This morning I woke up to quiet and stillness. On the boat the sounds vary from the “lap, lap, lap” of small waves and currents to waterfalls, falling rain, other boaters, and seaplanes. But sometimes, like this morning, only quiet and peacefulness. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s a glorious and calming way to wake up.

Last night we anchored in Montague Harbour on Galliano Island and stayed here to “clear customs” using the NEXUS system. This means calling Canadian customs before crossing the border and then anchoring or docking at one of the designated entry points. We anchored at 6pm and then waited until 7 in case the Canadian Coast Guard wants to check on us live and in person. They didn’t, and never have, but they might, so we always follow the rules.

We stayed on the boat and listened to James’ Little League win in the Allstar playoffs (James hit a single and TWO triples, giving his team 5 RBI’s in a 9-1 win!) Then we headed into the harbour for a yummy dinner at the Crane & Robin waterfront restaurant.

Our Summer Cruise began as always from Seattle. Our first stop was 4 hours north in Langley (on Whidbey Island) to see friends. It was cloudy when we left Seattle but sunny when we got to Langley and its been sunny every day since. Hello Summer!

Our second day was a long 7 hour cruise to catch up with Doug and Julie (and their friends Joe and Jen) on Sucia Island in the northern San Juan Islands. They found an older 40’ Tollycraft cabin cruiser at a great price and they are fixing it up while enjoying short cruises from their home port at La Conner. The “Jean Louise” reminded us a lot of our first “True Love”, which was a 40’ Silverton cabin cruiser.

We anchored near them in Echo Bay on Sucia Island. After visiting, we shared some cocktails that night and then lattes the next morning, then did some hiking along the east shoreline of Echo Bay. They left around noon and we stayed another night. Yesterday, the Captain got back into and out of a kayak (no problem) and I used my paddle board. We circumnavigate Echo Bay over 2 hours, seeing Eagles, red crabs, purple and orange starfish, swallows, kingfishers and of course, seagulls.

From there we went to Roche Harbor on San Juan Island to top off our fuel before going into Canada (where diesel is usually at least $1/gallon more). But just before leaving US waters, we spotted a gaggle of boats near the south shore of Satellite Island. Boats close together is usually a sure sign of orcas, so while the Captain was on the phone with Canadian customs I headed that way. Voilla! Probably a small pod of three, but it looked like a young one.

We’ve never stopped at Gibsons (north of Vancouver) because it usually isn’t on our route or it’s full. Our usual stop is Nanaimo, but the marina there was booked so our path north this year will take us across the Georgia Strait at Porlier Pass. The weather and winds look calm and we’ve heard really good things about the quaint town of Gibsons.

On our way into Gibsons, we saw more Orcas. Two days, two orca sightings. That is a good sign for the cruise. I read a really interesting article a couple of days ago about orcas sharing food with humans. It’s fascinating https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/these-orcas-have-been-trying-to-feed-people-new-research-shows/

Gibson is cute with plenty of foodie options. We choose Japanese and learned tonight that Gibson has the “world’s best water” according to our waiter.

The weather held beautifully and we easily cruised from Gibson to our summer moorage at John Henry Marina in Pender Harbour. It’s time for us to do some laundry and provisioning for fresh greens and fruit before heading up into our happy place, Princess Louisa Inlet in the summer.

Fawn Spady, writer/photographer

Jim Spady, editor/photographer of Fawn