Posts In The “North America Pacific Coast” Category
A few years back, we arrived one Friday night at Silverdale at the head of Dyes Inlet. It’s usually not a very busy place, but the docks were packed and a fair number of boats were at anchor. We dropped the hook away from the crowds a bit, nearer to the head, and settled in…
Andrew Anderson Marine Park, operated by the Anderson Island Parks and Recreation District, is a lovely park on the southwest side of Anderson Island in the south Puget Sound (map of area). The nature preserve, sometimes called Andy’s Marine Park, provides the only public saltwater shore access on the island and is part of the…
Last weekend we anchored off Blake Island Marine State Park. The high temperature for Saturday was 59F. A few other boats were about, but the marina was half-empty, all the buoys on the north side were free, a handful of boats were on the west side buoys, and a few kayakers had landed on the…
We visited Queen Charlotte Sound for the first time in 2002, and the complex terrain, impressive scenery, and variety of fabulous anchorages
Deception Pass State Park is the most popular in the state, drawing some 2 million visitors each year. The 4,000-acre reserve has miles of walking trails and more than 100,000 feet of saltwater and freshwater shoreline. The biggest attraction of course is Deception Pass itself, where currents can reach nine knots as more than 2…
We always spent Christmas afloat, usually in Canadian waters. Some years we’ve travelled to the Sunshine Coast, Desolation Sound, or the Broughtons. This year we stayed closer to home, in the San Juan Islands. We had considered going to Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island instead, but didn’t have time to research safe…
While anchored in Blakely Harbor over the weekend, we watched an example of neighborly support. [Map of area.] About 7:30 Sunday morning, a dinghy sped across the bay east of us. This was a little odd, because it was a cold and rainy morning, not ideal for a dinghy tour. Then we saw its…
For us, an ideal cruising destination combines solitude with a chance to explore new territory. We seek places that are little covered in the cruising guides and where few people go. Besides an appealing anchorage, we are always on the lookout for interesting side trips, such as a trail to a view or a lakeside…
The concept of a floating, mobile community is so unusual that the National Film Board of Canada featured one in a 1960’s documentary. The Water Dwellers depicted a village not far removed from the through-the-looking-glass wonderland of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, unique to the B.C. coast, if not much of the modern world. Skiff and motorboat…
We were travelling north through Wells Pass in the Broughtons one year when Jennifer yelled “Bear!” We were a good half-mile from any shore, so a bear sighting seemed a little unlikely. But the bear wasn’t on shore, it was swimming about 20 feet off our port bow. We’d been running at about 7 knots,…
While docked in La Conner recently, we were fortunate to walk past the Pacific Mariner plant at just the right time. They were wheeling a huge, empty hull, likely of a Pacific Mariner 85, around the building. It appears that they mold the hulls on one side of their property, then transport them to the…
On a recent trip from Elliott Bay to Mats Mats Bay, we passed the Washington State fast ferry Snohomish running south. The last we’d heard, the ferry was still mothballed in Eagle Harbor. A successful lawsuit by Rich Passage residents had taken the passenger-only Snohomish and its sister ship, the Chinook, out of service to…
With gale force winds forecast for the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we anchored last night in Watmough Bay at the southeast tip of Lopez Island. The bay appears to have good protection from southeast weather, but we saw exactly the same winds as at unprotected Smith Island at the eastern end of the strait:…
It was 04:00 hours on December 31. We’d left Port Hardy early, hoping to reach Seymour Narrows for the 11:30 slack. The winds were calm in Hardy Bay, but visibility was near zero. Daylight was hours away and a blizzard obscured what little ambi- ent light there was. We peered through the snow from our…
Snow fell in the Puget Sound this weekend as part of a big winter storm that swept the country. We were anchored at Port Madison, on the north end of Bainbridge Island, when the white stuff started. Even though the temperature was several degrees above freezing, snow began building up quickly. It was a wonderful…
This year we spent Thanksgiving aboard in the South Puget Sound (the area between Olympia and Tacoma Narrows). With extreme high tides above 15 feet, we were able to explore the drying heads of several inlets: Henderson, Hammersley, and Eld. The weather for the most part was excellent—bright blue skies and little wind. Temperatures were…
Earlier today as we sailed out of Henderson Inlet, just north of Olympia, we heard the Coast Guard asking for assistance for a downed aircraft in Commencement Bay. At around 12:40 the vessel Grand Madison reported that it had rescued two people from the water, one an elderly lady slightly hypothermic. At 12:50 the Coast…
Spider anchorage and the surrounding islets make up the heart of the Hakai Luxvbalis (pronounced hack-eye looks-bal-ease) Conservancy Area at the edge of Queen Charlotte Sound. The complex waterways, sheltered anchorages, amazing scenery and diverse ecosystem are popular with pleasure boaters, kayakers and scuba divers. Popular, however, is a relative thing. A busy day in…