June 2008
Gem is currently docked in Victoria which is just a 2 hour+ boat ride from Seattle on the Victoria Clipper. Now to get my things on the boat shouldn't be hard, right? Just drive them there by car. That sounds good but customs doesn't agree. Even though the boat will be leaving Canada and going to the US, it's not possible to put my things on the boat by going through customs unless we want to pay duty on everything. Biagio left Seattle with a car load of clothes, kitchen things, etc. and had to turn back because of this slight problem. They would have let him in if I had taken out a visa for Canada but because since I hadn't done that, he would have to turn back to the US. Problem was that the US customs wanted to know where he was going with all of those things and didn't want to let him back across the border. They reluctantly gave him 24 hrs. in the US and then he would have to cross the border again. Biagio truly felt like a man with no country.
Dave and Gay wonderfully let him store everything in their garage near Everett until we could come up with another plan. On to Plan B. Anacortes in a city/marina/jumping off point to the San Juan Islands. For me it is a 1 1/2 hr. drive north from Seattle. For Biagio on the boat, it was an almost direct west sail/motor due east. So in Anacortes we happily loaded 2 car loads of things including clothes, a 15 horse motor, fabric for curtains and upholstery, and 'stuff'. So all was worked out.
Now it is 2 weeks later, and the accumulation pile is growing again. Running lights for the salon, locks for the cabinets, soy sauce and green tea from the Asian store, my folding bicycle, the new chart table chair... So let's see, how are we going to get this all on the boat this time?
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