Last night, we crossed into Canadian waters. This morning, we made it official. Under pale blue skies and a warm sun, we steamed north into the busy port town of Nanaimo, British Columbia. Perched on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, Nanaimo serves as a checkpoint for Customs as vessels come and go into Canada from international waters. It didn’t take long for officials to come aboard, check our passports, and bid us a warm welcome to Canadian waters.

From there, we cruised north into the fjords and the post glacial landscape that defines this portion of British Columbia. No more than a ripple of wind cast itself across the water’s surface at any given point today. Lots of time on the bow punctuated by numerous lectures was the plan for the day.

To round out our day at sea, we continued to cruise north past the city of Campbell River during sunset. Warm tones and glass, calm waters ended our first full day aboard National Geographic Sea Lion. What an introduction to the northwest coast.