7/3/13-7/7/13: Mitlenatch Island is highlight of voyage to Campbell River

We're just back and still groggy from our wonderful voyage from Friday Harbor up to Campbell River. It had all the elements of any great journey, with a setting conducive to all sorts of philosophical and aesthetic revelations. Now that we are back in society, we feel as though we are aliens awaiting return to our mother planet:  the planet of the saltwater wilderness of Vancouver Island and environs. Next week we return to resume our journey the rest of the way around, but this time, taking our time!

A happy start

We left Friday Harbor on Friday night and made our way up to Prevost Harbor on Stuart. The wind was light and the sun was setting as we made the trip, and we arrived just in time to anchor in what is called nautical twilight. There where hordes of boats in the main anchorage, but we chose to be alone up by the county dock. It is a nice place to be, with good shore access and nice views, and I've never known why more boats don't use that location instead of the often crowded spot near the State Park dock. We were quickly asleep and excited for our jump across the border the next day.

Seeking to be at the customs dock at Bedwell as close to their opening as possible meant that we were underway at about 7:30. Not early, but not sleeping in either. The trip across Boundary Pass was benign, as usual, and we were sad to not see our usual friends the porpoises or Orcas. I learned at the customs phone that they no longer call into Victoria, but are instead routed to a center near Toronto! Some bureaucrat must have decided that was cheaper, but let me tell you that the guy in Toronto had no idea where I was and what it was like. He asked where I departed from and I said Stuart Island, and he had to ask if that was in the US or not. Oh well.