Wednesday: Eastsound (Orcas Island) to Blind Bay (Shaw Island)

After a calm afternoon and anchor in East Sound, the wind did actually pick up during the night and made it feel more like the cruising books said it would. Nothing threatening, but enough for the waves to make some noise slapping against the hull of the boat as we were trying to sleep. In the morning, Kristine got up before me and reported that the whole bay was fogged in – she couldn’t even see the shore. The wind was still blowing, too, somewhat of an oddity since wind and fog don’t usually go together. By the time I got up, the fog was lifting although still visible around the edges.

We ate and went back into town. Our trip today would not be a long one, and we knew the library opened at 10:00 so we could go there, check email and update yesterday’s blog, head back to the boat and leave around noon or so. We hoped the fog would be gone by then. We wandered around some more, talking with a guy working at one of the parks who was a transplant 25 years ago from San Luis Obispo, California. He really likes island life. He treaded on thin ice a little with me when he tried to tell us how boring it had been in California, with the temperature about 70 degrees three hundred and some days a year, but I was in a charitable mood and forgave him.

The fog lifted, we finished our errands, and went back to the boat where we ate some lunch, pulled the anchor, and started heading south down East Sound. On the marine radio, we heard some people in another part of the San Juans talking about the heavy fog they were still experiencing. I gathered that one of the boats was lost and couldn’t navigate, but someone else was nearby and offered to get to them and let them follow close behind to get to where they were going. Most of the time, boaters are nice like that. It was odd to listen to, though, because where we were was clear and sunny.

We got to the end of East Sound, turned right into Harney Channel, and made the short hop to Blind Bay on Shaw Island. It’s funny – we’ve been here many times, and yet each time is different enough that it can be difficult to tell where you are. All the islands and waterways look pretty much alike. We have charts out at all times, and yet today Kristine and I disagreed on our exact location and which direction we should be heading. As other boating couples know, the best bet is to slow down until you both agree. After checking things out, she was right (no surprise), and we followed her course to head in the correct direction.

We pulled into Blind Bay, on the north side of Shaw Island, about 2:00 and dropped the anchor. As I mentioned yesterday, this was where we had really good luck crabbing last year and wanted to come back for the opening day of crabbing season this year. We set our trap (along with about 50 other people in our “secret hot spot”) and went ashore to take a little walk.

Shaw Island is one of the smaller islands, but it’s right in the center of the group. It’s very rural – there is ferry access and a number of people live here, but the only commercial establishment is a very small grocery store at the ferry terminal. You would have to be pretty much of a hermit to live here. It’s very scenic, though, as you can see from these pictures of the road we walked down and the view of Mt. Baker.

Later in the day, as we were hanging out and reading on the boat, we saw this great sight: the inter-island ferry was landing with a small, Homeland Security boat following it in and back out again. You can see the boat in this photo, but what you can’t see is that it is loaded with big rifles, just in case a terrorist decides to carry out an attack against our country.

Memo to Homeland Security Director: If you’re looking to save some money, it’s highly unlikely that a terrorist is going to plot a hostile action on an island that only has one grocery store and probably more livestock that people. Perhaps these guards could be deployed in a slightly more risky location.

Tuesday: Cornet Bay to Eastsound

We woke this morning to patches of blue sky, so right away we were feeling better than yesterday. Our plan was to go through Deception Pass and enter into the San Juan Islands, stopping at Eastsound.

Deception Pass is a narrow passage through which a lot of water goes. Because there are two high tides and two low tides every 24 hours or so, the water going through the pass goes “in” twice and “out” twice daily too. The speed varies, but it can get going over 8 knots, or about 9 ½ miles per hour before it changes direction and starts flowing the other way. And it doesn’t just go in a straight line, like a river; it swirls and bubbles and boils its way along. Boaters don’t want to be caught in it. Fortunately, the times each day when it changes direction are very accurately predicted and published in a number of tide guides and with a little planning you can be there when the water is “slack” and easy to transit.

