Smuggler Cove to Salt Spring Island to Jones Island

Yesterday morning at Smuggler Cove looked just as pretty as sunset did the night before!

We cruised easily across the Strait of Georgia and arrived in Ganges Harbor on Salt Spring Island right around sunset (~4:30pm).

We met up with our friends Michael and Nancy at the marina, and they took us over to the Seaside Restaurant for dinner. Sweet location right on the water, good food, and good service. On the way back to Ganges Harbour, Michael let me drive his new Tesla. I liked it. I liked it quite a bit. (Model S, 75D). We went to Moby’s Pub after dinner for a beer (where they have a Tesla charging station, by the way). We know Michael and Nancy through the Airstream community, but I’m pretty sure they’ll eventually have a boat too! 

Sunrise at Ganges Harbour (taken from the pilothouse because…26 degrees outside!):

Leaving Ganges Harbour…you can still see the frost on the bow of Airship:

Beautiful day for a cruise!

We nixed our plans to go to Victoria because the wind was supposed to pick up tomorrow and Saturday and make it more difficult (or at least not a sure thing) for Sam to get back to the Seattle area on Monday. We decided on Jones Island, with a stop for us at Roche Harbor to clear US Customs. We accidentally let our I-68 expire (was only good for one year, turns out) and we haven’t gotten the Nexus thing yet, so we still need to clear in person. We’ll fix that soon. In any case, I called Customs at Roche Harbor to make sure of their hours today and the agent told me it was not Roche Harbor, but Friday Harbor I’d called. (In the 2016 Waggoner Guide, they’re the same number.) He said they had no power at Roche Harbor and so there was no one at Roche Harbor, so I said then we’d come to Friday Harbor. He seemed a little grumpy on the phone, honestly, and I’ve heard people complain about that, but never experienced anything other than friendly cordial agents.

We tied up at the US Customs dock in Friday Harbor and there was no one there. When I called in, I got voicemail. I left a message. On the outside of the Customs office/shack there was a different number to call, so I called that one too. The agent who answered was super nice and said all he could do is get all our info into the computer, but that we’d still need to wait for an in-person agent. No problem. It was sunny and pretty out and so we just chilled for a bit. About 15 minutes later the Customs agent arrived and he wasn’t grumpy at all. He was super nice and really funny, and had a dog following him around. I lost my orchid (oops…not allowed), and when I asked if there was anyone he could give it to, he said it had to go into the freezer, and that if he kept it, it would be considered stealing. I said, “But I gave it to you” and then “Oh, I get it. Your badge might negate the whole ‘gift’ part of that equation.” He cracked up and we finished answering his questions and turning over proper passport and boat documents and off we went.

We’re now moored on the north side of Jones Island with Sam on Safe Harbour and Andy & Jill Cross (and Porter and Magnus!) on Yachtzee (they publish Three Sheets NW) (we met up with Andy and Porter and Magnus once before over on Turn Island).