July 07, 2025

We left Anacortes on June 27th and headed North. We need to be in Juneau by August 2nd to pick up son one, Robert. He will spend a week with us, we have a permit for Glacier Bay for a week at that time. Our first stop was at Bedwell to check in to Canada. After docking the boat at the CBSA dock, Captain filled in an online form, received a phone call, and before we knew it, we were on out way again. We went over to Ganges where we had a dock for the night. In Ganges, we went to the grocery store and bought a few last minute provisions. We were not sure how much stuff we could bring from USA, the customs guidelines are confusing at best and so we didn’t want to risk getting food removed from the boat. We had a lovely “burgers and beer” supper at Mobys Pub and turned in for an early night. Next morning we left early to time our passage through Active Passage. We had not experienced the currents before so were nervous and acted accordingly. The passage was a breeze! And beautiful.

It was Canada Day long weekend so there were many many boaters out enjoying the lovely weather. We had a beautiful evening with a lovely sunset in the busy anchorage at Hornby Island, and set off early the next morning. The journey up Georgia Straits was uneventful and we arrived at Campbell River where we docked for the night. The marina is large and has dock space for all sized boats. The Real Canadian Superstore really is a super, and supersized grocery store within walking distance from the marina.

We spent the following day attending to come boat chores, including but not limited to… exercising all the seacocks, cleaning all the strainers and locating and cleaning the filters on the air conditioners. I think some of them had not been cleaned in years, they were completely clogged with dust and grime.

After Port McNeill, we passed the dreaded Cape Caution. I was of course, seasick and had to lie down but the passage was uneventful. We pulled in to Illahie Inlet in the early afternoon. The entrance was narrow but the charts are accurate and so it went well. We had the whole spot to ourselves and so spent 2 nights here. We departed 05:30 on July 4th. Next stop, Bottleneck Inlet. Imagine traveling almost 100 miles to your chosen spot, you arrive and there are 2 other boats already there. Luckily there was enough room for all of us. This was a truly gorgeous spot.

After Bottleneck, time for Grenville Passage. Another amazingly beautiful area, it took most of the day to transit this narrow passage. There were whales, waterfalls, tug boats, many many logs, steep gorges, rain, and some current but what a thrill. We found a quiet stop at Kumealon Inlet. We decided to take Sunday off ands so stayed 2 nights. We left early on Monday morning because we were trying to avoid bad weather across Dixon Entrance. It was wet, windy and quite frankly, miserable. We arrived at a protected anchorage on the North side of Dundas Island in thick misty rain. This is when one appreciates radar. This is the end of BC for us. Next stop Alaska.