The catch of the day..........CATCH 22!!! Dealing with bureaucratic issues is seldom pleasurable but if you are traveling, and by boat, it will surely make the rubic's cube challenge look easy...To make a very long story as short as possible, let's try this: if you have a question about issue X, contact us at this 888 number. OK...but we are in the US and this number is only for Canada. No problem, a friend phones....instruction is given to him that we have to fax a letter to an Ottawa office...but he does not have the fax number and it is impossible to find..we decided to send a response by courier. It is also suggested that we contact the Canadian Embassy closest to our location. OK...we walk 2 miles to phone..pay phones are rare these days (Thanks to the good people of Deltaville who gave us rides that day..). After several "Press 2" Press 5" Press 9" the voice says that we cannot talk to anybody in this office and that all the information is on the website. Really????????That's when we came to the realization that going to the Consulate was the only way to (eventually) obtain answers and clarification. So we did...we like D.C so we left the boat here in this Hampton Public Piers Marina and rented a car ...it would have been a great day to leave the Chesapeake Bay and enter the Dismal Swamp! Instead here we are in this Nissan zipping the highways...like before our boat life!

The weather was gorgeous in D.C. and we made our way to our Embassy. The wonderful sculpture of Bill Reid greeted us at the entrance. The rest of the process made us feel uncomfortable...we did not have a "human encounter" at the Consular services...just in a 5x5 room with a telephone. It reminded me confession at church! The visa department was a little bit more real and our quest ended on a positive note!!!!!!!!!!!! The trip was worth it!!!