day 3, customs

We crossed into Canada today. Left Roche Harbor at about 1130 and debated between Sydney and Bedwell Harbor for entry. Chose Sydney because the currents were more favorable. Good thing, Bedwell is not open for business until May 15th at the earliest. It could be May 31st.

Sydney is a mess. The Marina is in a state of disassembly. The customs dock has been moved to the far end and is not functional. they are putting in more floats and they don't even have the cleats attached to the floats yet. We tried calling the marina office by radio and phone for directions but they were out to lunch. There were no signs for customs and the only information we had was to tie up at the end of F dock which we did. There is not a customs offieice at Sydney marina, the customs officers have to come over from the airport. We later were informed by the marinal manager that the red box lying on the dock is the customs phone. No sign and the box looks nothing like a phone box. So if you cross over in the next few weeks through sydney, look for a worn, red metal box that looks like someones toolbox lying on the dock and open it to call customs.
We finally called Bedwell marina and they gave us the customs phone number to call. I spoke with a very nice lady and it seemed like we were just about to get a phone clearance when she asked about fire arms. I have a shotgun on board and that required a visit from an officer. so we waited about 30 minutes and two very young officers came down and ran through all the questions again. Chris had more booze than she was supposed to have but because we declared it all and were up front they did not charge us for it. It cost 27.50 to get the shotgun registered but that was painless and I now have a permit that is good for 30 days.
They did not ask us about the freezer full of meat. the looked through the refer but were only concerned about fruit and vegitables.
chris asked about the health document for the dog and they were unaware of any new requirement. All they said they need is a current shot certificate for the dog and they are happy.
So all in all the crossing north into Canada was a piece of cake. We will have to check in on the way back for a face to face inspection because of the gun.
We go it registered ahead of time with US customs while we were at Roche so there should not be a problem entering Alaska with it.
Were sitting in the sun, blue skys, no clouds with 10 mph cold wind blowing here at Montegue harbor. Stopped here to by a crab license. Yikes, 109.00 for crab. I better find 109.00 worth of crab to eat while were in BC.

Not many others here at Montegue. about 5 other boats hanging out with us. Normally there are between 50 and 100 boats in here.