Campbell River to Friday Harbor

September 2-29, 2025

For some reason, the email update for the last blog post detailing our journey from Petersburg, AK to Campbell River, BC never went out. So if you haven’t seen that one yet, please check it out.

We met our friends on StarrE during our shakedown cruise in the summer of 2022 and cruised extensively with them in Mexico. Now we finally had the chance to meet them at their home in Campbell River, BC. We got a slip at the Discovery Harbour Marina and spent several days relaxing off the boat at their home. We enjoyed great hikes, good food, good drinks, and great friends. It’s so great to catch up with old friends.

Our next stop was the town of Comox where we met up with Wrenn and Chelsea from Ka’Sala in their hometown. We were able to get a slip within a stone’s throw of theirs and had a blast hanging out with them and exploring their favorite places. We even got to have lunch with Chelsea’s mom and dinner with Wrenn’s family. Shelly and I did a great hike near Mt Washington and celebrated our anniversary at Martine’s. We’re gonna miss our blue water cruising buddies. Hopefully we can catch up again this spring.

Heading south from Comox, we stopped for a night at Schooner Cove Marina. The next day we passed the busy town of Nanaimo on our way to North Pender Island. We had to time the passage through Dodd Narrows specifically at slack tide because of very strong tidal currents through a very narrow pass. Added to this is a lot of traffic in both directions including log booms. We were able to time it well and even then it was quite interesting. Once through, we made our way to Otter Bay Marina on North Pender Island where we met up with Philip and Michele from SV Sancerre. They are another couple we met during out first summer cruising and we’ve shared many anchorages and great times since. It was so fun to meet these dear friends at their home and have them show us the wonders of their island. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at their home. We had the opportunity to take them on Tasi with us to the Sage Hayward Vinyard on Saturna Island for a wonderful lunch. We also went on some nice hikes, went salmon fishing, and enjoyed numerous great meals.

Soon enough we were off to the city of Victoria where we secured a slip at the Causeway Marina, right in front of the Empress Hotel. We again got to meet up with Philip and Michele. As they showed us around the city we enjoyed walking and great meals. Shelly and I also rented bikes to explore the city. Fisherman’s Warf was pretty cool to see with several brightly painted floating homes. We didn’t have time to try the Hot Tub boat Tour but maybe next time. We met up with Sean and Janet from SV Caribana who we initially met in Mexico a few years back. They had done the Mexico to Hawaii to British Columbia trip the year prior and had given us great advice before our trip.

After about a week in Victoria, it was time to head to our new winter home. The Port of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island offers a winter moorage special where we can keep Tasi at dock for a reduced rate from October through April. Since we are planning to head back up to Alaska again next summer, this is a great place to spend the winter. Friday Harbor is a quiet town with everything we need within walking distance of the marina. Once we checked back into the US via the CBP Roam App, we got to our slip and got settled in. We have explored the town and joined the local gym. Not before checking out the local brewery however. We are looking forward to out time here as well as several land trips we have planned for the winter. I’ll provide a blog update to summarize our winter as we start our trip north next spring. Until then, enjoy the fall and winter seasons.