The Pacific Northwest Trawler Fest will be held at Anacortes this year on May 7^th through 9^th. We’ll be presenting on Saturday the 9^th 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 scenery is varied and impressive, and the anchorage choices are many. Most of the region is protected, with little signs of civilization, past or present. And the area is huge—600 square miles. This is 13 times the size of Broughton Archipelago Marine Park, and almost 20 times larger than Desolation Sound Marine Park. Even if every boater on the coast visited in one day, there’d still be plenty of empty anchorages.

One of the areas we’ll highlight is Kildidt Inlet. Kildidt Inlet runs northward from Kildidt Sound deep into Hunter Island. After about 3 miles, the inlet branches into two secluded lagoons connected by a narrow, islet-studded channel. The waterways are fun to explore, with good anchoring, but entry is blocked by the perilous Kildidt Narrows. A 12-knot tidal stream and several hazards require careful planning. An astonishing variety of colorful sea life grows among the reefs at the rapids. Visiting at low-water slack is like scuba diving, but without the tanks.