Escape...

Three days off, beautiful weather prediction... we are outta here.  It was a lovely morning in the marina...

We put things down in Wild Blue, unhooked power and satellite TV, and headed out.  Destination: Victoria, BC.  An international getaway that is an easy cruise away.  This is how San Juan Channel looked as we turned south...

Flat and inviting.  Little Izzy decided to get some sleep while things were this calm...

Coming to Cattle Pass, and more of the same...

I really like that view of the lighthouse with the Olympic Mountains in the background.  We turned west, crossing Haro Strait and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The water lumped up to about a foot and a half chop... we stayed with our economy cruise speed of around 14 to 15 knots.  Well, we were making 15 through the water, but only about 11 - 12 over the bottom, due to the current.

Along the way, we saw a couple dorsal fins about a quarter mile away, with one of the Victoria rigid inflatables heading for it.  I asked Joan if she wanted to stop and whale watch for a while, but we both agreed that we’d like the extra time in Victoria.

Another look at the Olympic Mountains across Juan de Fuca...

Continuing west, the lighthouse on Trial Island lets you know you are getting close to Victoria...

There was a lot of debris in the water outside Victoria Harbor, so we slowed down to pick our way through it... mostly logs, some kelp, and the occasional board or twelve.  We turned into the traffic pattern leading to Victoria's Inner Harbour.  Yep, almost there...

I am fascinated with the floating homes here.  The community is much small than that in the Seattle area...

We haven’t cleared Canadian Customs in Victoria before, but we had a general idea of where the Customs dock was located.  We dodged a big tug and another float plane, making our way to the dock.

With the boat tied off, I went to the phone... it was “out of order.”  Swell.  I don’t like to use my phone in Canada, but that was the only option; I took the phone off airplane mode and gave Customs a call.  The first thing the lady who answered asked was, “Where are you currently?”

“Victoria Inner Harbour,” I replied, “At the Customs dock.”

“Where?” she asked.

I repeated the above and she asked, “What marina are you in?”

“I am not in a marina.  I am at the Customs Dock in Victoria, in the Inner Harbour.”

“But, what marina are you at right now?”

“I don’t think you’re getting me,” I said.  “I am not in a marina.  I can’t go to a marina until I clear Customs.  I am at the Customs Dock in Victoria, at the Inner Harbour.  If your phone to check-in was working, I would be calling you on that phone, BUT it isn’t working.”

“Where are you?” she asked.

“Can you not hear me, or do you not understand: the city of Victoria at the Inner Harbour?”  I asked.  In the meantime, I am thinking she is in cahoots with Verizon to run up my phone bill.

She did not answer my question, but asked for the boat registration number.  Then, my name.  She asked, “Is the boat’s name Wild Blue?  Is Jo-Ann with you?”

I knew she meant Joan, so I answered, “Yes, ma’am - we go everywhere together.”

“Do you have anything to declare?”

I was tempted to say, “I’d like to declare that your damn phone at the Customs Dock is out of order, but I said, “No, ma’am.”

“How long will you be staying in Canada?”

“Two nights.”

She gave me a Cruising Clearance Number and said, “Welcome to Canada.”

Whew!  Back to the boat, we untied, backed off the dock, and called the Harbourmaster to get a slip.  We saw lots of empty docks on the way in, so we knew this wouldn’t be an issue.  We asked for a spot on the Causeway Floats, in front of the Empress Hotel (our favorite spot).

They had someone on the dock to catch our line, and we were in.  In time for lunch.  I went to pay for the slip while Joan got the boat back to “livin’ mode”; I fed Izzy.  Yep, this slip is just perfect...

As usual, Wild Blue looks pretty compact compared to the other boats at the docks...

We have no boats south of us, giving us an unobstructed view of the Parliament Building.

We closed up the boat and walked to lunch.  I was really in the mood for pasta, and the Old Spaghetti Factory is barely a block away.  We had an outside table - great food and fun people-watching.

After lunch, we walked into the city; no destination in particular.  Well, the Tilley Store is always on our list here.  We did some shopping, had a nice walk, then stopped to check out scooter rentals on the way back to the boat.

We settled in for the evening on Wild Blue; Izzy joined us in the cockpit.  The light was pretty on her as the sun got lower...

She gets braver after supper...

We went for a short walk on the docks, but the hub-bub here made her retreat back to Wild Blue’s cockpit.  After that exhausting exercise, I got a waffle from one of the vendors on the waterfront...

Since we have no neighbors to the south, I set the VuQube out on the dock - we’ll be able to watch American TV in bed tonight...