This year we did a quick trip to the San Juan Islands and central Puget Sound.
I say cool because on the days with full sun it didn’t quite get to 80 degrees f. In fact we had 2 weeks of highs in the mid 70s. We motored most of the way due to un-cooperative winds.
Our trip began on Monday August 1st in Everett WA where we moor. We sailed North only to Langley for the first night because we got a fairly late start. http://www.visitlangley.com/ This is an older town which seems to cater to visiting boaters and tourists. This is a good place to find a meal or stock up on whatever you forgot. There seems to be no problem finding a slip on a weekday, but come early on weekends. This is a tiny well protected marina. Anchorage may be slightly bumpy except during the prevailing west wind.
Night 2 was Oak Harbor. This is a larger town with a well protected harbor. http://www.oakharbor.org/ Here the marina is about a mile walk from downtown. The trip back to the marina is easy. Just jump on bus #10 (free of charge!) and let them know you are headed for the marina and they drop you at the door. I recommend walking to town because it’s faster than waiting for them to dispatch a bus to pick you up. We had no problem finding a slip but anchorage is also abundant and pretty well protected.
August 3rd we timed our departure to allow slack current through Deception Pass.
This is a narrow area with scary currents caused by tide changes. Most people just hand our in Coronet Bay and wait. http://www.stateparks.com/deception_pass.html
This is a beautiful place (the docks area was a bit rundown however last time we actually stayed there.) and there seemed to be ample slips to tie up.
We spent the next night at Spencer Spit State Park in the San Juans. We had to anchor there because all the mooring balls were full. Here we experienced our first breakdown. The float valve seemed to be sticking on our little Honda 2hp we use in the dinghy. Then I broke the motor mount. It make for an interesting run back to the boat. This is a beautiful place. The only real amenities on shore are outhouses campsites, and a place to walk around. It’s still nice to get off the boat. http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=Spencer Spit
Next we planned to spend the evening at Fisherman’s Bay http://www.islandcam.com/fishermans.html but things didn’t work out a s planned. We stopped to catch some Dungeness crabs and the engine wouldn’t start. The starter solenoid failed. I started it by shorting the contacts with pliers and we then headed for Anacortes to get parts. We phoned someone to get phone numbers of Yanmar dealers and called along our way. We found they don’t sell solenoids without the whole starter assemblies and the assembly wasn’t available. We made an about face turn and landed in Blakley Island marina for the night. http://www.sail-the-net.com/marinas...ton/Blakely-Island/Blakely-Island-Marina.html This is a beautiful and well protected marina, but you are limited to stay on marina property and the rest of the island is private property including the roads.
Friday we landed at Friday Harbor. This is the largest town in the San Juan Islands and has a huge port facility. They have free concerts on Fridays in the marina and town totally caters to visitors. http://www.fridayharbor.com/ This is a place with something for everyone unless you are looking for solitude. Here I bought a new starter solenoid for a Ford pickup that I could parallel across the Yamar unit. I delayed that work because the starter began working again.
Saturday AM we got a call that my mom wasn’t well. We decided to head for home. We timed out departure for the current in deception pass and ended up in Oak Harbor again for the night. The next day we made it home (Sunday) and jumped in the car for the 2 hour drive to Olympia to see Mom. Thankfully she did get better (unexpected) and was eventually released from the hospital, but we decided to keep our remaining travels within a day of home.
Monday fixed the starter problem: Remember that Ford starter solenoid? It turns out that it’s the same part located inside my engine control console that energizes the Yamar solenoid and it had failed. I installed the new one and things are working great ($24.95 sure beats $450 for a new starter any day. )
Wednesday Mom seemed to be recovering so we headed out for some fishing (caught a small Silver salmon for dinner and froze the second half for later.) then spent the night at Kingston WA http://www.visitkitsap.com/cities.asp?ID=4 This is a great marina with lots of guest moorage (get reservations for summer weekends however)
Thursday we fished, crabbed and made our way to Port Ludlow. http://www.portludlowchamber.org/12.html
Friday and Saturday nights back at Kingston. We went fishing again, listened to music in the park, walked through the farmer’s market, and read. It was a great relaxing trip and caught 3 fish on the way home (2 undersize King (Chinook) Salmon which went back in the water and one pink salmon (Humpy) which we kept. All in all a great trip.
Oh yes, with all the salmon making their way in we saw lots of porpoise pods and seals enjoying the feast.
