After greeting Brian and Carol's two Shar Peis, China Doll and Bouchey Woo, aboard Deception we departed Pt. Roberts and headed north to Vancouver. We had to travel by the mouth of the Frasier River and the Frasier River Delta. This sets up an interesting wave pattern under certain conditions. Winter outflow from the Frasier, flowing south, can run into an incoming tidal current in the Georgia Strait, flowing north. Current against current is not a happy condition for boats. It sets up steep waves, very close together and makes for a rather bumpy ride. This is what greeted us as we headed north. Debbie picked up the pattern right away and we just had to ride it out for two hours until we made it north of the Frasier River outflow. We had to hug the shore, since the shipping lanes for big container ships going to Vancouver were immediately to our port.

We arrived at Coal Harbor marina, a beautiful marina in downtown Vancouver, about 1 pm. We used our NEXUS cards to call customs and we cleared without having to go to a customs dock. It worked great! All the trouble we went to obtain those cards appears to have been worth it. They had us in their computer and welcomed us to Canada.

Irwin and Mary joined us shortly after docking and we got them settled in the forward cabin. Debbie helped Brian and Carol dock Deception and Brian and Carol joined us aboard Change of Latitude to watch the Seahawks football game. We opened a bottle of McCallum's scotch to enjoy with the game. Very tasty!

After a great Seahawks victory, we provisioned at Urban Faire, a new market near the marina. We can not bring veggies and fruit into Canada and are limited as to alcohol. So, we needed to pick up a few extra goods for the trip to Malibu Rapids and Princess Louisa Inlet.

Then, Brian and I set off for wine, looking for a liquor store. We climbed all the way up the hill to Robson Street, about 5 blocks straight up a steep hill. I did great. My conditioning has paid off after my heart attack. Not returning for a while, Irwin and Mary set out for wine, also. Perfect! We ended up with 12 bottles of wine. Just enough for a 7 day trip!

That evening, we had dinner at Cardero's, a wonderful seafood place down on the waterfront.