The alarm went off early. Well, it would have gone off had I remembered to set it. But I hadn't. It didn't matter. It was cold,dark and dripping wet with condensation when I woke up at six, not he best conditions to travel in, leaving me with only one choice –ignore our original plan to up-anchor early and go back to bed. Which is exactly what I did.
We left Port Browning several hours later and made it to Friday Harbor in the US by 1 pm – just in time to sit around and wait for customs to check in ferry passengers from Sidney. By the time all was said and done it was after 3 o'clock, but it went well. The lady who helped us in June was on duty along with another young gal, but she was no longer a trainee learning the ropes and came across as being more human – a nice change from most of our past experiences with US Customs.
It was late in the day, so we decided to anchor in Friday Harbor for the night. I took Sally to shore and couldn't help but feel like a visitor in my own country – everything seemed so foreign after only five short months away in neighbouring Canada. Even though San Juan is an island, it's much busier here than we're used to which will only get worse once we cross the Strait of Georgia for the mainland – another one, of many, reasons we're not looking forward to returning.
Tomorrow we'll go to nearby Orcas Island and anchor in West Sound for the night. Our friends, Bill and Sylvia from Salubrious, live there and we want to say good-bye one last time before we pack it in for the season.
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