Work commitments meant we wouldn't be departing till Sat. morning; in fact it was close to 11pm by the time we got down to the boat! We quickly got things stored then to bed, as I had a few chores to complete in the morning before departure. We left w/ Cicerone at 08:15 to catch the last part of the ebb current through Active Pass and proceeded to clear Customs at the Gov't dock by the Marine. While there were a few boats staying at the Marina, the bulk were to try and capture space on the Park dock and/or the closest of the mooring buoys. Few were quite surprised to see a lot of free dock space and at least half of the buoys available. Once tied up and secured, we were on a mission to find an ATM (Marina maybe?) as we managed to not thing to bring any cash! Fortunately there was a Parks staff member at the top of the dock that informed us that they do take credit cards, so problem averted.
Reading and drinking my Sunday morning coffee in the cockpit, our dock neighbour started bringing out tanks and a regulator.... 'If you're diving your boat, I've got some zinc's aboard and mine needs replacing' I joked. 'Let me see if I have enough air' was his response (yes and a fist pump!). Zincs -check!
As race boats began arriving, their timings seemed to coincide with other boats leaving, so in the end no rafting was required and we basically had the whole dock! So rather carting everything up to the picnic area, we set up the Salmon BBQ & pot-luck right on the end of the dock and had a great old time.
Monday we awoke to the sound of rain. With a while till departure, we geared up for a walk over to the north beach and a trek around the point, returning to the boat for final prep and departing at 11:45 to catch some push again through Active. Wind had switched around and was from the north; 15-17kts but with quite flat seas. Others sailed but we opted to motorsail with the jib and stay toasty with keeping the enclosure on. In the end, because we only had to furl in and not drop/flake a main we still were at the head of the line for pump out :^) It was a fun weekend with 11 boats and tons of stories. More photos here