I'm Chartering a 30ft Catalina in Anacortes next week for four days. I would like to here from anybody where to not miss and where not to go, this is only my second charter but I did charter in Australia. I'm really excited about all the islands, it almost seems like Australia. My hunter is in Florida a lot of skinny water, it looks like most all is very deep there. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks,Jim
- Status
Jim
Jim, There was a posting on this dated 8/4/06 that had about 20 replies. Do a search under "San Juan Islands Suggestions" in the active forums. I live in the San Juans. If you have questions after reading the other thread, please feel free to ask. Gary Wyngarden S/V Wanderlust h37.5
Jim, There was a posting on this dated 8/4/06 that had about 20 replies. Do a search under "San Juan Islands Suggestions" in the active forums. I live in the San Juans. If you have questions after reading the other thread, please feel free to ask. Gary Wyngarden S/V Wanderlust h37.5
Hey, Jim if you're chartering
with the guys out of Cap Sante marina, they give a great captain's meeting overview on the navigational stuff. Yep, deep, but COLD.
with the guys out of Cap Sante marina, they give a great captain's meeting overview on the navigational stuff. Yep, deep, but COLD.
Guide books
Hi Jim, We just got back about three weeks ago. I would recommend Afloat and Afoot guide book on the San Juans. Excellent information. We always enjoy Roche Harbor for one or two nights. Fresh shrimp on the dock with good wine! We like to go crabbing and Garrison bay is good. If you don't want to go that far James Island or Spencer spit is nice. We have spent a couple of nights on a mooring ball at Rosario. We spent one night at the resort and I think its highly overrated. The first time we went we tried to do to much. We cut it in half and that was still to much. There is so much to do and see or not to do that you will want to go again. Take Gary up on any advice. We e-mailed a couple that live up there before we went the first time and is was great to have local Knowlege. You will have a great time. Rob Morton S/V Euphoria.
Hi Jim, We just got back about three weeks ago. I would recommend Afloat and Afoot guide book on the San Juans. Excellent information. We always enjoy Roche Harbor for one or two nights. Fresh shrimp on the dock with good wine! We like to go crabbing and Garrison bay is good. If you don't want to go that far James Island or Spencer spit is nice. We have spent a couple of nights on a mooring ball at Rosario. We spent one night at the resort and I think its highly overrated. The first time we went we tried to do to much. We cut it in half and that was still to much. There is so much to do and see or not to do that you will want to go again. Take Gary up on any advice. We e-mailed a couple that live up there before we went the first time and is was great to have local Knowlege. You will have a great time. Rob Morton S/V Euphoria.
four days
If I only had four days to return to the San Juans, I'd find out where the Orca are hanging out, and beeline to that spot. And if I had more than four days, I'd leave the San Juans entirely and head north to the Gulf islands.
If I only had four days to return to the San Juans, I'd find out where the Orca are hanging out, and beeline to that spot. And if I had more than four days, I'd leave the San Juans entirely and head north to the Gulf islands.
Bobsail
We did not have anybody with us that knew the area. We did have another couple with us in their boat but neither of us had been up there. I did quite a bit of reading and as I mentioned emailed the other couple alot. To be perfectly honest we were a little bit nervous the first day out crossing Rosario Strait, but the second or third day we were getting pretty comfortable. We didn't have a lot of problems with the currents or anything. We tried to time it so that we used them to our advancage. Sometimes we had to fight the current to get a longer better run in another strait. We came out of Spieden channel to catch San Jaun channel and were down to 1.8 knots but once out did 8.5 knots with the current. Are you guys thinking of going up there? We want to go up next year again but my wife wants another boat to go with us. How is your boat doing up in Portland? We were discussing if we are going to moor up there this fall. We have to pull out about the middle of Sept. and may come up there then. Rob Morton S/V Euphoria
We did not have anybody with us that knew the area. We did have another couple with us in their boat but neither of us had been up there. I did quite a bit of reading and as I mentioned emailed the other couple alot. To be perfectly honest we were a little bit nervous the first day out crossing Rosario Strait, but the second or third day we were getting pretty comfortable. We didn't have a lot of problems with the currents or anything. We tried to time it so that we used them to our advancage. Sometimes we had to fight the current to get a longer better run in another strait. We came out of Spieden channel to catch San Jaun channel and were down to 1.8 knots but once out did 8.5 knots with the current. Are you guys thinking of going up there? We want to go up next year again but my wife wants another boat to go with us. How is your boat doing up in Portland? We were discussing if we are going to moor up there this fall. We have to pull out about the middle of Sept. and may come up there then. Rob Morton S/V Euphoria
Interest in San Juan Islands
Gary: We saw your reply in regards to the islands. My wife Alison and I are considering the islands for retirement sometime in the next five years or so. We have a 04' 44DS and have been told that these islands are the best. We plan to travel there to explore this idea in the next year or so. Can we stay in touch? Thanks Carl Jablonski cjablonski@swinerton.com Los Angeles
Gary: We saw your reply in regards to the islands. My wife Alison and I are considering the islands for retirement sometime in the next five years or so. We have a 04' 44DS and have been told that these islands are the best. We plan to travel there to explore this idea in the next year or so. Can we stay in touch? Thanks Carl Jablonski cjablonski@swinerton.com Los Angeles
Whimsea
Carl, By all means feel free to ask me any questions you'd like. If you are sailing your boat up, leave plenty of time for exploring up the BC coast. If you love to sail and don't mind cool and rainy winters, it's a great place to retire. Gary Wyngarden S/V Wanderlust h37.5 gwyngarden@rockisland.com
Carl, By all means feel free to ask me any questions you'd like. If you are sailing your boat up, leave plenty of time for exploring up the BC coast. If you love to sail and don't mind cool and rainy winters, it's a great place to retire. Gary Wyngarden S/V Wanderlust h37.5 gwyngarden@rockisland.com
Thanks
Gary: I'm sure we will have more questions. We're hoping to fly up there this Christmas and check it out for a week or so. Thanks for the reply!
