Garrison Bay

One more thing about our customs experience. To be clear, it was in the CPB Roam app that I forgot to update our customs user fee decal number. An officer called me because he saw that I was trying to submit a border crossing. He was very pleasant, told me exactly what the problem was, and how to take care of it. He also suggested I reload the app due to an upgrade last year. I did, and everything worked just fine.

We arrived in Garrison Bay to find this large circle of about 20 boats. We've seen large rafts before but this was our first encounter with a giant wreath of boats.

We hiked up Young Hill the next morning and got a different perspective. By this point, a few boats had peeled out of the circle. Not quite sure how they accomplished this whole thing.

Another striking view from the top of Young Hill:

The whole area above English Camp was covered with wild western cucumber, or coastal (or Oregon) manroot. Inedible and potentially toxic.

As we sat atop our boat with a glass of wine that evening, Nick said he had two favorite places during this whole trip. I guessed one -- Chatterbox Falls -- obviously. My second guess was Wallace Island. He said, "No, it's right here in Garrison Bay." This surprised me a little but I totally get it. This is, possibly, our favorite anchorage. Part of Nick's choice revolves around the fact that, out of 32 days, we are finally anchored. We thought we would have thrown out the hook many times but it just didn't work out that way. The scenery is awesome, English Camp is right there, we can dinghy to Wescott Bay Shellfish Co. or into Roche, hiking is good (Bush Point & Young Hill, or into Roche) kayaking is great, and crabs are plentiful during the season.

We stayed two nights, pulled up the anchor and motored to La Conner.