WooHoo, Canada! Canadian Customs # 201116880239
One of our worst nightmares occurred during our cruise into Canada. First, as we were on the way to Sidney (Van Island marina) Joan announced the master head stopped up. Then, after the docking ordeal, while the adrenalin was really running she announced the second head had stopped working. It is a beautiful, sunny day and the water has only about 1’ chop. We were a little worried about getting this 57’ boat on a Customs Dock. Fred called Canadian Customs just before we crossed into Canadian water in Boundary Pass. We were given our customs # but told to call back when we get to Van Isle Marina in Sidney, BC. When we entered Tsehum Harbour we got lucky and were cleared to enter Canada without having to stop on the dock or be searched. We are legal but were glad to avoid the hassle. The real reason we were cleared so easily is that Fred got on the phone with Customs and whined. There was a 100+’ boat (After Eight) taking up the entire customs dock!!! That caused Fred to call customs and whine. “You want me to keep this barge from hitting anything while we wait for After Eight to clear.” The nice lady took pity on us and cleared us on the fly. Welcome to Canada now go dock. So we got into the slip with a little help from the staff and Fred is on the dock trying to get the %$#@ shore power hooked up. He did not want to use 50 amp service as the power cords must weight twice the 30 amp cord. But, one must use adapters to convert the end of the cord that fits into the boat. We must have 4, 5 different adapters, none of witch he could get to work. So after unrolling both 50 foot, 30 amp cords, he had to roll them up and get the two &^%$ 50 amp cords out, unrolled, and hooked up. It power finally worked (Fred also had a power switch in the wrong position), the heads were broken and the rental car was to in 30 minutes. Fred spent valuable time trying to find a rebuild kit for the heads. In fact the whole front office staff was on the phone trying help us. We did find a kit, and as faith would have it, he didn’t need it. There was “stuff” clogging the pumps on both heads. All better and we have a repair kit now. Fred is winning, he needs a latté!!!! We needed the rented a car as soon as the boat was secure for the dreaded “Costco Run”. We only want to stay on dock here ($1.25/ft) as many days as necessary. The marina has a deal with National car rentals and the fellow picked us up at the marina and we went back to the car lot (about 1 mile) and did the paper work. We then made a beeline over to Costco after picking up a couple of lattés (thank god). We had to pick up the things we couldn’t bring in through customs (meat, fruits and vegetables). We left Merlin on the boat and he was very happy to see us return. Joan spent the rest of the afternoon vacuum sealing all the meat, fish, etc. While we had the car we decided to go out to dinner to our favorite place in Sidney, Hyland’s. They make the best halibut fish & chips! We have tried fish & chips all up and down the coast and they are the winners. We were so busy all day we didn’t get there until about 7:45. Apparently they close at 8:00. We were very happy until the ladies there said to come on in and take our time. What a nice ending to the day.
http://www.sidney.ca/
http://www.sidney.ca/
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| Fred & Merlin at Van Isle Marina |
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