I say cool because on the days with full sun it didn’t quite get to 80 degrees f. In fact we had 2 weeks of highs in the mid 70s. We motored most of the way due to un-cooperative winds.
Our trip began on Monday August 1st in Everett WA where we moor. We sailed North only to Langley for the first night because we got a fairly late start. http://www.visitlangley.com/ This is an older town which seems to cater to visiting boaters and tourists. This is a good place to find a meal or stock up on whatever you forgot. There seems to be no problem finding a slip on a weekday, but come early on weekends. This is a tiny well protected marina. Anchorage may be slightly bumpy except during the prevailing west wind.
Night 2 was Oak Harbor. This is a larger town with a well protected harbor. http://www.oakharbor.org/ Here the marina is about a mile walk from downtown. The trip back to the marina is easy. Just jump on bus #10 (free of charge!) and let them know you are headed for the marina and they drop you at the door. I recommend walking to town because it’s faster than waiting for them to dispatch a bus to pick you up. We had no problem finding a slip but anchorage is also abundant and pretty well protected.
August 3rd we timed our departure to allow slack current through Deception Pass.
This is a narrow area with scary currents caused by tide changes. Most people just hand our in Coronet Bay and wait. http://www.stateparks.com/deception_pass.html
This is a beautiful place (the docks area was a bit rundown however last time we actually stayed there.) and there seemed to be ample slips to tie up.
We spent the next night at Spencer Spit State Park in the San Juans. We had to anchor there because all the mooring balls were full. Here we experienced our first breakdown. The float valve seemed to be sticking on our little Honda 2hp we use in the dinghy. Then I broke the motor mount. It make for an interesting run back to the boat. This is a beautiful place. The only real amenities on shore are outhouses campsites, and a place to walk around. It’s still nice to get off the boat. http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=Spencer Spit
Next we planned to spend the evening at Fisherman’s Bay http://www.islandcam.com/fishermans.html but things didn’t work out a s planned. We stopped to catch some Dungeness crabs and the engine wouldn’t start. The starter solenoid failed. I started it by shorting the contacts with pliers and we then headed for Anacortes to get parts. We phoned someone to get phone numbers of Yanmar dealers and called along our way. We found they don’t sell solenoids without the whole starter assemblies and the assembly wasn’t available. We made an about face turn and landed in Blakley Island marina for the night. http://www.sail-the-net.com/marinas...ton/Blakely-Island/Blakely-Island-Marina.html This is a beautiful and well protected marina, but you are limited to stay on marina property and the rest of the island is private property including the roads.
Friday we landed at Friday Harbor. This is the largest town in the San Juan Islands and has a huge port facility. They have free concerts on Fridays in the marina and town totally caters to visitors. http://www.fridayharbor.com/ This is a place with something for everyone unless you are looking for solitude. Here I bought a new starter solenoid for a Ford pickup that I could parallel across the Yamar unit. I delayed that work because the starter began working again.
Saturday AM we got a call that my mom wasn’t well. We decided to head for home. We timed out departure for the current in deception pass and ended up in Oak Harbor again for the night. The next day we made it home (Sunday) and jumped in the car for the 2 hour drive to Olympia to see Mom. Thankfully she did get better (unexpected) and was eventually released from the hospital, but we decided to keep our remaining travels within a day of home.
Monday fixed the starter problem: Remember that Ford starter solenoid? It turns out that it’s the same part located inside my engine control console that energizes the Yamar solenoid and it had failed. I installed the new one and things are working great ($24.95 sure beats $450 for a new starter any day. )
Wednesday Mom seemed to be recovering so we headed out for some fishing (caught a small Silver salmon for dinner and froze the second half for later.) then spent the night at Kingston WA http://www.visitkitsap.com/cities.asp?ID=4 This is a great marina with lots of guest moorage (get reservations for summer weekends however)
Thursday we fished, crabbed and made our way to Port Ludlow. http://www.portludlowchamber.org/12.html
Friday and Saturday nights back at Kingston. We went fishing again, listened to music in the park, walked through the farmer’s market, and read. It was a great relaxing trip and caught 3 fish on the way home (2 undersize King (Chinook) Salmon which went back in the water and one pink salmon (Humpy) which we kept. All in all a great trip.
Oh yes, with all the salmon making their way in we saw lots of porpoise pods and seals enjoying the feast.
