Summer can be a rough time to go to Neah Bay
Going in the summer can be tough because that is when the days start to get warm and the fog is frequent. The warm land mass inland will suck the cooler ocean air inland and The Strait becomes a wind tunnel. Oak Harbor gets clobbered.
Another situation is when there were gale force winds the day before and you're westbound but there are left over swells coming at you from two directions and no wind. Yuk! But the problem is in the summer it is often really foggy in Port Townsend. What do people do? They sit there (in the marina or at anchor) until the visibility improves but by then it is almost too late. If the visibility improved it is because the wind started to arrive! Now it's too late!!!
However, maybe one can go in legs - Port Townsend to, say, Port Angeles, and work one's way up the south shore. John Wayne Marina is a good intermediate place but difficult to anchor out because the locals have taken all the good spots. Frankly, while we've circumnavigated Vancouver Island, been to Barkley Sound and Tofino many times, and Alaska, we've never been to Neah Bay, but not because of the weather - because that is where the Coast Guard has a station.
What's wrong with that, you ask? I've heard a lot of horror stories - that's where they put their trainees. So? Well, guess what trainees do, they inspect little pleasure boats! Down to every last detail. Personally, I'd prefer a Homeland Security boarding party 'cuz you never know what the other guys will come up with.
Crossing the border:
Barkley Sound is a nice place to visit. It can get pretty windy because it is pretty well open to the Pacific but there are numerous places to anchor, not all hurricane holes though. Bamfield is interesting but it has been developed. Ditto with Tofino, nice but many of the good anchorages have been taken over by fish farms. They're everywhere. I've been told one can tie up to them but ... no thanks.
Before crossing from one side of the Strait to the other, make sure there is a Customs and Immigration check-in place. Since the US has cut their budget this was one of the first on the chopping block. Roach Harbor is the main clearing point and Port Townsend by appointment (a PITA). Neah Bay? I don't think is a clearing point. The Canadians, on the other hand, have numerous places where one can clear but the main one is in Victoria at the inner harbor and also the one on Pender Island. Once you're in their system, the other places work well (RVYC, Cadboro Bay, etc.).
One recent trip we had coming back from Barkley Sound started out in reasonably thick fog and then the wind picked up but it was still thick fog. The Canadians were going to do military exercises on the north side of the Strait and we could hear aircraft overhead, see ship targets on the radar, the bright sun ball through the fog, but visibility forward was terrible. Winds kicked up to 40 kts, we were doing 10 kts through the water, and in the early afternoon put in to Sooke because I was too tired to continue to Victoria. What a white-knuckle sleigh ride. You sure wouldn't want to have been be going the other direction.
We like Sooke. Neat place.
