Posts Tagged “Secret Coast”

Cruising Queen Charlotte Sound: Hecate and Calvert Islands

Cruising Queen Charlotte Sound: Hecate and Calvert Islands

The maze of islands and waterways that border Queen Charlotte Sound has long been one of our favorite cruising ground. The terrain is complex, the scenery is varied and impressive, and the anchorage choices are many. The adventure level ranges from sheltered waters, to open ocean, to tidal rapids. You can laze in a tranquil…

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Unusual Puget Sound Anchorages: Tramp Harbor

Unusual Puget Sound Anchorages: Tramp Harbor

Tramp Harbor is an unusual anchorage on the east side of Vashon Island. The harbor is mentioned in the cruising guides, but not with a glowing recommendation. The anchorage is open to the north and southeast, but makes a good stop when winds are calm or from the west. Southwest winds can blow over the…

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Fort Whitman, Skagit Bay

Fort Whitman, Skagit Bay

At the turn of the 19th century, the US government built six forts to protect the Puget Sound and the naval shipyard at Bremerton from water-based attack. All have since been decommissioned and sold to the State of Washington, and five are now state parks. The three heavy batteries at the entrance to Admiralty Inlet…

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Cann Inlet

Cann Inlet

Cann Inlet, according to one government report, is a well protected and popular anchorage on the west side of Swindle Island, with impressive waterfalls to the north, and opportunities for scenic viewing and shoreline exploration. Part of the inlet is also a registered boat haven. We were definitely interested. The only problem was that Cann…

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Seattle Boat Show 2010

Seattle Boat Show 2010

The 2010 Seattle Boat Show seminar schedule has been posted (http://www.seattleboatshow.com/seminar-home.html). We’ll be doing two presentations this year. On Saturday January 30th at 1pm, we’ll be giving a free one-hour seminar, Waggoner’s Secret Coast, that covers some of our favorite destinations between Victoria and Bella Bella. One that we’ll cover is Alison Sound at the…

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Unusual Puget Sound Anchorages: Nisqually Flats

Unusual Puget Sound Anchorages: Nisqually Flats

Nisqually Flats is an Unusual Puget Sound Anchorage along the south shore of Nisqually Reach, halfway between Tolmie Marine State Park and Nisqually Head (map of area). We first stopped there on a clear, calm spring day because we couldn’t decide which mountain view we preferred, Mount Rainier or the Olympics, and this anchorage gave…

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Unusual Puget Sound Anchorages: Priest Point

Unusual Puget Sound Anchorages: Priest Point

We’ve anchored overnight about a thousand times over the past decade. We love the privacy and independence of anchoring out, and enjoy the ever-changing view as the boat drifts around the anchor and the tide rises and falls. Key ingredients for a restful night are not worrying about our anchor dragging, or another boat swinging…

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Head of Laredo Inlet

Head of Laredo Inlet

Laredo Inlet extends deep into Princess Royal Island through two and three thousand-foot mountain ranges. The scenery, particularly on a clear day, is spectacular. After anchoring overnight in Weld Cove one summer, we cruised to the head the next morning to see what we could find. The morning started foggy, but lifted to a deep…

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Trawler Fest Anacortes

Trawler Fest Anacortes

The Pacific Northwest Trawler Fest will be held at Anacortes this year on May 7th through 9th. We’ll be presenting on Saturday the 9th at 10:30am on Queen Charlotte Sound. This is our favorite cruising destination—if we could only visit one place year after year, this would be the place. The terrain is complex, the…

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Alison Sound

Alison Sound

Anyone who’s written about Seymour and Belize Inlets says that Alison Sound, off Belize Inlet, is the most beautiful spot here. We agree. Several waterfalls gush from the north shore en route, and the entrance to the sound itself is striking. A massive slide has scoured a huge section of shoreline. Kilometer-high mountains soar above…

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Seattle Boat Show

Seattle Boat Show

The Seattle Boat Show seminar schedule is now posted. We’ll be presenting some of our favorite destinations between Victoria and Bella Bella, along with and tips and techniques for improved boating safety and comfort, at 1pm on Saturday January 24th. And we’ll be signing copies of Cruising the Secret Coast, our Waggoner sister publication, at…

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Hague Point Lagoon

Hague Point Lagoon

At the southern end of Laredo Channel, several bays and waterways indent the shoreline along Princess Royal Island. Some appear on the chart as possible anchorages, but most feel open and exposed. Hague Point Lagoon is a notable exception. The almost land-locked basin has a somewhat tricky entrance, but inside is sheltered anchorage with room…

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Lake Union Boats Afloat Show

Lake Union Boats Afloat Show

The Lake Union Boats Afloat Show seminar schedule has just been posted. We’ll be presenting some of our favorite destinations between Victoria and Bella Bella, along with and tips and techniques for improved boating safety and comfort, at 11am on Saturday September 13th. One area we’ll highlight is the Dodwell Group, our name for the…

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Blogging Hiatus Until Mid-August

Blogging Hiatus Until Mid-August

We’re voyaging north to further explore the Hakai Luxvbalis Conservancy Area and the outer islands north of Seaforth Channel, so we won’t be blogging again until we’re back and caught up in the mid-August time frame.  More then.   Jennifer & James Hamilton Jennifer@mvdirona.com / jrh@mvdirona.com  

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The McMullin Group

The McMullin Group

Queen Charlotte Sound has many amazing white-sand beaches, but the best we’ve found are at the McMullin Group. The sand is deep and soft, and almost every beach has view east to the Coast Mountains.   The island group is wonderfully complex, making for interesting dinghy exploration. As we toured around, we kept finding what…

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Let’s Go Outdoors

Let’s Go Outdoors

Earlier this month, Michael Short of the radio show Let’s Go Outdoors interviewed us on Cruising the Secret Coast. Michael asked a variety of questions, including how we got started in boating, why we wrote the book, and some of the experiences that have stood out over the years. The show aired this past weekend…

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Secret Coast Reader Question: Anchor Buoy/Trip Line

Secret Coast Reader Question: Anchor Buoy/Trip Line

Hi. I just bought your book and love it.  I’m a little confused about the anchor buoy/trip line system you describe in Chapter 4. We run a Bruce 33 lb. anchor off a 32-foot wooden Grand Banks.   If the anchor is fouled, it sounds  like you approach the buoy while continuing to pick up…

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They’re here. They’re finally here.

They’re here. They’re finally here.

This week, boxes of Cruising the Secret Coast were delivered to the warehouse at Robert Hale and Co. Click here for book details, including sample pages and an overview by Waggoner publisher Bob Hale, and to order online.           The book was a long time in coming. In 2002 we began…

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