Posts Tagged “Winter Boating”
On Monday we passed Anacortes and went through Swinomish Channel (area map) during a significant, and poorly forecast, wind event, with an amazing variety of weather. The barometer gained 10 mb in 4 hours and peak winds approached 60 knots. We had just crossed Rosario Strait in 4-5 feet seas, with 40-knot winds from the…
We didn’t think we’d ever stop at Pirates Cove Marine Park, at the north end of British Columbia’s Gulf Islands. The BC Marine Parks Guide bills it as one of the more popular parks in the Gulf Islands, with room for 75 boats. This is remarkable, given that the cove from shore to shore is…
Mount Tzouhalem is the 1,500-foot bluff directly west of Genoa Bay. We’ve eyed it every time we’ve anchored in the bay, but this year, we finally climbed it. We’d arrived on a cold, crisp winter day, after a recent snowfall. The weather was cold enough to freeze the surface water around the marina. …
A big winter storm swept through the region yesterday. The barometer fell hard as the storm approached: from 1032 at 9pm the night before, to 1009 at 5am yesterday, down to 988 by 3pm yesterday afternoon. We recorded gusts to nearly 50 knots as the storm intensified. The pressure slope hit…
Tod Inlet is a busy anchorage in the summer months. The basin has all-weather protection, but the main attraction is nearby Butchart Gardens. The gardens have a dinghy dock that makes for easy landing and access to the spectacular garden display. And boats crowd the waterway on Saturday nights to watch their firework show. …
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…
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…
For us, the start of the winter boating season also means the start of our night boating season. We got a bit of a reprieve this year with the longer Daylight Saving Time, so this weekend likely will be our first night run since the beginning of the year. We don’t boat at night necessarily…
The winter boating season is upon us with the first big storm of the year: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2007/oct/27/no-headline—ferry/. We’ve been boating year-round between Olympia and Port Hardy for years now. One publication that we have found particularly useful in navigating through winter (and summer) storms is Environment Canada’s The Wind Came All Ways. The book contains detailed…
Very rough water off of Port Ludlow, WA this morning. We left Mats Mats Bay, WA at 8:15AM and started our trip back to Seattle and right outside of Matts Matts Bay we saw winds gusting to 52.9 kts (61 MPH). Here’s the weather station display from Dirona: Log entry from Dirona: 20070101 9:17AM (3204.6)…
We’ve spent Christmas and New Year’s afloat for the past several years. Sometimes we travel long distances to Desolation Sound or the Broughtons. Other years we just poke about Victoria and the Gulf Islands. Last year, we split the difference and cruised the Sunshine Coast.
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Queen Charlotte Strait was expecting near-hurricane force winds of 60 knots. It was the third successive night of big December winds and it wasn’t over yet. We listened to the weather report as 30-knot gusts boomed into our anchorage in Cullen Harbour.