British Columbia Coast

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British Columbia Coast Traveler
Fraser River
April 29 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F
Took over 200 photos today. How do you whittle that down to 25 to meet FindPenguins maximum photos per footprint? I called the Steveston Harbour Authority at 8am to find out my fee for staying on their dock last night. The person that answered the phone asked if she could call me right back as she needed to get the information. I went outside to check some stuff, and found a “Report to the office” notice to check in. Apparently one of the Harbour guys made a round at 10pm. The office gal did call me back. C$45, which worked out to around $35US I believe. There is no charge for day usage. Bill and Mike came over to the dock soon after. They walked around town while I continued my breakfast. At 10am I met them at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum. Very interesting museum. After we spent some time walking through the museum, reading all the signage and examining all the machinery, one of the docents that I had asked some questions of, came back and offered us an impromptu tour. We took her up on it, and learned quite a bit more. Not really enough room here to share a full report. Just suffice it to say, very cool and interesting! After finishing up our tour there, we walked to the other end of town to see the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site. While the Cannery was more about the work here, the Shipyards was more about the social or living life here. Again a very good museum. But I will admit I enjoyed the Cannery more so. While walking between the two museums, we looked over to the dock that Bill and Mike stayed on last night. The tide last night was only about half a low tide. The day time low tide was a full low tide. The dock was on land. This morning Bill was not able to put his motor all the way down due to the depth. Good thing it was only a partial low tide. And I really felt more comfortable about coming over to the Harbour Authority dock last evening. The side I would have docked on that other dock was more shallow than the side that Mystery Girl and Little Joe rafted on. I have a rather short attention span and finished seeing that last museum before Bill and Mike, so went to find some ice cream. Canada is the only place I’ve had it, “Tiger” flavor. It’s orange with a ribbon of black licorice! Took me three ice cream shops to find one that had it in this town. (And no, I didn’t have ice cream at the first two. Lol) After that I walked back to C-Traveler, made lunch, and waited for Bill and Mike to get back. We departed the dock around 3:30p and continued up a side channel to the Fraser River. Shortly after coming back out on the main River, we found a spot next to some industrial places to anchor for the night. We are about 10 miles east of Seveston.Read more
TravelerNice pictures of Colby and Mike, Bill too
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British Columbia Coast Traveler
1
Steveston, Fraser River
April 28 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 55 °F
This morning, Bill and Mike checked in with the Marina office, and then we took our trailers over to Bella Storage. We were able to park our vehicles in the marina parking lot. Finally on our way on the water around 11:30 am. First stop was at the customs dock in Whiterock. It is not a manned station, so we called Canadian Customs on our phones from there. All three of us got cleared, and then continued on 37 miles to the Fraser River. We are currently in Steveston. I stayed at the Steveston Harbor Authority transient dock, while Bill and Mike went across the small channel to an old dock that didn’t appear to be used for anything. Tomorrow morning we plan to go visit the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site museum. The dock I’m at is the closest, so Bill and Mike will come over here tomorrow morning. (This dock has a fee, but the office was closed when I called, so I guess I’ll find out tomorrow what that fee is… The dock across the way was pretty small and water relatively shallow on one side. Wasn’t sure how much more of a tide drop, so I just felt more comfortable at the dock I’m at.) We were in pretty rough water for a little over an hour, earlier today. Mostly because we were parallel to the swells/waves, which were only about a foot in height.Read more
Traveler Wowsa! Very pretty
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British Columbia Coast Traveler
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Blaine, Washington
April 27 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F
