Reid Harbor to Canada- South Pender, Poets Cove- Pender Island Marine Park June 29th

We woke to a really nice day and in order to use our Nexus cards we were to call Canadian Customs Nexus number, 30 minutes to 1 hour before we could enter into Canada. That proved to be a challenge as cell phone coverage was inconsistent. So we spent about 45 minutes just circling in an area where we found we had cell coverage. One to let Canadian customs know our intent and estimated arrival time into South Pender Island and Poets Cove, and second to see if we could get an International calling plan added to either my phone or Alexus’ phone. We had done some unintentional “roaming” calling, while traveling through the Straight of Juan de Fuca, and it was upwards of 79 cents a minute…. Whoa!!!. We were able to add a plan to my phone via Verizon, but not to Alexus’ AT&T account. Off we went to Poets Cove in Canada on South Pender!!!! We pulled into the Customs area and it was a zoo. It was the weekend of Canada’s Independence day- July 1 and there were boats, dinghies, and kayaks everywhere. Alexus had been given number from Canadian Customs and told to display that on a large piece of paper in the boat. If no one from Customer came down to the boat in about 5 minutes we were OK to leave. Pulling in with all the traffic and people Alexus did a great job. It really was tight, too full of people celebrating and simply crazy with the resort traffic added in to the mess. We docked, waited about 15 minutes and no one came to the boat so we pulled out of there. It was very busy, there was no room at the floats or mooring balls so we thought we might end up anchoring out. Anchoring is OK; it is just messy when you leave as the chain has all kinds of junk on it. We also don’t sleep quite as well as we wake to check our position to make sure we are not dragging the anchor and drifting. We always set the GPS Anchor alarm and we have yet to have the boat drift.
We decided to see if we could find Neal and Eva and at least say Hi. As we found their boat and moved towards them another boat signaled that they would be leaving a mooring ball. What luck! We thanked them and ended up mooring right next to Neal and Eva. Like Washington, Canadian Parks are a deal, mooring balls run $10 per night. We “dingyed” over to Neal and Eva‘s boat and let them know we were here. We had not eaten so we took the dinghy over to Poets Cove Resort and had a good, but expensive lunch. Resorts are all the same, you pay too much for what you get. Anyway, we headed back to the boat and later that evening Neal and Eva stopped by and we shared travel plans. Ours were unclear, but Neal and Eva were off to an event that would occur on July 4th. I am sure we will run into them again, if not here in Canada, then in San Diego!
That night we had the most unusual experience. It was about 11pm and we had finished watching TV when a strong gust of wind came in at about 15 to 20 knots and blew for about 5 minutes. We had the Alameda Club burgee on the bow of the boat and it rattles and echoes through the boat when it is windy. Since we did not know if the wind would gust again or all night, Alexus went out to take down the burgee so we could sleep without the noise. She came back in the boat upset that someone in a sailboat had anchored about ten feet away. If they were that close, some time in the night we would swing into them or they into us. I went out with her taking our flashlights trying to get their attention, but to no avail. Alexus decided she needed to get in the dinghy and go knock on their boat and ask them to move. As she was heading back I watched the boat and told her I think they are drifting and not anchored at all. Sure enough, their bow started drifting towards us. I called to Alexus to get the boat hook so we could at least push them off as they came close. They were literally about two feet away as we pushed them off. Alexus used the boat hook to knock loudly on their hull a couple of times. Well that did the trick. A poor sleepy woman popped her head out of the hatch and we told her they were drifting. She disappeared and about two minutes later her boyfriend or husband came out and thanked us. He said they had been anchored since about 11am that morning so they started their motor and off they went to re-anchor. Given, the high tide and wind gust it was easy to see if they had not anchored well how they came to drift. They were not the only ones. There were flashlight and people calling out in other parts of the harbor. What a night.