Crossing into Canada
Before we could cross into Canada we had to stop in Blaine, Washington to get repair work done on Wanderlust. Don had detected a very slow leak in one fuel tank. Northwest Explorations recommended PetroClean. They pumped out the fuel in both tanks (if one has an issue the other one could have one soon) and made the fuel tank access entry doors larger so they could inspect, clean and repair them. They found the issue and welded the area, applied epoxy and cleaned the fuel as they refilled the tanks. Once completed we were ready to go 3 days later.
On March 25th at 7:30 am we left Blaine marina to fuel up at Semiahmoo fuel dock directly across the bay and we headed for Stuart Island. Stuart Island is in United States San Juan Islands and once we reached Stuart we turned North and crossed over the border into Canada, The first island ahead was South Pender Island (in the Canadian Gulf Islands) where we entered Bedwell Harbor to go through Canadian Customs.
We pulled up to the dock and noticed several customs officers walking around. Last year we never saw a customs officer. Only the captain goes up to the customs telephone. From that phone he dialed in and was put on hold to talk to a customs officer. Seems strange since there were many in clear view just sort of standing around.
After standing and waiting on hold a customs agent (probably from Ottawa) got on the line and asked Don a bunch of questions about who was on the boat, questions about Bosun and what documents we had. He gave us our clearance number so we were good to go.
Don got off the phone and started back to the boat when one of the customs officers that was standing around approached him and started talking to Don asking him which boat was his, where were we going and finally he said he wanted to search the boat. That was a surprise!
Don came down and told me to get off the boat, they were coming to search it. A female agent came down and asked if we were both on the title and we said yes and she said so you both know what’s on the boat because you packed it. She then asked if we had anything sharp on the boat (well of course we do, knives, scissors, etc. is going through my mind. I think she saw the confused look on my face and said are either of you diabetic so Don said oh you want to know if we have any syringes on board and she nodded. He said no but we have sutures in our first aid kit. She and the other officer that had talked to Don did their search and he asked Don several times where’s the wine. He told him 3 times we have only 2 1/3 bottles of hard liquor on board, no wine.
Once done they got off and said we were good to go. No further questions were asked. During our search wait time we noticed that it looked like all boats were being searched that day. It was a beautiful day, we made it to Canada. We cruised out of Bedwell Harbour (we were there 2 hours) heading for Montague Harbour on Galiano Island. There were lots of boats anchored in the harbour. We were happy to be there. We put anchor down at 4:00 pm (8 ½ hours) and we were ready for a gin and tonic (remember we had no wine!).
Blaine across the Border to Canada
Bosun feels safe when he is laying next to the captain on the step. Tool bag makes a good pillow.
East Point Lighthouse on the south end of Saturna Island greets us as we cross over the border into Canada on our way to Bedwell Harbour.