San Jauns, WA in July

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smidnite

San Jauns, WA in July

Post by smidnite »

Does anybody know of any planned trips? We haven't set a date but would love to meet up with some Mac owners. We'll be up from Fri to FRi. Currently it's one Mac and one powerboat. We go up through La Conner to the islands. :macx:
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Duane Dunn, Allegro
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Post by Duane Dunn, Allegro »

See this thread. We are planning a big gathering of Mac from both the US and Canada in July in the San Juans and Gulf Islands.

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1510
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desert wind
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Post by desert wind »

There will be two m boats out of bend oregon heading to the san juans in late august during the full moon. We will probably leave out of the everett marina and go from there any advice would be welcomed
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Duane Dunn, Allegro
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Post by Duane Dunn, Allegro »

Full Moon = Big tides.

The run from Everett up Saratoga Passage to inside Deception Pass is a comfortable days trip. Make sure you stay to the left of Camano Head and then hug the Camano Island shore on your way north. Transiting Deception Pass is something everyone should do at least once. It's quite a sight to see. Make sure you go through within 1/2 hour of slack and you will have no problems. There is a nice park with docks and a marina in Cornet Bay. This is a great place to spend a night and wait for slack in the pass. Exit Deception pass on the tail of an Ebb. For the shortest crossing of Rosario Strait run north a ways until near Williamson Rocks, then make a bee line across the strait for the Lopez Pass entrance to the islands. From there it is an easy protected trip north up Lopez Sound and into the passage through the middle of the San Juan Islands. Keep your eyes out for fishing nets. There are often quite a few just outside and north of Deception Pass on the east side of the Strait.

If you choose not to do Deception Pass, your other choice is to transit the Swinomish Channel via La Conner. Be sure to follow the chart and buoys perfectly at the entrance as it is a narrow channel and very shallow outside. Look for the entrance day marks on the pilings. It seems like it's way out in the middle of no where, but don't cut any corners. The north end of the channel puts you into Padila Bay. Head West out Guemes Channel past Anacortes and across the strait to Thatcher Pass.

In the Islands some of our favorite stops are:

Spencer Spit, Lopez Island
Fishermans Bay, Lopez Island
Deer Harbor, Orcas Island
Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
Roche Harbor, San Juan Island
Blakely Marina, Blakely Island
Blind Bay, Shaw Island
Ried Harbor, Stuart Island
North Bay, Jones Island
Fox Cove, Sucia Island
Shallow Bay, Sucia Island
Echo Bay, Sucia Island
West Bay, James Island
Cornet Bay, Whidbey Island
North Bay, Hope Island (inside Deception Pass)
LaConner Marina, LaConner
Langley Boat Harbor, Whidbey Island (southern part, a nice final stop on the way home just short of Everett)

I highly recommend the Waggoner Guide. You can get info on everywhere you might ever want to stay in the islands.

www.waggonerguide.com

The new 2005 one is now all color.
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Tom Spohn
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Post by Tom Spohn »

Depending on your interests I would also add Rosario on Orcas Island to Duane's list--preferably on a Friday night for your last night in the San Juans. This stop is 100% pampering for the Admiral and yourself and is not inexpensive. The fish buffet has to be seen to be believed! There is the organ concert in the evening. If you like to hike it is a medium walk up the hill through the woods to Cascade Lake which looks a lot like an Alpine lake nestled in the woods. We try to never miss it when in the islands. Rosario is not your place if you are looking for a wilderness adventure, however. :)
Metrognome

san juans, wa in july

Post by Metrognome »

Desert Wind.
Another great stop in the San Juans is Cypress Island. If you like hiking and some elevated views of the Islands, Cypress has miles of trails.
Pelican Beach has a DNR campsite with mooring bouys, not the best spot for sleeping on the boat if there is much water movement, exposed to boat wakes. rocker stoppers and stern anchor or stern ties help. The upside of Pelican is the access to the trails and the views of Mount Baker.
Just abit south of Pelican beach is Eagle Habor, its well protected and has good trail access, you will have to anchor.
Definately get the Waggoner guide if you haven't already..
Enjoy your trip....Paul T.
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desert wind
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Post by desert wind »

Thanks for the tips Rosario is a must for sure. I like the sound of full moon sailing but I was wondering what the tide issue will be. This will be our first sea adventure as we will have only had the boat in lakes untill then. I do have some experiance with the san juans as a youngster growing up in mukilteo. My mac has a 70 honda out board so I am familiar with powerboating but the mac is my first sailor.
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Tom Spohn
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Post by Tom Spohn »

Having both kayaked and sailed in the San Juans (and the Puget Sound), my experience is that you need tide information only for anchoring to know the depth of your anchor site to compute the appropriate amount of rode, or to know the depth in a shallow area you wish to transit. For actually sailing or motoring you will need current information, which you can obtain from books or a site similar to this:

http://www.sailwx.info/tides/tidemap.ph ... ation=1371

Current is less during a 1/2moon and greatest during a full moon or new moon and varies greatly from day to day and week to week, so don't expect the same conditions at the same time of the day. The worst situation is when the current opposes the wind direction which leads to standing waves which can be steep and uncomfortable. Usually not dangerous--and the Mac will go through them, but the discomfort may upset the Admiral. :( Another consideration is that this area has some large power boats, ferries, and fishing boats transiting which can add some really steep wakes to the standing waves. Should this dampen your spirit? No--just be thoughtful and plan your route carefully considering the wind and currents before you set out, and have a backup in case things get hairy. Keep current charts on board and listen to the Weather Radio frequently as the weather can change fairly quickly at the end of August.

