Alaskan Sea-Duction: Back to the USA

We departed Lagoon Cove with smiles and great memories. We will visit this place again.

Our trip today took us to a familiar spot, Shoal Bay.

http://www.shoalbay.ca/sb/Welcome.html

This is always a fun place with 5 PM happy hour. What did surprise us was the amount of people at the dock. It was full! We expected a near empty dock as the labor day weekend was over. We anchored out in the bay. Took a little effort, but the anchor set. When we got to the bar, we actually saw folks we had met throughout the summer. While we were up at the bar a 34 foot bayliner anchored right in front of me. I was a little concerned, but it looked as if we would be alright. John came over and we had a few drinks. He did have issues trying to find his boat as it was pitch black and he didn't have any lights on!

Later that evening as I was getting ready for bed and did one last look around the boat as I do every night. I notice the boat that anchored in front of us was good. I wonder where they went? I turned out the lights and noticed a mast light moving out with the current, with no running lights. This ain't good. Got into my dink and rode out to the boat. It was the boat that had anchored in front of me. I yelled and hit the side of the boat with my hand and an older couple woke up and asked if they could help me. I said no, I can help you. They were fast asleep and had no idea they had dragged anchor. We were in 60 ft of water and he could understand why 120 feet of rode broke loose. I usually put out 3:1 or 5:1 if I think we will have bad weather. Well good deed done for this trip. Last year I saved a woman from drowning who was drunk.

The next day we timed the three rapids perfectly and we left the north country. We anchored up in Gorge Harbor. It was hot! 100f! We were not used to this heat, along with all the smoke in the air from the NW fires. Nice place, but Kay stated it was like anchoring in a pond.

http://gorgeharbour.com/

Comox was our next stop and we were officially making our way south on the east side of Vancouver Island. Comox has a really nice dock and a very nice restaurant called the Blackfin Pub! It was by far one of the best places we had ate on this entire cruise.

http://blackfinpub.com/

Needed to get south as weather windows to go from Neah Bay to Astoria were coming and going. Weather on the Washington Coast has not been that great. We made a stop in Nanaimo and ate the dinghy pub. The anchorage was very crowded and John didn't care for it much. We decided to drop down to Montague Harbor. Kay and I have always seen it, but never stropped. With the correct timing of Dodds narrows (our last rapids) we entered Montague and was pleasantly surprised. Great anchor depths (25-35 ft) and lots of room. But it was Friday and lots of folks came in from Vancouver city to party. This is a great place with a store, restaurant and dock. There is also the Hummingbird pub, which we did not get a chance to explore. The marine park, beach and campsites where fun to explore.

https://montagueharbour.com/

No time to anchor for very long. We left and headed to the Port of Friday Harbor, USA. We crossed the boarder and I called into Customs as Kay and I both have Nexus cards. So our check in is by phone. John and Tracy were required to report in at a Customs station, which is Friday Harbor. What a zoo! I am glad we had the Nexus. We stayed the night in Blind Bay, because Friday Harbor was full. The next day we split from John and Tracy as they were heading to Oak Harbor and we had reservations at Friday harbor for a few day.

Today is Tuesday, September 15th. Looks like we have a decent weather window for Saturday the 19th. We will leave on Friday and stage in Neah Bay for the run to Astoria.