MLK weekend journey to Jones and Stuart Islands

We penciled this trip well ahead of time as we love to get away sailing for all three day weekends. On this occasion it was extra special because I had just finished repairing our leaking fuel tank, in rather epic fashion, which I will write about in my next post.

But first, the tale of this MLK weekend. The forecast was for stormy conditions and did not disappoint! We entertained a number of our favorite places as destinations: Tumbo, Sucia, Jones and Stuart. We had to head somewhere with good protection from SE winds, as that is the winter storm direction. We decided to let the conditions we saw dictate our destination. Sensible sailors we are!

Rejoicing in the stunning views of the entire world. This is looking  SW. 

We drove up Friday night and slept aboard, as we always like to get our full three days of fun on these weekends. Also, Amy and I have long understood that you are not anywhere, until you wake up there. Travelers know what we mean. You can fly your body anywhere in the world, in a day, but until you wake up there, you are not there. Your spirit, in some way, is not there. By going up on Friday, we allow our subconscious or spirit or whatever less overt aspects of our awareness catch up to our physical bodies, and when we wake Saturday morning, we are fully present and in adventure mode, not work, home or commute mode.



On Saturday morning the forecast was something like 15-30 SE. We departed Anacortes in a good blow, and had a bit of trouble even getting out of our marina. Gulf 32's being full keel means they don't back in any desired direction. A bit of back and forth and we were off.

View from the pilot house. Rough and stormy. 

For anyone not familiar with the voyages from Anacortes you may wish to know that Guemes Channel is an evil malicious place. You will never pass through Guemes Channel with the current with you. Instead, no matter the laws of physics, you will face three knots of opposing current which will slow you down to walking speed. Be warned. So it was, again, for us on this trip.

Once we got out by Cypress Island and could turn north, we had the waves at our back and it was not too rough. Winds moderate at around 20 knots. We went between Cypress and Guemes to avoid the larger fetch of Rosario Strait. However, at the top of Cypress, the ebb had started, and was not happy meeting the SE winds. We had quite a bumpy ride for the crossing from the top of Cypress over to Obstruction pass. It was around this time we decided to not extend our bouncing by going up to Tumbo or Sucia. Once in the San Juans you face a bit of fetch at the entrance to East Sound, but nothing much. We were through the Wasp Islands and to Jones in short order for a lovely day of hiking and fun.

Through the pilot house windows. More how it felt. 

The wind blew hard that night and though the north cove is sheltered, it does receive some rebound waves and wrap around. We decided to change venues and hop over to Reid Harbor, about 9 miles further NW. Reid is a hurricane hole, and Stuart Island has the best hiking and exploring of any of the non-ferry served islands.


So on Sunday we journeyed over, having a bit of chop between Jones and Spieden. We did one of our favorite walks and enjoyed our favorite view. It is a magical place.

On Monday, we left at first light and fought the wind and current back to Anacortes. It's normally 5 hours between places for a 6 knot vessel like ours, but this time it took a solid 6 hours. It blew a solid 20-25 knots, with an occasional gust to 30. The only area of real concern is crossing Rosario Strait on the way back, but that turned out to be easy. The harder stretch was on the back side of Cypress, where the wind against current created short steep waves that slowed us down quite a bit.

We saw very few other boats and people, and enjoyed all the games and bonding our boat trips always provide. Aeolus to the rescue again!

Owen alone, contemplating Legos or Tolkien or whatever his creative young mind  last chewed on.