Sunday: Penn Cove, Whidbey Island to Seattle and back home

It turned out that this was the weekend of the annual Coupeville Arts and Crafts fair, a pretty big deal that attracts artisans and shoppers from all over. We had about a six hour run ahead of us to get home, but it was another beautiful day so we decided to stay here for the morning and take a look around.

Coupeville is distinguished by a 415 foot pier, the longest on Puget Sound, that sticks out into Penn Cove.







The fair was set up through the four main streets in town and spilled over into a nearby park.



We’ve only been to the fair once before, in 1995, and it had really grown since then when it only ran along one street. We took our time looking but didn’t buy much. Nevertheless, it was fun to wander and see the area again. By lunchtime we had had our fill, so it was back to the boat to eat and finish up the trip.

Compared to the scenery of the San Juans and Gulf Islands where we have been for the last three weeks, the trip from Penn Cove home is not terribly scenic and is fairly boring. But the weather was great, so we sat back and enjoyed the ride. As we approached the locks, through which we needed to pass to return to Lake Union, we wondered how Seafair would affect us. Seafair is Seattle’s big annual summer festival that culminates in hydroplane races and a Blue Angels airshow over Lake Washington, and it was happening this weekend. While I’m sure there are a few die-hard hydroplane fans, most of the people who go by boat to the race course and tie up to the log boom surrounding it do so to swim, drink beer, party, and then cruise back through the locks just about the time we would be arriving.

Sure enough, the locks were wild and full of revelers, but fortunately for us they were all going in the opposite direction. We were directed to the smaller of the two locks, along with some others, but the main action was happening in the large locks. We were happy to avoid it. They crammed quite a few of us in the small locks, but nothing like they were doing across the way. And none of us were drunk, so it made for a pretty orderly trip.



We finally made the last half hour cruise to our marina and the trip came to an end. Allison and Warren picked us up and will be here for a couple of more days before they return to Davis, California. This was definitely the best boating weather we’ve ever had and, all in all, a memorable trip.

Saturday: Hunter Bay, Lopez Island to Penn Cove, Whidbey Island THE LONG WAY

Today our plan called for running north about two hours to drop Allison and Warren off at Samish Island, so they could return to Seattle, then turn south and begin our own trip back home to join them tomorrow. The plan was executed, just on a different schedule than we had anticipated.

We awoke to more crab in the trap and fog in Hunter Bay. The crab was good news, the fog not so good. A and W wanted to get to Samish Island by about noon so they could drive and ferry to Bremerton by late afternoon to see some more of Warren’s relatives. Since we couldn’t see across the bay, we weren’t going anywhere very soon. After a few hours, though, the fog started to lift and by 10:00 we were on our way. We calculated we could still get to Samish Island by 12:00, or soon thereafter, so no worries. No worries, that is, until we transited Lopez Pass and entered Rosario Strait where we couldn’t see across to the other side because of heavier fog. Rosario Strait is a major shipping channel that runs roughly north and south, and you don’t want to be caught out there unable to see the tanker before it hits you.

We started across, hoping that the fog would lift as we went, but before we were halfway across it got so thick we couldn’t see anything. Time for plan B. There is a small island just north of where we were, James Island, that has a small bay overlooking the strait so we headed for that. There were three other boats there, but room for us to anchor and wait. Wait we did. The sky was a beautiful blue above us, but the blanket of fog at sea level was thick and white. Occasionally it would look like it was lifting, but then it settled back in again.

Finally, at 2:00 on the dot, it lifted almost instantly and we were on our way. We would find out later that even the ferries in this area had stopped running for three hours and they usually run through anything. We felt bad about holding up A and W, but our decision to wait was validated by that.

From then on it was a smooth trip back to Samish and we dropped them off about 4:15. They would get to the relatives later than hoped for, but as it turned out they were still in time to lose some money in a poker party. We started our journey south, waiting to pick a destination until we could see how the currents and remaining sunlight would affect us. We went south through the Swinomish Channel, home to the small town of La Conner

and the Rainbow Bridge (I never understood that name, since it is painted orange)

and thought about stopping but decided to press on. We finally arrived at Penn Cove, home of the famous Penn Cove Mussels and the small town of Coupeville, about 8:45 and set the anchor literally as the red sun was disappearing on the horizon.

Friday: Massacre Bay to Hunter Bay, Lopez Island

Finally, some crab! I changed the bait I’ve been using and that seems to have helped – we picked up six nice-sized Dungeness which should be plenty for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow we take Allison and Warren back to Samish Island. We picked Hunter Bay as today’s destination because it’s only about two hours away from there and it also takes us by Spenser Spit, a popular park on Lopez Island where, coincidentally, our friends Tom and Eileen are camping for the weekend.