Our favorite sailing area is in Orcas Island East Sound just south of the entrance to Rosario. You can sail in relatively sheltered waters with a good breeze off Orcas over through Peavine Pass or Obstruction Pass, keeping a close eye on your charts/GPS, down between Blakely and Cypress and over to Guemes. We like the fuel dock at Blakely Marina, and there are snacks in the store. For motoring in protected waters we like going from Deer Harbor through the Wasp Islands, but keep an eye out for the Ferries. When going from Deer Harbor to Rosario make sure you transit Pole Pass during slack or with the current. If going against the current, it can literally be like trying to climb a small waterfall :o If the current is against us we usually detour through the Wasp Islands and over the top of Shaw. Once kayaking in this area we got into a discussion over whether deer could swim. Just then on cue, a deer jumped off a small islet off the northwest coast of Shaw and swam ashore. End of discussion. If you have a dinghy and like to look at the wildlife in tide pools we really liked visiting Alegria, Double, Victim islands in West Sound of Orcas.

I strongly recommend getting the 2005 issue of Waggoner's Guide. Don't forget your binoculars and camera/video. In my work I have been all over the planet, but would be hard pressed to find an area as beautiful as the San Juans. Happy voyage :D
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desert wind
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Post by desert wind »

Thanks Tom my wife realy likes port townsand wondering what the run across would be like fron there. We would go to the south end of whidby across to port townsand spend the night there. Does this sound like a reasonable plan our would you plan on port townsand on the way back to everett
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Duane Dunn, Allegro
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Post by Duane Dunn, Allegro »

We have made that trip quite a few times. It is just over 30 Nautical miles from Everett around the south end of Whidbey to Port Towsend.

Once you are around Possesion Point at the south end of Whidbey cross early headed for Point No Point. Then hug the shore through Skunk Bay to Foul Weather Bluff. If the wind is out of the NW, and it usually is, it can get quite rough in Admiralty Inlet between Whidbey Island and Foulweather Bluff. This is the area in the Sound we consistantly find we run into the roughest water. Once to Foul Weather Bluff, cross the mouth of Hood Canal and head more north into Oak Bay. Transit through the Port Townsend canal into Port Townsend. Be sure to check the tides and currents. At max flow the current can reach 5 knots in the canal.

From the canal it's a straight shot north up to Port Townsend. Or if you want something besides a marina, we love Fort Flaggler state park across the bay on Morrowstone Island. The park is great, some of the best beach combing and driftwood fort building you will find anywhere. Wonderful hikes on the trails around all the WWII gun installations. A great place to ride bikes as well. They have a nice dock and mooring Buoys. Be sure to follow the chart, it's a long curving entrance to avoid the very shallow areas in Kilisut Harbor.

Out of Port Townsend you head north past Point Wilson across the Strait of Juan De fu@ for the San Juans. This is a 29 Nautical Mile trip. Point Wilson is notorious for it's rough water. It is particularly bad with a NW wind against an Ebb tide. The seas get very short and steep. It is almost always worse in the afternoon. Plan to leave early and ideally ride the tail end of and ebb tide out, then catch the change to a flood for the rest of the trip north. Stay west of Partridge Bank and well west of Smith Island as it is foul for quite a ways off. If you time it right you will arrive at Cattle Point and the entrance to San Juan channel just as the flood current builds to give you a boost into the islands. It's an easy trip to either Fishermans Bay on Lopez Is. or Friday Harbor on San Juan Island from there. If you go to Fishermans, don't be dismayed by the approach. You have to go past the piling with the marker well in to the beach before you can see the channel and make the turn to starboard to pass through the entrance.

You also can place this passage at the end of the trip and do it in reverse. A nice loop would be Everett north through Saratoga passage, out Deception Pass, cruise in the Islands, then home via Port Townsend.

We did generally the opposite last summer. We left from launched in Lake Washington, went out through the locks then north from Seattle to Fort Flaggler. After a quick stop at Port Townsend we crossed the Strait and went to Fishermans Bay. From there we went through the San Juan and Gulf Islands, across the Strait of Georgia and all the way up into Jervis Inlet to Pricess Louisa. On the way back 3 weeks later, after cruising more in the Gulfs and San Juans we exited the islands at Lopez Pass and went in through Deception Pass, south through Saratoga Passage with a stop at Langley, then past Everett back south to Seattle, the locks and the lake.

You can see the full story here in our online log book.

http://www.ddunn.org/LogBook42.htm

It will give you good idea what to expect. If you poke around in the log book you will see other trips we have made out of Everett to Fort Flagger and Port Ludlow which is basically the same passage.
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Tom Spohn
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Post by Tom Spohn »

I think I would consult the tide tables on both sides of the trip to decide whether to go to PT on the way up to or back from the San Juans.
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