Fantastic Labor Day at Tumbo Island

Tumbo Island is in the Canadian National Park system and lies just east of Saturna Island in the Straits of Georgia. It's not unknown, but it's not Salt Spring either. It has become our new favorite place to go for a long US weekend because it has a perfect assortment of the things we love: a good sail to get there, incredible views, great hiking, great birds and critters, great beaches, wilderness feel, and fewer people than the US islands over the holiday weekends.

Being just north of the border you might expect it to be popular, and yet it is quite remote because it lies a good distance from either the main US or Canadian towns. It's a long haul from Bellingham and a long haul from Sidney or Victoria or such. As a result, and despite the magnificence of the place, it is often fairly deserted. It turned out that the Labor Day weekend for Canadians overlaps with that for the US, and so instead of the Canadians disappearing on Sunday afternoon as we see at Memorial Day, they all stayed around with the few Americans for another day of bliss in this amazing spot.

The eastern shore of Tumbo at low tide

At 6 knots it takes about 5 hours of travel from Friday Harbor to Bedwell for customs, and then east to Tumbo. That time will soon be cut almost in half for us when the whole family has their Nexus cards, but for this trip we made an almost sentimental return to Bedwell for clearance through. It is 18 miles direct from Tumbo to Friday Harbor and with the ebb on our stern we averaged 7.5 knots on the way back and did it in less than 3 hours.Having the current with you is not a mere convenience for this trip, as it passes through some of the strongest tidal areas in the Salish Sea and you don't want that against you, or against a strong contrary wind. That is, unless you are in the mood for challenge, which we sometimes are.