Monday was Don’s birthday so we decided to spend one more day in the Gulf Islands and relax before heading home. Don wanted to revisit Genoa Bay so we could have dinner at the marina restaurant and John and Amy decided to join us there. After a nice breakfast at Poets’ Cove we set out for Genoa via Cowichan Bay where we found a place to raft up at the dock. We enjoyed a walk around town and a visit to the bakery and then moved on to Genoa Bay.
After visiting the Art Gallery we walked around the dock and looked at the artwork hanging on the boathouses. We watched Teddy swim for a while and then we had a fabulous dinner at the restaurant overlooking the marina to celebrate Don’s birthday. We had the best time visiting with John and Amy.
Tuesday morning as we prepared to leave we debated on staying to visit the Butchart Gardens with John and Amy. While we were both very torn, we decided we needed to get back sooner rather than later. We reluctantly bid our friends goodbye and headed back into US waters to check into customs at Roche Harbor. This was only the second time we had visited Roche and we had hoped that in the middle of the week it wouldn’t be as busy as last time. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We waited for quite a while to get a place at the dock and then learned that the phone lines were down. It took a long time to check into customs. It was a relief when we were finally done.
We arrived in Bellingham about 4 p.m. and just as we were arriving we saw two Homeland Security boats and two Coast Guard boats leaving the marina. They looked like they were going someplace in a hurry. We learned later that they were doing some training with the boats. We proceeded to the ramp and I waited while Don retrieved the truck and trailer, which we left in the long-term storage lot. I was on pins and needles until he drove up with the truck because while we were gone we had read that another C-Brat had had their trailer stolen from the same lot. We were happy to find that our truck had been safe in the lot for six weeks. We would leave our truck there again in the future.
After we spent about two hours cleaning the growth off the bottom of the boat and securing the gear for the trip home, we had dinner with our friends Ruth and Joe. We pulled out of the lot at about 9 p.m. and decided that we wanted to be home in our own bed even though it meant driving late into the night. We arrived home at 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning bringing to an end an extraordinary journey that we will treasure forever.
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