Port Townsend WA to Sydney B.C.

Okay, I feel like this blog is in danger of becoming really boring, "We left X and arrived at Y."  So I will tell you about my new role model/idol.  

Shortly after arrival in Port Townsend

We were in a hurry to get an early start the morning we left Port Townsend, so we left the marina at Point Hudson and headed over to the other marina for fuel and to buy a fuel jug and some spare dinghy oars at West Marine.  The Strait of Juan de Fuca was going to be a long crossing, and I (Shana) had to get over to Port Angeles by 10:30 to catch a ferry to Victoria.  The fuel gauge on the sailboat doesn't work (something we didn't know about earlier, or we would have had it fixed), and Craig wasn't sure, after two days of sailing, how much fuel was in there, so he wanted to be safe he wouldn't run out.  After barely beginning fueling, all of a sudden it was full.  We almost had a little spill, and there was a panic to get the sorbent pads on the boat before any of the small amount that dribbled out of the nozzle went in the water.  The guy at the fuel dock didn't get upset at all, and was really laid back about the almost-accident, while I was mortified and apologizing profusely.  He was like, "No big deal, sailboats are like that - hardly buy any fuel at all and often come close to having a spill."  He was very kind to the fuel dock's lowest-spending, problem customers (us), and never once seemed to get stressed or even concerned.

The first landmark Asterix cleared after leaving Port Townsend was Point Wilson

Goodbye Port Angeles, Washington State, and the U.S.  

We made it to Sidney - a long, almost 12-hour trip for Asterix, about half that time for the road crew.  However, it took the road crew an hour to get through customs, while it was only a brief phone call from the marina for Asterix.

Asterix just coming in to the harbor in Sidney on Monday evening.  There's a big-ass mountain in the background.  Maybe the one over by Whistler that I can't remember the name of?  Garibaldi?  Or something like that?  It was a really long crossing, and so we took an extra day off in Sidney.  Didn't really do anything except run a few errands, take showers, and get hot, tired, and cranky (me, see below).

I had to send out a brief email for work, and either MS Outlook or the internet wasn't working for me - I'm not sure which.  I got really stressed out, but later remembered my idol from the Port Townsend fuel dock.  I swear I'm going to try to be better about my response to problems!  Like I said, he's my new hero.  This evening I tried the wifi at the restaurant we're at, and the emails went out fine, so all's good.
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Here's the layout of Sidney Harbor:

We pulled into G Dock, where Customs is supposed to be.  There was a beat-up old phone booth there.  No dial, just a handset.  I picked it up, and a voice came on the line:  "Welcome to Canada Customs and Immigration.  For English, press 1.  Pour Francais, 2."  I looked at the place where a normal phone would have some numbers...  Eventually, a nice lady in Ottawa came on the line, in English.  After I explained where Sidney was, she assigned Asterix a 12 digit number that made us legal in Canada.