Hola NW's

Oct 30, 2009
6
hunter 1977 sloop seattle
Hello, I'm new to the NW and new to sailing. I want to plan a cruise to the San Juan's this summer and would love any advice on where to go,when to leave,what to read, what to have, and what to expect.
 

Bob V

.
Mar 13, 2008
235
Catalina 42mkII Lagoon Point
Thanks for posting

I was wondering when someone would start to use this forum. It has been empty for quite some time.

I would recommend that you pick up the latest copy of Waggoner's Guide as a start. Another good book is Gunkholing the San Juans.

You will need some way to predict the tides and currents. There are many paper tide atlasses available but if you are travelling with a computer there is an excellent piece of software called Tides & Currents Pro. The benefit of this is that it gives you information on many differnt areas. That is important especially after you get north of Port Townsend. The currents can run very fast in some places and those of us who travel in slow boats can not afford to ignore them. The times can vary widely from place to place.

There are many great state parks with mooring buoys and docks for you to use and you can buy a season pass that is a real bargain.

Plan on stopping overnight in Port Townsend so that you can begin your crossing early in the morning. The afternoon winds can blow strong in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the afternoon. You should try to find a day where the tide is ebbing in the morning and flooding in the afternoon so that it will be downhill the whole way across. The crossing is likely to take 5 hours or more. There is plenty of shipping traffic to watch out for.

There are way too many great places to cover them all in one reply or to see in one trip so I'll just give you a few .suggestions

Depart Port Townsend and head through Cattle Pass to Friday Harbor Marina. Friday Harbor to Reid Harbor at Stuart Island where you will find State Park mooring buoys and docks. Reid Harbor to Blind Island which has mooring buoys and a large area to anchor. If you feel like trying your luck at anchoring (you did say you are a newbie) Garrison Bay is an easy and well-protected anchorage. Sucia Island is a must-see kind of place with several areas to anchor or tie up to a park service buoy. Not exactly in the San Juans but Sap Sante Marina is a good departure for the return crossing to get back south.
 
May 23, 2007
1,306
Catalina Capri 22 Albany, Oregon
We did a walk-on ferry recon in October in preparation for our planned cruise next summer. We took the ferry from Anacortes to San Juan (with a stop at Lopez), had a cup of coffee at the little coffee shop next to the terminal, then onto the next ferry to Friday Harbor for lunch. A couple hours later we took the ferry from Friday Harbor back to Anacortes. Even though it was rainy/foggy it did give me a good opportunity to check things out and get a real feel for distances as I'd never been there before.

Our plan is to put in at Cap Sante in Anacortes (probably sleep there the first night as we're driving up from Oregon), sail to Spencer Spit the first day, then Friday Harbor the second night (marina/showers), and we'll sort of play it by ear from there. I'd like to go up to Sucia or around to Roche Harbor but I'm not sure we'll actually go around the outside on this first cruise or just stick to the inside. We're also not firm on the date yet - we're thinking around the 1st of August.

I can recommend OpenCPN for charting/tide/currents - it's free and uses free NOAA rnc or enc charts. I've also got "A cruising guide to Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands" and a Maptech Chartbook of the San Juans so I've got a set of compact paper charts (a capri 22 doesn't have a lot of room for big charts).
 
May 23, 2007
1,306
Catalina Capri 22 Albany, Oregon
ferry from Anacortes to Orcas with stop at Lopez . . . brain fart
 

bubba

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Apr 16, 2009
14
Macgregor M with the super cruser package Richland
You better pay a lot of attention to the tide charts the current in President's channel can be 6 to 10 mph and if you have a top crusing speed of 6 mph you will have to pull over and waite untill the current changes. I suggest ordering a tide calender from Evergreen Pacific publishing in Friday Harbor 425-493-1451 for the San Juan Islands, it has been a real help for us sence the tides can be extream and you can be setting on the bottom before you know it. There are Wa State Park buoys at a min. cost about .50 cents a foot boat length and several free DNR buoys on Cypress Island in 3 locations near Eagle Harbor, on Lopez island in Fishermens bay several free buoys too and a dingy dock to go to the restrurant.
Speaking of DINGIES you will probably need one to tow around to get to the islands unless your paying dearly for moorage every night, the tides can be almost 15 feet so getting to shore and dragging your dingy up to the high tide line is a must and a bike cable and lock is good to ensure a ride back to the your boat.
Bring hicking boots there's lots of trails to explore.
Bring 2 or 3 anchors, We use a #14 davenport with 50 ft of chain and in deep anchorages I use a 25lb anchor to hold the chain down on the bottom instead of 150 ft of chain.
See you there, We sail a MacGregor 26M named 'Inspiration'