Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Day 217? Maybe, maybe not.

We just came back from a nice hike around the state park here at Prevost Bay. Up and down trails with lots of fauna and not much flora this time of year. Lots of moss and ferns and we even saw a deer. I"ll post pictures once I get connected back to the internet. This program won't let me add them unless I'm connected. At least if it will, I haven't figured out how to do it.

The day started with more drizzle and fog. By midmorning, it was high enough that we could see the islands across the Haro Straits. By the time we got back from the hike--about 3:15, the fog had settled enough that you couldn't see to the end of the bay let alone across the strait. The entrance to bay was just about gone too.

We were buzzed by the local immigration boat earlier this afternoon. They buzzed into the bay and passed by all three of the boats here. There are two more across the bay that are anchored up together. I'm sure we are now in some government data base with our name and hailing port. There can't be too many "Zephyr"s with a hailing port of Denver. We've gotten asked by many people as they walk the docks how we got her here from Colorado.

With Washingtons rules of how long we can stay, we will have to watch our dates to see when we may need to get re-uped on our stay permits. Not being sure when they actually started us as being here, we don't want to get caught short. We probably appeared on their radar when we bought the parks permit. You can only stay for 180 days--total and then must leave the state for at least a year. If you buy one of their new permits--$500.00, you can stay a year but must then leave Washingtons waters for two years. If you don't leave, they require you to register your boat here in Washington and pay taxes and sales taxes as though you bought it here. That is one of the primary reasons we took Zephyr out of the state as soon as we did.

It's just started raining again. Could be why it's so green on these islands.

We hope to be off South to Roche Harbor tomorrow. There is more fog in the forecast so we will see. Radar makes it easier but it sure is nicer to be able to see as you go through the straits. It makes it easier to avoid other ships. As big as Roche is, I'm sure they will have internet and my cell phone will work again.

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