Wonderful circuit of the San Juans with Orcas and Dungeness

Amy and I have some time without the boys and so took advantage of the 4th of July weekend for a four day sailing trip into some new places.

We left Anacortes on Friday and went down the Swinomish Channel to catch Dungeness on the opening day. It's interesting that when you look online for information on the channel it is filled with dire warnings and cautionary tales. I've gone through several times and it seems to me no more or less hazardous than any place I go, and much less troubling than many. Anyway, once through the channel uneventfully we did some crabbing on our way to Cornet Bay. We caught a few keepers before arriving, and found good crabbing right in the Bay itself.

It can be a bit rolly in Cornet Bay because the zippy power boats launch right there and pay no attention to you being anchored. But the views are stunning, and it quiets down at dark.

The next day we had an incredible journey with the ebb and flood. We transited Deception Pass with the last of the ebb, and that is always a highlight of any trip. Riding this waning ebb toward south Lopez, we caught the start of the flood right up Haro Strait to our destination at D'Arcy Island across the border into Canada. South Lopez is among the prettiest spots in all the San Juans. It is most like the islands much further north in Canada and makes you feel farther away than you are. Jagged rocks and crashing coves. We had to flip on the radar near Cattle Pass as some fog rolled in, and there were many fishing boats.

Arriving at D'Arcy for the first time was a real treat. We had never been there, and as far as we can tell, it is rarely visited. We anchored out on the north side on a large shallow shelf. Easy and abundant anchoring. You are fully sheltered from the prevailing summer SW winds, though not in any sort of real bay or cove. The wind was strong this day and night, but we were just fine and had little rolling. Once we had set anchor, Amy and I took off and hiked around the entire island. Unfortunately, Parks Canada seems to do nothing really to maintain the park. It's too bad, because it is a real gem. There is no trail whatsoever around the island, and the trails shown in our guidebook do not exist anymore.

On D'Arcy. Lovely place no one visits.

To go around D'Arcy you simply bushwack and follow deer trails here and there, or walk on the beach if it is low tide. Like most islands in the area, it is dry and open on the West, and wetter and bushier on the East. Well worth doing. Took us an hour and change. No problem. The guidebook says there is a memorial to the Chinese lepers kept here, but we found no memorial around the old building foundations. There is only one parks sign that gives a very brief mea culpa about the history.

The next day we hopped over to old friend Stuart Island. This was a sunny and brightly warm day, and we had one of the nicest days of the year so far. We hiked out to Turn Point, finding that they have moved the museum to the old lighthouse building itself, and have opened the old residence for visits after an amazing renovation and decoration to make it look like 1955. It is truly an exceptional bit of decorating and restoring, and a credit to the volunteers of the Turn Point Lightouse Society. 

Turn Point on a perfect day

While we were out there, I spotted a cluster of boats in Haro Straits, which always means there are Orcas nearby. Sure enough, the boats and Orcas came north and cruising up toward the Pender Islands. Shame how those magnificent Orcas can't do a damn thing without a hive of mosquito like boats around them. Never a moment of peace for them.

We left Turn Point and went to one of our other favorite spots and saw even more Orcas!

We stayed in Reid Harbor along with about 75 other boats and had a lovely and quiet evening. No generators, and no obnoxious parties or anything. Thank you other boaters!

Today we fought an incredible ebb down New Channel on the north side of Spieden, hitting it at max ebb and for a while at full throttle we were standing still. I'd say for a good 30 minutes we made no forward progress. So there was 6 knots of current at that time. In retrospect, we should have gone down Spieden Channel, which though similarly against you, gives more chance for eddies along the shore.

We made it down and into the Wasp Islands and when we popped out at Lopez, we saw another group of Orcas! Three different groups over two days, and never did we go looking for them. The wind was fairly high today, at a steady 20-25 knots. And the day has been overcast and rather cold. Crossing Rosario Strait was a bumpy ride, and I was grateful it was flooding with the wind or it would have been rather nasty. But we did 9.7 knots in Guemes Channel, making up some time spent hanging out at Spieden. About 6 hours from Stuart Island back to Anacortes.

Reid Harbor, though full, was quiet and gorgeous

So we ended up doing a magnificent circuit of the San Juans, from the very bottom, up to Stuart and back. And we went to a new place at D'Arcy and favorite places on Stuart. Altogether a truly wonderful few days of exploring the Salish Sea.