Koosah ventured north this summer on her annual cruise. We spent four weeks cruising the San Juans and Gulf Islands with other friends. Koosah has been doing this for over twenty years and what was unique about this cruise was that there was no rain!

Our first destination was Filucy Bay where we anchored in front of Linda’s high school classmates’ house and had a surprise reunion with college classmates from Oregon State that we had not seen since, well, a long time! Off the next day, we passed Joe and Myra Downing in Colvos Passage as they were returning from a trip to Bremerton. We anchored in one of our favorite anchorages, Blakeley Harbor, and enjoyed the lights of Seattle.

The North Wind blew the next day and we motor sailed to Langley. Duncan, the harbormaster informed us that the marina will remain the same size for the foreseeable future. There were plans to enlarge the site, but a study concluded that the cost would not pencil out. Langley will remain a tight refuge from the north winds down Saratoga Passage inside those tall pilings for many more years.

We pulled into Deception Pass Park at the dock and were boarded by Mackie Hale and Dave Morehouse from Getaway! What a pleasant surprise! The next morning we motored through Deception Pass on the slack and hoisted sails for Lopez Island.

We spent four days visiting friends on Lopez. There were seven SSSS boats that anchored in front of the Zerbst house. Gary and Linda were members of SSSS for several years and have Infinity, a Newport 30. One of the highlights was to take the free inter-island ferry from Lopez to Friday Harbor via Shaw Island and Orcas Island to attend the San Juan County Fair! There were 12 goats, 25 hogs, numerous rabbits, cattle and a horse riding event for youth. It was like a blast back to the past!

After a few days at Blind Bay, Echo Bay and Prevost Harbor it was off to Canada! We checked into Canadian customs at Sydney. In addition to the usual questions, the officer wanted to know what we had in our caboose! I replied, you mean our dingy? No! Your caboose! After a few more questions we figured out he wanted to know what we had in our galley. Potatoes? Pitted fruit? Liquor?

The SHOCK! Our dollar is now the same value as the Canadian Dollar, and the moorage rate for one night for a 36' boat was over $60! Rick and Barb Bergholz on Inati sadly discovered that the pump out station was out of service and the next day and to stop off at another marina and were charged $10 to pump out. The Sydney Marina is first class! Great docks, lots of beautiful hanging flower baskets, excellent showers, outstanding laundry facilities, a dockhand to grab your lines when you arrive, and lots of shopping close by!

The next few days were spent at Ganges, where we saw Bob and Beth on Pandora, Princess Inlet on Wallace Island, we passed Jo and Scotty on Swirl II on their return from Jedediah Island, Telegraph Harbor and Genoa Bay. Again, if you wish to tie up to a dock, be prepared to pay at least $1.30 a foot and some more for electricity. What the heck! We are on vacation, not a problem!

At Princess Inlet you must stern tie. This can be a stressful event as you accomplish it and then an entertainment as you watch others try it! Naturally the wind always blows on your beam as you attempt to grab the chain which has been drilled into the rock for your stern tie. Some hints: make sure you have more polypropylene line than you think you need and put your engine on your dingy for the trip to shore for the stern tie. Do NOT put the line in your mouth if you have to row the line to the chain.

The second day we walked to the end of Wallace Island and upon our return we were shocked to see that Inati had dragged her anchor and was ready to meet another boat! Rick and Barb jumped aboard Inati and for the next hour you could hear Rick in the dingy providing instructions to Barb as she set the anchor again in twenty knots of side wind and attempted to back the boat toward the rocks. You could also hear Barb yelling: “I want a dock!”

Telegraph Harbor has great docks! The wind was blowing at least 20 knots but you could turn your boat around between the docks and into the wind as the kind dock master and his assistant could grab your lines. Some hints: It works out best if your dock lines are at least 30' long. Often you can throw the line to the person on the dock and all is saved! If you are cheap and only have 10' or so of line, you are inviting stress and potential disaster when you attempt to dock in heavy winds.

On to Genoa Bay! We had not visited this harbor in thirty years. The current in Sansum Narrows was against us but our experience from the Tacoma Narrows taught us to hug the shore and pass other sailboats out in the middle. The Genoa Bay marina also has great docks, a superb restaurant at the head of the docks and several interesting houseboats. Numerous boats anchor in this bay.

Time to head for home! We departed Genoa Bay planning to spend the night anchored at Prevost Harbor on Stewart Island. Another Shock! With full confidence, I called the United States Customs and Border Protection number. After a minute or so an officer answered. I announced that we were returning from Canada and wished to report in. I gave him our BR numbers which we were assigned by the Tacoma US Customs and Border Protection office. He replied that we were not in his computer and that we would have to check in at Roach Harbor or Friday Harbor. He asked all the questions that the Tacoma office asked: Passport numbers, expiration dates, dates of birth, name of boat, registration number … and I am on a prepaid cell phone with limited minutes remaining! I asked him what I did wrong!! He replied that I did not file a float plan. Well, I was not aware of that part of the reporting system! He asked if we had a NEXUS pass, $50 each for five years, or an I-68, $18 each for every year, and I responded that we did but not this year.

We pulled into the Roach Harbor Customs and Border Protection dock. An improvement over previous years is that the dock for reporting is much larger! No waiting in high winds to get into a two-slip area. As I entered the USCBP kiosk with officers behind four sets of computer screens, I noticed that KOOSAH was written in LARGE letters on a white board behind the bank of computers. The first officer directed me to another officer. He immediately stated that we had not done anything wrong and that numerous boats were having difficulties with this new Small Boat Reporting System, SBRS. He had most of the information he needed which was sent to him from the Bellingham officer whom I had called earlier. So they boarded Koosah and took away three tomatoes and an apple, from our caboose, and gave us our US clearance. They were polite and professional.

We then sailed to Blind Bay and anchored. Getaway was there also! We shared stories and then went to visit the store at the ferry landing. We needed some more tomatoes and apples!

We spent three nights in Blind Bay, resting, reading and visiting the Visitors’ Bench on Shaw Island Road. On Labor Day we motored to Friday Harbor to spend time with friends who live there. Surprise! The moorage fee was only about $40! Great to be back in the US!

We departed Friday Harbor at O-Dark-thirty in order to make Cattle Pass with a favorable current. Since it was dark, we were the only boat on the water save the ferry Yakima arriving at Friday Harbor. John Summers had installed some Aqua Signal LED navigation lights on Koosah. Man, are they BRIGHT! The ferry announced: “Nice nav lights!” The crossing was like glass and we could motor sail across.

Well, we made it back to Olympia in two days. All went well! No Rain! But, as we were departing Blakeley Harbor, the transmission sounded funny. We were hoping that it was loose zinc on the shaft! Oh well, we are putting in a new transmission! Pleasure boating!!

Cruising is an adventure! So many friends to meet along the way! This year we spent more time in most places than we usually do. We didn’t go as far, but the trip was more relaxing and enjoyable. Cannot wait to continue the passage!

Linda & Dave Knowlton, Koosah