July 16, 2012, Cabbage Island Anchorage We left Garrison Bay after just two crab crawled into the pots.w Don’t feel too bad, Steve and Michelle got skunked last night. Lots of pots out but I did not see a lot being caught. Entered Canada via Poets Cove, Bedwell Harbor. We were over on our allotment of booze. Cost us $80.90 to get Chris’s 5 bottles of wine across the boarder and one bottle of Baileys. They don’t care about the open ones, we had lots of that but the unopened ones were costly. So the secret is to open everything and call it bar stock since there is little likely hood you will be selling it on the black market if its an open bottle. It’s like buying the stuff twice. I think most of the bottles we won in raffles or we would have never had it in the first place. Your allowed 1.2 liters per person and they were generous in they gave each of us a 1.7 liter bottle without duty but everything else cost big time. I truly think it was more than the stuff was worth in the first place. There was no waiting to cross the boarder, we pulled right in and phoned in our information. I was surprised when I was all done and walking back to the boat to see two customs officers getting off another boat that was ahead of us. Hope I wasn’t supposed to wait for them but the customs officer on the phone didn’t seem to mind and didn’t tell to me to see the officers that were already at the docks. We decided to try a new place, never been there before. Cabbage Island on Tumbo Channel which is right on the south end of the gulf islands and on the western edge of the straits of Georgia. Really cool place and has a feel of being very remote. It is very exposed to a northerly but the next three days the weather is supposed to be virtually calm. There are 10 mooring buoy’s here and we grabbed one for $9.80 a night. We took the dinghy to shore and walked around the island. It’s about a 10th of the size of Blake so it’s a fairly short hike but quite interesting. Each side of the island is distinctly different. The west side is sand or pebble peaches with sandstone ridges. The East side is conglomerate, like concrete. Lots of potential for fossils I would think over there. The south side, it’s a triangular island, is sand and grass. We spotted one deer on the walk, he spooked when Sophie got wind or her but didn’t run far. There are several sail boats and couple other trawlers in here with us and a couple guys who rowed a wooden boat are camping on shore. There were a bunch of folks who were enjoying the sandy beaches that had dinghy’d down from Winter Cove and it looks like this is a favorite spot for locals to hang out on a good day. We fished with Jeff and Tam just north of this island along the reefs that protect the anchorage, for lingcod on Saturday. . Right now as I write this, the water is like glass, the sun is beginning to set, temperature is in the high 70’s and we can see across to the city of Vancouver. Were watching the ferry’s cross from Taswassen to Active Pass and a steady stream of shipping to and from the Port of Vancouver. Chris just brought us a crab cocktail and were sitting on the back deck on the new love seat she bought before we left having appetizers and drinks before dinner. Were watching a family of three sea otters playing around the boat, a momma and two baby’s. Sophie is learning to use her fake grass pad on the front of the boat but whenever she finds real land she goes nuts. The starboard shaft packing is beginning to leak now, the aft bilge pump is running on a regular basis so I tightened it up and hopefully will cut down on the bilge pump cycling. Went 5 years without that thing coming on once now it comes on a bunch. The left trim tab stopped working, gotta figure what went wrong. It was working when I put it in so will have to check the wiring to make sure something didn’t come loose. Chris saw a boat like ours several years ago, with wood trim around their windows in the salon and liked it so I picked some up on our way to the boat and have done two of the front windows and one side, it looks good. Ran out of material so will have to pick up some more when we can find it to finish the job. What a sunset, we just watched the sun set below the horizon and it was one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. Photos to follow! July 17, 2012 Got up this morning to another perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. Apparently the northern lights were out the night before and WE MISSED THEM!!!!! Argh! We would have been in the perfect place to see them and we slept through one of the rarest events ever for these parts. Bummer! We had a leisurely morning with breakfast on the back deck then a kayak trip around the bay. I finished that with a quick swim and back deck shower to clean up before loading up and slipping our mooring buoy. We decided to head up to Montague Harbor where Steve and Michelle and JJ and James were anchored. Arrived early afternoon in a brisk wind after bucking a full flood tide through Active Pass. I was able to work the eddies on the north side and kept up my speed in spite of the 5 knot current for most of the pass, crossed over to the south side for the second half and only lost a couple knots of speed. Once we got anchored just behind Steve’s boat Chris saw Steve rigging his sailing dinghy and wanted hers set up as well. So for the next hour or so she and Steve sailed all around the harbor. At least four other small sailing dinghy’s joined the party and they had a regular sailing regatta in the bay. Winds died off a bit but they still had a lot of fun. The little walker bay does just fine in a 15 knot wind. JJ and James joined us for an afternoon appetizer and I ran over and picked up Michelle from her boat. Had a very pleasant afternoon with family.