Monday July 17^th – Today we make a run for the boarder. No not Taco Bell, and not the southern boarder, we are going to visit our neighbors to the north. The BC coast of Canada has some of the most amazing cruising grounds in the world. We love it up there, the people are friendly and warm swimmable water exists in Desolation Sound just north of Vancouver BC

But before we cross, we need to check the crab pot. Skylar said it was heavy coming up then the bounty of the sea showed itself in the form of 8 legal crabs. We were pretty excited, 8 crabs in 1 pull is quite the catch.

We pulled anchor and headed out of Reid Harbor. Along the way we stopped by a salmon fishing spot that has produced in the past but no such luck today. Onward we traveled 9.5nm across Haro Strait into Canada.

We tied up to the customs dock in Bedwell Harbor and went through the quick process of admitting us into Canada. Our destination for the night is Poets Cove just a stones throw away from the customs dock. After getting settled in Julie and I ditched the kids and went to the bar for a relaxing drink alone.

Our friends Todd & Tami and their two kids, were on their way north to meet us at Poets Cove that evening. We decided to cook the crab we caught so we could have a crabitizer ready for them when they arrived. After a fun time eating crab on the dock with friends we all had a great dinner at the restaurant.

 Sunday, July 16^th – Dead asleep my alarm sounds off at 5:30am. I turn to Julie and say “that’s a miserable sound”. Being the most amazing wife she is, she gets out of bed with me to make some coffee and get the boat ready to pull anchor.

5:50am the anchor comes up and Julie slowly makes her way out of the sleeping harbor. We turn north again cruising at 8 knots while the kids sleep below. We have a long day of travel. Our destination today is Reid Harbor on Stewart Island. Its one of the most northern San Juan islands and sits just south of the Canada border.

Just past the Clinton Ferry on Whidbey Island I see a huge whale tail come out of the water. Unfortunately it vanished never to resurface in our presence.

After a 10-hour run we finally arrived in Reid Harbor traveling 91.5nm. We anchored close to shore in a beautiful spot. We needed to get off the boat and get some exercise so we dropped the dinghy and went to shore for a hike. The kids ran like wild animals, so hard in fact that Ava said she was having a panic attack because her heart was beating so fast and she couldn’t breath. After a lot of good exercise we had dinner then set a crab pot for an overnight soak. We took the dinghy out to the south side of Stewart Island for a little fishing and watched an amazing sunset from the water with not another boat in sight.

We’ve been prepping for weeks now but when it gets down to a couple days before you leave on a 6 week boat trip why is it always a scramble! Running around like crazy gathering all the necessary items, making food and meal plans, making sure the boat is ready, and all the things you have to do to leave your house and business for that length of time has left us exhausted. Is it worth it? Hmmm…. I think so.

On Saturday July 15^th at 3:35pm we cast the lines off. At that moment you realize it’s all worth it! We were off, anything you forgot bring or do doesn’t matter now, there’s no going back. It’s a great feeling; your whole world becomes your family and the boat.

With the late departure from Tacoma we couldn’t get too far today and we still had to get fuel. We stopped at the Des Moines fuel dock and took on 270 gallons of diesel. Cruising at a swift 8 knots we turned north headed for Blakely Harbor on Bainbridge Island. Blakely Hbr is a beautiful anchorage with views of the Seattle skyline over Elliot Bay.

Only 22nm from home, we anchored in a sea of other boats and watched the sun go down. The family hung out on the boat talking about our destination tomorrow. We decided we needed to make it to the northern San Juan Islands. Reluctantly, I agreed to a 5:30am departure that would get us to Stewart Island by 3pm.