Mark Maulden said:
what do you want to do between Edmonds and Des Sd? Hopefully, you have Nexus passes so you don't have to physically stop at customs. One of the most important parts of planning this trip is tides. Hopefully, they and your itenerary complement. You can leave US waters south of Saturna Is and go up the strait to Pender Hbr if you have tides and WX and time of day in your favor. You have to sit down with the tables and charts and do some planning. If you want to go through the islands, you can hit Ga straits via Active Pass/Polier pass/Gabriola Pass and also head up. Again, plan ur tides and adjust per WX.
We live and cruise the Gulf Islands on our 34 ft Crown. I would advise against transiting Active Pass. My advice would be to run up Trinomali Channel to either Gabriola Passage or head to Nanaimo via Dodd Narrows.
Nanaimo is an excellent provisioning stop. Anchor/moor off Newcastle Island, hop on the harbour ferries ($10 return I think), go to town. Groceries are walking distance as is the super-funky downtown area. Well worth the stop.
If you use ice, don't buy it anywhere except the Esso Fuel dock. They make their own and it is truly ice, not compressed ice shavings. $4 a block and they really last.
As the previous poster mentioned, tide and current are your friends in the Gulf Islands. 2 weeks ago, we were returning to Sidney from Port Browning. We caught a flood tide that gave us about a 1.0 to 1.5 kt boost over the ground. We were seeing 6 kts on the knotmeter but the land was going by much quicker!
Enjoy your trip
