Visiting Roche Harbor using their transient moorage on "C" dock during the off season works great for a two to three hour spree in town for lunch, touring the artistic enclave or doing the walk through the mausoleum. In season they open "C" dock to overnight guests, which leaves a small area on the outside of the breakwater, either on the north or south side of the Customs dock.
Anchoring in the Harbor has always worked for us, but can be a bit busy with boat traffic. An alternative we enjoy is Garrison Bay just a short trip south most of the way through Mosquito Pass. We usually head for the bottom of the Bay where water can become especially thin, but convenient to the dinghy dock.
It seems that when the lime kilns were in operation, the owners cleared all of the nearby hills of timber to feed the kilns. As a result the run off filled the Bay with silt making the Bay much shallower than before.
Touring the remnants of English Camp makes for a nice escape ashore. If the telescope is out usually you can observe activity in the Osprey nest. Be sure to take the short walk up the hill to the two Bat houses that contain about 1,500 bats with mounds of guano beneath.
http://threesheetsnw.com/blog/2013/07/destination-garrison-bay-san-juan-island-a-step-back-in-time/
Anchoring in the Harbor has always worked for us, but can be a bit busy with boat traffic. An alternative we enjoy is Garrison Bay just a short trip south most of the way through Mosquito Pass. We usually head for the bottom of the Bay where water can become especially thin, but convenient to the dinghy dock.
It seems that when the lime kilns were in operation, the owners cleared all of the nearby hills of timber to feed the kilns. As a result the run off filled the Bay with silt making the Bay much shallower than before.
Touring the remnants of English Camp makes for a nice escape ashore. If the telescope is out usually you can observe activity in the Osprey nest. Be sure to take the short walk up the hill to the two Bat houses that contain about 1,500 bats with mounds of guano beneath.
http://threesheetsnw.com/blog/2013/07/destination-garrison-bay-san-juan-island-a-step-back-in-time/
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