A Fourth of July Escapade-McMicken and Penrose

 We hopped aboard Aeolus this past weekend to enjoy the South Sound by water, and had the good fortune of great weather. Not great wind, but that's how it is here in the Salish Sea. Too much or too little. I envy my San Francisco Bay Area friends who get 20-25 every single day all summer long. Anyway, I don't envy them anything else as they have nowhere to go!

We went straight to McMicken on Saturday afternoon and once again had a lovely overnight at that little gem. The island itself is unremarkable, and unfortunately has private inholdings, but the sandy spit that runs from the park to Harstine is a wonderful place to walk and explore. We swam and paddle boarded and were generally feral. It's a cool feature of the spit that at the right tides you can walk across as the current flows across. It's surreal. Magical. I recommend it!

On the way, glass calm

The guidebooks and reviews talk about the steep shelf but we have never had any trouble with the holding at McMicken. Just have a modern anchor design and not a CQR or Bruce. 

We left there and for the first time went to Penrose Point State Park. It's only a few hours around the Peninsula from McMicken and Pitt Passage is a lovely little gap to pass through. No Dodd Narrows here! We chose to anchor on the West side of the Point, though you have easier shore access on the East side. You drop in about 40 of water and have a fairly long trip from there to the beaches. We swam and paddle boarded and dinghied our way around, enjoying all the hiking trails. It's a little gem of a park for South Sound. It made us miss our favorite places further north, but for being down South it has much to offer. It's hardly a good winter anchorage as you are exposed fully to the North. 

Our trusty dinghy and paddle board nearby

Quite surprisingly, we enjoyed an amazing night of fireworks all around the Case Inlet. The entire shoreline was lit up by people with homes along the water, and the show lasted for many hours. You could even see the bigger municipal shows from behind the hills and trees. We joined in the fun by firing off our safety flares as the other nearby boats were doing. Our pyrotechnics went much higher than those poor landlubbers! 

The trip back to Swantown from there was about 4 hours. You certainly want the current to be your friend and not your enemy here. We saw porpoises, and harbor seals, bald eagles and kingfishers. Life!