage soon.

This ends my three-year journey, and also this blog. All the pictures are now posted in the Galley section. I hope that you have enjoyed the ramblings of an old man of the sea as much as I have enjoyed the journey. Thanks for all your wonderful comments. Please Carpe Diem (seize the day) – and Carpe Ventus (seize the wind) out!