Today, there was a slack predicted at 9:03 AM, perfect timing for us. We woke, showered, ate breakfast, performed the normal engine checks, and pulled the anchor at 8:30. We joined a parade of other boats who had come from other places but all wanted to be at Deception Pass at 9:03, and made a nice, safe, uneventful passage.

About an hour later we were across the Rosario Strait and entering into the San Juan Islands.

One of the neat things about boating around here is that no matter how many times we go, there are always places we have never been to before. Today we decided to go to one of those – the small town of Eastsound on Orcas Island. Orcas is the biggest of the islands and its south side is indented by three bays: East Sound (on the east), West Sound (in the middle), and Deer Harbor (on the west). That is also their order of size, with East Sound being the longest at about 6 nautical miles. The town of almost the same name (one word instead of two) is the biggest on the island but that’s not saying much. It’s touristy and charming, but also the main place where people who live on the island go.

We arrived about noon, dropped anchor, ate some lunch, and took the dinghy into shore to explore the town. It was sunny and warm and we had a good time exploring. We stopped at the library to access the internet and post yesterday’s blog, then went back to the boat to relax and barbeque some dinner. Another walk around at sunset and we were back for a good night’s sleep.

One of the reasons we’ve never been here before is because most of the local guide books say that the winds can really funnel down the six mile stretch and make the water pretty choppy for anchoring and sleeping. Today, however, we decided to chance it and we were glad we did. The little bit of wind that was present during the day completely died down by dinner time and we also had the whole bay to ourselves.



Tomorrow is the opening day of crabbing season, and we are ready. There are a number of places to get delicious Dungeness crab in these islands, and we are going back to a place we had great luck at last year, Blind Bay. We may even put the trap down here in East Sound while we have breakfast, and see if we can catch a few before we leave. Nothing wrong with stocking up, after all.

Monday: Seattle to Cornet Bay

We knew it was time to take a boat trip when, yesterday, it rained in Seattle for the first time since May. We packed our stuff and took a few trips to the boat, and after dinner a friend drove us there and dropped us off to spend the night so we could get an early start (thanks, Judy).

I apologize in advance for this first post, which will undoubtedly be about as boring as our cruise was. When we head to the San Juan Islands, the first day is typically long because we have to go so far in a slow boat, and it’s not really very scenic so there’s not usually much to talk about. Things will get better, and so will the blog.

The weather forecast was for another slightly miserable day, but turning sunnier and warmer as the week went on. We got up pretty early and left the dock at 8:00. It was windy, but not raining so we felt lucky. We were the only boat in the locks that connect Lake Washington with the salt water of Puget Sound and we got through them by 9:00, then pointed the boat north and officially started the trip. Our destination today was Cornet Bay, which is just “inside” Deception Pass. (More on that later.)

After about an hour, as we were passing Edmonds, we noticed that the clouds were descending so low that we were getting “misted” and we couldn’t see very far in front of our boat. It wasn’t like a dense fog, where you can’t see more than about fifty feet in front of you, but it was enough that we couldn’t get our bearings by sight alone. With the help of our hand-held GPS, though, we were able to steer a straight course with confidence that we were headed in the right direction. After weeks of 70 and 80 degree weather we were slightly unaccustomed to the cool mist and the need to keep adding layers to try to stay warm. Unlike many northwest boaters, we are too macho to go inside where there is a heater – we much prefer to sit up on the flybridge, uncovered, and freeze on our summer vacations. This picture of the Edmonds / Kingston ferry will give you an idea of the visibility we had in the distance.

Eventually, we emerged from the mist and could see the shoreline again, which made for much easier navigation. We chose to go a little slower than normal to ease our pain at the fuel pump, traveling most of the day at about 7 knots. We plodded along uneventfully until we arrived at Cornet Bay around 4:30, put down the anchor, and called it a day. It’s a nice state park with a small dock, but we prefer to anchor and enjoy the view off the stern of the boat.

We were cold and slightly damp, but a glass of wine and a Jimmy Buffet CD hit the spot and we started planning tomorrow’s more interesting itinerary through Deception Pass and into the San Juans.