Boarded!

Wednesday, October 8

I WAS treated to a lovely view of the harvest moon in the middle of the night when I rose to use the head and found the aft cabin flooded with silver light. I was soon sleeping again, and didn’t rise until after 10 am—I’d had a good, long, restful sleep, a rare treat for me! By noon, we were leaving our slip in Deer Harbor and motoring, beneath a mix of cloud types (cumulus, cirrus, and altocumulus)

and in increasing sunshine, toward Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island, where we’d anchored earlier in our travels.

I had been at the helm for a good while and we were not far from the US-Canadian border when I noticed an official-looking, open watercraft approaching us at a high speed with four men, clad in black uniforms, aboard. I slowed to an almost-stop and Walt greeted them and welcomed them aboard—they were young US Coast Guardsmen carrying out safety inspections, and one of the two who came aboard was in training. They were very pleasant, personable, and polite, and had a checklist of safety items to work through, so Walt showed them our paperwork and took one of the men on a tour of the cabins while I stayed at the helm, held our course and speed while the other two Coast Guardsmen followed us in their boat, and answered the questions of the trainee who had several forms to fill out. They told us that we’d passed inspection with no problems, and that our boat was one of the most well-kept and beautiful sailboats they’d seen (nice of them to say!). As they climbed off our deck and down into their companions’ craft, I thanked them for their service and for the important work they do in keeping boaters safe and well.

After we crossed into Canadian waters, Walt had to wait on hold for a long time before we were cleared for entry, but we encountered no difficulties and dropped anchor in Ganges Harbour at about 4:30 pm. There weren’t nearly as many boats in the harbor as there had been on our previous visit, and there was plenty of room for Braesail. I wrote while Walt napped, and napped while he prepared supper, during which we were blessed with the spectacular sunset over the harbor for which Annette Inlet is famous, and which we did not experience there.

A few showers passed by as we prepared for bed—I probably won’t see the full moon tonight.