A Note About Sailing Guides
We have a collection of over ten cruising guides for our area on board. Most of them haven’t been updated in years and contain a lot of outdated information. Some guides add a new date to the cover but don’t actually go out and confirm the information. We made a stop where we were expecting a small grocery store that was mentioned in a couple of our guides – it had been closed for several years. In Mexico I was nearly arrested on a beach that was praised in our cruising guide.
Our favorite guides on this trip have been the Salish Sea Pilots (I only wish they made guides north of Desolation Sound – though I hear there are plans). They have a chartlet for EVERY listed anchorage showing exactly where to anchor and attach to the shoreline – most guides simply write a short blurb about the destinations. The Salish Sea Pilots are only available electronically, which at first I thought was a drawback but it makes them easy to navigate, zoom, search and switch back and forth between the overview chart and the chartlet.
Our cruising guide states that Princess Louisa Inlet is the “‘holy grail’ for cruising people all over the world”. It did not disappoint. After a 40 mile trek up beautiful Jarvis Inlet we arrived at the entrance to Princess Louisa: The Malibu Rapids – which can run up to 9 miles an hour. We arrived a few hours before slack tide and took a look at the pass. Here is a video of when probably not to enter the inlet in a slow boat. 
We cruised another four miles up the inlet, surrounded by 6,000 foot fjord walls and water falls, to arrive at Chatterbox Falls and the free dock. Note the size of the boats in the center of the photo compared to the surroundings.
And looking the other way.
Kayaking in my 
Donations are accepted for the free dock.
Mike and Chatterbox Falls
Dinner on the bow.
We also spent a couple of nights at the other anchorage in Princess Louisa Inlet: McDonald Island.
There was an abundance of oysters and mussels for us to enjoy. We made it just in time before the season closed on May 31.
Breakfast on the flybridge with this view.
Seeing the BC ferries is a sure sign that we made it to Canada! We checked in at Bedwell Harbor with a simple phone call to customs. The poor chap next to us was searched and interviewed for hours. He was complaining loudly about his fate, so it just goes to show that if you show a little respect and follow the rules there are no problems.
While underway this is usually our setup. 
After checking into Canada around noon we made it to Dodd Narrows just in time to catch a nice 3-4 knot current at 6pm. We actually had to slow down on the way there so we would not be going with a 6-7 knot current.
Here is a short time-lapse video of our transit through the narrows.
We left Anacortes in the rain with the promise of more rain to come. Our destination being the West side of Sucia Island in a perfect little cove that we had stumbled upon the last time we were at Sucia Island a little over a month ago. The promised rain was left in our wake as we passed the south end of Lummi Island.
Trying out the new free-dive suit that will also come in handy if we get anything wrapped around the prop.
It’s warm when the sun is out but the wind is still chilly so the enclosure acts like a greenhouse and keeps us out of the wind.
One of the reasons we made the trip to San Diego was to pick up our cargo trailer full of boat and household stuff. We took full advantage of having access to a garage to go through all of our things and re-organize. When we sold Camille we didn’t have much time or space and pretty much just tossed everything into the trailer. 
We had planned on renting a truck to haul our trailer to Washington but Mike’s parents offered to tow it for us in their own car. (Thank you!!) After only 200 miles on the road we had our first (and only) tire failure on the trailer. The entire wheel just flew off! Good thing we have a two axle trailer. We spent an unplanned night in Bakersfield and were able to get back on the road the next day.
After three days of driving we finally made it back to the boat. We made a few provisioning runs and headed to the San Juan Islands on a perfect weather forecast.
For $200 you can get an entire year of mooring and docking in Washington’s state parks. That is a great bargain especially if you don’t limit your cruising to the summer. Turns out few people actually cruise in the winter and we have had every anchorage to ourselves so far.
The floating docks are removed in winter but landing the dinghy is a breeze on the steep beach. Of course dinghy wheels like we had on Camille would certainly make it easier to pull the heavy dinghy up the beach.
We picked up one of five balls in North Bay. There are three more in South Bay.
Winter-time moss is this amazing bright green — the photos don’t do it justice. 
The seals follow our every move and go under as soon as they see the camera.
Gnarly!
When we cruised Mexico aboard Camille we had very few issues with moisture and condensation. Baja is a desert and the windows were always open to keep the air flowing. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have the opposite: rain, cold, closed windows. A cushion resting against the hull will be damp in no time. The diesel heater is helping to dry things out on the hook. When we are at the dock we use space heaters pointed at enclosed spaces.
