Back from the second leg of our summer cruise, one that carried us
well up Desolation Sound before making the reluctant U-turn and heading
for home.

Most of the Canadian harbormasters we spoke with reported a sharp
downtun in the number of US boats this year. Moorages and marinas that
are usually very crowded were wide open in many cases, with slips going
begging over a three-day weekend at Secret Cove, Port Sidney, and other
normally crowded destinations.

Theories commonly advanced included the price of fuel keeping more US
boaters down in Puget Sound, the plummeting value of the US dollar
effectively "raising prices" about 25%, and the increased difficulty fo
getting back *into* the US at the border (Canada lets you check in by
phone, will accept a driver's license as ID, etc....but you'll have a
huge hassle trying to get back into the US with just a DL).

We *were* turned away from Friday Harbor on Sunday morning. (My
reputation preceded me?). Turns out that spaces were hard to come by at
Friday Harbor because the locals were staying put for the weekend. We
found a guest dock more than half empty at Fishermen's Bay on Lopez,
just 7-8 nm from Friday Harbor, and even on Labor Day weekend that
guest dock never filled completely.

We assumed we wouldn't find any space at LaConner yesterday. Wrong.
The guest docks were about half full last night.

We didn't see a real crowd all week until we got within about 20 miles
of Seattle today. The weekend fishermen were out. One guy weaving back
and forth up a channel while trolling called me a "Stupid f**k" for
passing him at a reduced speed of about 5 knots and "screwing up my
fishing!" I knew right then I was back in the general vicinity of a big
city. :-)