The sun was out, but it was a little cooler than it has been due to some wind that had picked up overnight. We got to Spenser Spit about noon and there were several park mooring buoys available, so we snagged one, ate some lunch, and took the dinghy ashore. It’s an interesting place, with a long sandy spit that pokes out perpendicular to the shore and almost reaches across to a small island. The spit is actually a triangle shape that contains a saltwater marsh, home to lots of wildlife, and while the marsh itself is off limits to people the rest of the park is good for exploring and camping. Allison and Warren set out to explore while Kristine and I tried to find Tom and Eileen, but when we located their campsite it looked like they had left by car to explore another part of the island. We rejoined A and W for some lazy time on the sandy beach, then headed back to the boat and motored about another half hour to Hunter Bay.

This is normally a wide open, tranquil bay, even though it’s exposed to the north. Today was no exception. We put out the crab trap one more time (you’re only allowed to crab from Wednesday through Saturday) and feasted on the ones we caught last night. Here’s a picture of the well fed crew:

Thursday: Westcott Bay, San Juan Island to Massacre Bay near Skull Island

We got skunked on crab this morning, bummer, but the tide was low enough to dig a ton of clams. Neither Kristine nor Allison is fond of clams, but Warren and I both are so we were pleased.

We weighed anchor and poked our noses out into Haro Strait, on the west side of San Juan Island, because it is often a good place to see orcas. After about a half hour with no sightings and no whale watching boats off in the distance listing to one side because of all the sightseers taking pictures, we decided to turn back and head for our next destination: Massacre Bay.

First, a stop at the very small village of Orcas on, you guessed it, Orcas Island.

The ferry stops here and there is a small grocery, a couple of cafés, a hotel, a liquor store, and an arts and crafts store. We poked around for a while and had a great lunch at the café that was right on the bluff with outdoor tables overlooking the water. After grabbing a few groceries we headed about a half hour north to Massacre Bay and anchored behind tiny Skull Island. It’s a pretty serene place these days, but apparently there were some major fights between the Lummi Indians of Washington and some Indians from British Columbia way back when, and the names of these places, along with nearby Victim Island, are testaments to those days. For us, it was a day to relax in the sun again, explore the island, and give Allison and Warren another chance to swim. Exploring the island didn’t take too long – here’s a picture of the island from the boat and another of the view south.

It was another legal day for crabbing, so we set the trap at night and hoped for better luck than we’ve been having.

Wednesday: Jones Island to Westcott Bay, San Juan Island

We left a little early today, deciding that we would stop by Roche Harbor again to show Allison and Warren the sculpture garden that is nearby. Kristine and I hadn’t had time to stop in and see it our last time here because of the alternator repair hassle. It’s really pretty interesting, and they change the sculptures every so often, so there were a number of new ones we hadn’t seen when we were here a few years ago. Stopping at Roche also enabled us to get wifi access to check email and do some online chores.

Roche has a dock for short term visitors, about two hours or so, but it’s first come first served and pretty popular. We figured if we got there before the lunch rush we might get a spot and we did, although not before exchanging a few words with some other boaters who were obviously getting cranky with the heat. We saw a spot open up as we approached so we headed for it, but another small boat intercepted us and shouted that they had been waiting. Fair enough, we let them have it but asked if they could move one of the other boats already docked forward a bit after they landed and then there would be room for us too. “No problem” they said, probably happy that we weren’t challenging them for the spot. They landed and shuffled the other boat for us, but as we headed in to take the spot another boat captain started yelling at us that he was next. He had been anchored out and we had no idea he was even waiting – most people either mill about to wait or else they anchor and take the dinghy ashore. In addition, he was probably ten feet longer than us and we didn’t think he could fit in the spot anyway. Nevertheless, I told him to go ahead and after pulling their anchor, sending their own dinghy to try and move the boats again, and a bunch of yelling and arm-flapping, they finally decided that they couldn’t fit and told us to go ahead. We smugly proceeded to do so.

We picked up a newspaper at the little store and saw this headline on the front page:

It confirmed what we’d been thinking – it was hot. We looked around at the sculpture garden and did our other chores. Checking email we were dismayed to learn that my brother Kirk’s mother in law passed away. She was a great lady who had battled cancer off and on for many years, beating it each time until now. Kristine and I knew her a little and really enjoyed her, we were sorry to hear the news.

We left the dock and headed to a nearby bay called Westcott (or Westscott on some charts, I haven’t been able to figure which is the official name). It one of two bays that kind of intersect, the other is the home of “English Camp” which is a historical park that marks where the English military camped while squaring off against the American military in 1859 in the Pig War. Without going into the complete history lesson, it seems that there was a lot of contention between the British, who governed Canada, and the US over where the international boundary should be drawn through all these islands, so both countries had a military presence. Pressures boiled over when somebody on one side killed a pig that belonged to somebody on the other side and the Pig War erupted. Anyway, the issue was finally settled but the remnants of the camp still exist and draw tourists by car and boat.

Allison and Warren decided that rather than study too much history, they would cool off in the bay:



This is typically a good source of crab, so we dropped a trap and will check our luck in the morning. We counted 72 traps in the bay when we motored in, so I’m not expecting too much. However there’s also a very productive clam bed just behind where we anchored and there is a low tide about 7:00 in the morning, so I will be there for the sure thing.