Enjoyed C-Brats, Gary & Colleen, hospitality last evening. This morning I got to see their three cows and some chickens. If you know me, you know I'm like a little kid around farm animals. Only 350 miles to go today, so got a little bit of a late start, just a little past 8am. Traffic was busy in Portland, Or., and Seattle, Wa, but at least I wasn't in rush hour. Bill, who was coming from the east, met up with me at the River Rock Tobacco and Fuel stop in Arlington, Wa. Mike was still an hour or so behind Bill. I thought we were stopping at Angel of the Winds Casino, as another C-Brat friend from the area shared that would be the cheapest gas in the area. There were big signs along the highway for the exit, but then realized we actually stopped at River Rock. I think gas prices were the same as the Casino, and it was maybe another mile past River Rock. Lines were long at River Rock, not unlike Costco gas stations. After gassing the pickup, I left for our destination, Blaine Harbor. Bill was about 30 minutes behind me. The exit for Blaine's marina, is the last one before Canada. In fact, you could see Peace Arch at the Blaine exit. I got checked in at the marina, as I decided I would launch and stay in a marina slip tonight. Bill came straight to the boat launch, as the marina office was closed when he arrived. I finished prepping C-Traveler for launch, and then Bill helped me at the ramp. Mike arrived, and then he and Bill finished prepping their boats to launch, and joined me at the guest dock. They'll check in with the office tomorrow. We still need to take our trailers to where we are storing them, and then park our trucks and SUV in the marina's long term lot. I did a small load of laundry, and was happy to see the marina's laundry room only charged $2 for each, washer and Dryer.Read more
Traveler You got to see the cows
3wReply
Traveler And the chickens. You’re loving life
3wReply
Traveler Three peas on a pod
3wReply
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British Columbia Coast Traveler
Williams, Ca, to somewhere Near Monmouth, Or
April 26 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F
Covered about 480 miles today. Originally I had planned to get to Salem, Or, and find a place to park for the night. However, Gary and Colleen, from DayBreak, offered for me to park at their farm in the country near Monmouth. Gary and Colleen are also the ones that coordinate/host the Friday Harbor gathering in May. They live about 20 miles off of I5, and it was too good of an offer to turn down. Especially since it was only about 20 miles less than I had planned to travel today anyway. I turned off at Albany, OR, where I stopped at Costco to top of C-Traveler with 65 gallons of gasoline, at the cost of $4.52/gallon. That's the cheapest gas between Sacramento and Blain, Wa., where I'll join Bill and Mike and launch. I stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things, including some Baked Chicken, salad and cookies to share with Gary and Colleen. They were just coming back from the Delta Extravaganza Cruise as well, and only got home about half hour before I got here. So one less thing for Colleen to do. (Fix supper.) They have a very nice place here. I got to meet the two Black Labs, but didn't get a chance to meet the chickens and cows. After supper, Gary helped me do some battery work. I've learned that the larger posts on the boat batteries, are more efficient than the screw posts. So I bought some connectors to fit over those posts, and then moved the wires from the screw posts, to those connectors. I'm hoping that helps the batteries to provide more voltage and capacity to run the freezer all night without causing a voltage drop that keeps my Webasto heater from running! No pictures this evening, but if I remember, maybe I can get some tomorrow before leaving.Read more
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British Columbia Coast Traveler
Earlier preparation for this trip.
April 25 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F
At the beginning of my Delta Extravaganza (California Delta) blog, I shared what was involved in getting ready for these two trips. The one thing I didn't mention, was the amount of stress finding Medical and Medevac Insurance to cover me while outside of the USA. Regular Medicare does not cover one outside of the US. There are several companies that provide Medical Insurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Global Solutions (use to be GeoBlue) one of the best in my mind. However, I learned they did not do medivacs off boats. In fact I couldn't find any of the companies that would medevac off a boat. The British Columbia coast can be very remote in many places, and there are few ports to dock at. Long story short, I did learn that BCBS will medevac if you can get your boat to land and it is possible for land or air ambulance to access. If a medical emergency happens while at sea, I guess we will depend on the Coast Guard to do the rescue. I was even told by a Divers Area Network (DAN) salesman, that they don't cover medevac off boats either, and their advertisements make it sound as if they do. SO my word to the wise here (fellow long range boaters), is make sure you are getting what you think you are getting.Read more
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Trip start
April 26, 2026

Fraser River

Steveston, Fraser River

Blaine, Washington

Williams, Ca, to somewhere Near Monmouth, Or

Earlier preparation for this trip.