Oh my goodness, I have “happy feet!” Yes, the socks really DO make a difference. Good-bye cheap socks. Well, when I have to wear socks. We walked all over town again, and no burning feet.
We are getting our heads into going south, so it was time to plan our departure. We had breakfast at Suzie’s, one of those little “5 table” places tucked back from a walkway. Then, a short walk from there back to the Tilley store to stock up on socks. ;-)
Another decorated Orca, in the landscaped area of a hotel on the waterfront...
We window shopped our way back to the boat and got ready to head out. Before taking the window covers off the windshields - I saw... Batman!
Umm... no. Little Izzy was getting her last view of the area before heading out.
The forecast was calling for fog, but it was crystal clear at the dock. We shoved off, followed the “traffic procedure” to get out of the harbour (there are small boat lanes, big boat lanes, and sea plane lanes - a lot of traffic using the same fairly narrow waterway), and out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Yep, there’s fog. Not right here, but it looks like we will be running through it to get back to the good ol’ USA...
We had about 4 miles of good visibility, then watched a ship in front of us disappear into the fog. Radar up and running, we set our course across the shipping lanes. I monitored channel 16 and 13, listening to position reports. We slowed down and ran into “the milk bottle.” That’s what we used to call it when flying IFR... but boating in the fog is a different: for one thing, you can put the boat in neutral to watch for traffic (don’t try that in an airplane!). The visibility was down to about 50 yards...
We ran in that for about an hour and a half, then made our turn into Cattle Pass. Couldn’t see land on either side of us in the narrow pass, but we did see 4 Stellar Sea Lions in the water. We took our phones off airplane mode, and called in to clear Customs. Easy. I made a call to one of the whale watch boats that was still in Friday Harbor to ask about visibility there: clear. I visited with Captain Craig a bit.
North of Cattle Pass, the visibility began to improve, and then we drove out into the clear. I said to Joan, “This area seems just as familiar to me as the canal back home.” 20 minutes later, we saw the Sea Lion (the boat Captain Craig was driving). He called on the radio, “Hey Bathurst, Colleen is waving to you.”
“Oh, you have the boss onboard. Better be on your best behavior,” I told him; and then let him know about the Stellars in the water in the pass.
Before clearing that channel, he said, “See you next year!”
Knowing the boss was listening, I replied, “Aw, Craig, we’ll probably see you again in the next day or two.”
“Colleen says to stop by the office before you leave - she has something for you.”
“Roger that. Have a great trip. Oh, and the black and whites are around #9.” Yeah, I still remember the codes. ;-)
We pulled back into our slip at Friday Harbor... feels like home. The satellite TV dish was still there. We tied off, plugged in, rinsed off, and settled in.
Plenty to get done over the next few days so we can get back on the road. Fortunately, no schedule to keep. :-)
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