Gary: I'm sure we will have more questions. We're hoping to fly up there this Christmas and check it out for a week or so. Thanks for the reply!
Emmet Watson's KBO
I always offer this honest warning to the authors of these kinds of threads... The weather in Washington is nice only three months of the year. The rest of the time it is cold, rainy and depressing. We have the highest suicide rate in the nation. You will also need a large cabin heater which will poison you with carbon monoxide. Sales taxes are high, gasoline and diesel are more expensive than the rest of the country mostly due to high fuel taxes. Did I mention property taxes are outrageous? Winds are light, fluky, and inconsistent. Plan on motoring at least 50% of the time, which will bankrupt you because of the preceding paragraph. Cruising the San Juans is difficult and unpleasant. Currents are strong, so planning is tough. Seems like you always have to travel in the morning to catch the current, but the wind never comes up till afternoon. It is always foggy, especially in the summer. Powerboaters are rude, will run you over, and swamp you with four and five foot wakes. The eel grass is awful and will clog your freshwater intake. The water may be deep, but hidden reefs and rocks are strewn everywhere. Maybe you'll find one! In recent years, the islands have been discovered by high tech baby-boomer millionaires who are building obscene monster houses and ruining the landscape, so there is now a two-tiered economy---rich snobs tele-commuting or retiring, and native islanders trying to scratch out a living catering to tourists. The two groups need each other, but despise each other. In word, everybody is crabby and unfriendly. They won't like you either. Red Tide is pervaisive, so at the moment and during most of August you can't eat the shellfish (our perhaps you should, as we would suffer one fewer invader). The yellow jackets at Roche Harbor make killer bees look like Gulf-Coast no-seeums. You will be forced to screen your port windows and stay below. Finally, the region's baseball team, named for our favorite pasttime, represents life in this corner of the world---they're a bunch of losers! Southern California is much nicer, and nothing will ever match its warm, constant breezes (don't listen to Gary, he lives in West Sound which is nothing but a slit into the side of the barren rock that is Orcas Island, or Fred, who lives on Hood Canal, a dead tidewater wasteland, or even Phil who works on Lake Union in Seattle, a large polluted urban mudpuddle). Of course I like it here, because I grew up here and don't know that a better world exists elsewhere (ignorance is bliss!). But its only fair and nice that I share with you how I've watched other transplants try to adapt to these hostile and difficult conditions and climate. People usually usually give up and leave after a short time. So why come at all? Not that you wouldn't be welcomed..... Dean Strong Lifelong Member of the late Emmet Watson's KBO (Keep the Bastards Out)
I always offer this honest warning to the authors of these kinds of threads... The weather in Washington is nice only three months of the year. The rest of the time it is cold, rainy and depressing. We have the highest suicide rate in the nation. You will also need a large cabin heater which will poison you with carbon monoxide. Sales taxes are high, gasoline and diesel are more expensive than the rest of the country mostly due to high fuel taxes. Did I mention property taxes are outrageous? Winds are light, fluky, and inconsistent. Plan on motoring at least 50% of the time, which will bankrupt you because of the preceding paragraph. Cruising the San Juans is difficult and unpleasant. Currents are strong, so planning is tough. Seems like you always have to travel in the morning to catch the current, but the wind never comes up till afternoon. It is always foggy, especially in the summer. Powerboaters are rude, will run you over, and swamp you with four and five foot wakes. The eel grass is awful and will clog your freshwater intake. The water may be deep, but hidden reefs and rocks are strewn everywhere. Maybe you'll find one! In recent years, the islands have been discovered by high tech baby-boomer millionaires who are building obscene monster houses and ruining the landscape, so there is now a two-tiered economy---rich snobs tele-commuting or retiring, and native islanders trying to scratch out a living catering to tourists. The two groups need each other, but despise each other. In word, everybody is crabby and unfriendly. They won't like you either. Red Tide is pervaisive, so at the moment and during most of August you can't eat the shellfish (our perhaps you should, as we would suffer one fewer invader). The yellow jackets at Roche Harbor make killer bees look like Gulf-Coast no-seeums. You will be forced to screen your port windows and stay below. Finally, the region's baseball team, named for our favorite pasttime, represents life in this corner of the world---they're a bunch of losers! Southern California is much nicer, and nothing will ever match its warm, constant breezes (don't listen to Gary, he lives in West Sound which is nothing but a slit into the side of the barren rock that is Orcas Island, or Fred, who lives on Hood Canal, a dead tidewater wasteland, or even Phil who works on Lake Union in Seattle, a large polluted urban mudpuddle). Of course I like it here, because I grew up here and don't know that a better world exists elsewhere (ignorance is bliss!). But its only fair and nice that I share with you how I've watched other transplants try to adapt to these hostile and difficult conditions and climate. People usually usually give up and leave after a short time. So why come at all? Not that you wouldn't be welcomed..... Dean Strong Lifelong Member of the late Emmet Watson's KBO (Keep the Bastards Out)
- Status