Link to pictures of the trip

My friend Bill and I completed our circumnavigation of San Juan Island yesterday. We did it according to plan which was a surprise, as according to weather reports of gale force winds, freezing temps and unfortunate tides. When you paddle in the San Juan’s, it is all about tides, currents and winds. However, do not always believe what you read in the charts or hear about weather forecasts. This week, I learned that being there can be just as important. So, back to the trip report... We arrived on time for the 7:45 ferry, loaded our kayaks mounted to our wheels and rolled aboard the state ferry who took us to Friday Harbor. Upon arrival we walked maybe 200 feet to Discovery Kayak Tours and met up with Richard Swanson (no relation) who runs the store and guide business. What a great guy. He stored our wheels for us so we did not have to carry them as we expected to return in a few days. The nice folks at the marina would not take our money to launch there and after suiting up in dry suits, we shoved off into the harbor. With Brown Island on our left we rounded the corner into the Maytag washing machine cycle going on in San Juan Channel in route to Turn Island and eventually into Cattle Pass. The weather was perfect with a few clouds and lots of blue sky. Around Turn Island we could see all the way down the pass to Cattle Point and were making good time according to the GPS at about 4.5 MPH. The thought of bailing out at Griffin Bay was quickly tossed based on our progress. We would have been there by 1:00! We moved to center channel and paddled to what we thought was Goose Island. As we got closer Goose Island it was not, but it was just around the corner and we hit slack at Cattle Point perfectly. I have never seen it so calm there. Surrounded by dozens of curious seals and under the watchful eyes of eagles and osprey, we paddled by Goose Island, the light house on the point, on to the West side of the island past American Camp. About 2:00ish, the plan was to stop for lunch at South Beach which meant a surf landing on the battered gravel beach there. Tired, thirsty and hungry we headed to shore. Bill, being the gentleman that he is, offered to save my gel coat and land first with his Eddyline “plastic” boat. He said he’d catch me and pull me up on the beach. OK, fine I said, you go first and then I proceeded to lay back, look at the sky, drop my hot arms in the cold water and take a deep breath.

When I looked up, he was standing in waist deep water with his upside down kayak rising up on a wave saying “I’m okay!”. He quickly moved out of the way of his heavy boat coming towards him as his paddle floated some 25 feet away. I missed it all, but as he described it, he seemed to be spun like a rolling pin a few times and spit out. We dubbed it a 2 ¾ Dough roller landing. I quickly surfed in and watched him clean gravel out of his boat as I ate my lunch. No harm to anything except an ego bruise as the pretty girl on the beach saw it all.

With 9 miles to go, we shoved off and paddled past numerous points. Each with its own tide rip to break up the glorious slight swell and current assist as we pushed on to San Juan County Park at Smallpox Bay.

We arrived about 6:00. Tired and glad the paddling day was over, we made camp, had dinner made a few calls and settled into the drinking. Richard showed up with some wine and a SPOT tracking device that would show our progress on a Google map. Bill was worried about critters, but the biggest problem with the black and white friendly camp kitty who wanted some attention.

Day two was much shorter paddling wise. Another great day on the water, with no wind or current to speak of. Where we thought we would be fighting the current in Mosquito Pass, it turned out to be going the other way and pushed us towards Roche Harbor in record time.

We set up camp at Posey Island and enjoyed a doctored up Minestrone soup and some red wine. The weather was turning and up went the blue tarp. We were both tired and hit the tents about 9:00. An hour or two later, the wind kicked up Big Time. That blue tarp was flapping and snapping in 30 to 40 knot winds. Bill woke up to secure it better, but it was hard to sleep with all that wind. Then the rain came, but I was warm and sung in my tent. Monday we moped around in the morning thinking we’d have to stay her another night. Speiden Channel was full of white caps and the wind driven rain was coming down sideways. But the being there part kicked in and the weather cleared. We started to get organized, and then it turned into packing our stuff. The sun came out a bit and we knew we were leaving for Jones. After getting a couple of gallons of water in the harbor, we set off for Jones and made it non-stop.

The place was deserted but for a few crows who promptly tried to steal our food. Again the tarp went up, dinner was made and we battened down everything for the big wet blow that was coming. We consumed massive amounts of food, drink and Advil. We took in the views of seals, eagles, Dolls porpoise and all sorts of sea birds.

Wednesday morning it rained but we had a great breakfast, packed up the gear and set off to return to Friday Harbor. This was a demanding paddle as it was into the wind for several hours. We passed Yellow Island, through the Wasp Islands and eventually to Shaw Island. We knew we had to cross San Juan Channel at some point and kept watching the whitecaps there on our right with the wind blowing the tops off the waves. Richard had suggested we cross at Neck Point to Point Caution. That was NOT going to happen. I had a feeling the wind would die down with the current later in the day so we pushed on to Point George and decided that would be the place to cross. Well as luck would have it, the wind did die down and the whitecaps disappeared and Richard watched us from his shop make the crossing. He met us with our wheels and we enjoyed his company and stories over dinner and a few beers. The paddling trip was over but the drive home was a monsoon of wind driven rain and standing water over the roadways. Today, I spent the better part of the day washing and drying gear thinking about my next trip.

Sat down today to study my current atlas, tides, ferry schedules, charts and destinations for my week long San Juan islands trip next month. It was not good. The prime time for paddling is 10:00 to about 4:00. This allows sufficient time to eat breakfast, break camp, pack up and reach your destination with time for setting up camp and eating dinner. Everything was against my plans. The current atlas advised me to leave around 7:00 with minimal assist, and there were times where we'd have to wait several hours for tide change to meet that days final destination. I was unable to find any prime time paddling hours with any favorable currents going West across the top of Orcas Island. I then decided to chart out taking a ferry to Friday Harbor and crossing the top of Orcas from West to East. It also resulted in fighting currents and using odd hours to find favorable currents. Such is life. I cannot change the dates of the trip but the entire trip might change now. I ended putting everything away and will look at it with fresh eyes later. An alternative might be to circumnavigate San Juan Island. If this ends up being the plan, the current atlas will dictate which direction.. Clockwise or counter-clockwise. There are a few positives attractions with this route and if the weather is bad, there will be minimal open water exposures. We'll see what happens.

You have been warned! This is what Tequila does to you.

Paddled the flood under the Deception Pass Bridge on the Whidbey Island side of Deception Pass today with Meagan, Ian and Chester. The weather was great, clear blue skies and no wind. It was the first time I had paddled my Nordkapp kayak there and it did not disappoint. The amount of water that flows through this narrow pass is like 900 million gallons on a peak tidal exchange. The geographic features causes all that water to do some interesting things. Whirpools form and disappear just as quick. Some are as big as a car and will throw y0u down hard after jolting you into a clockwise spin. The water there boils, churns forms standing waves, and runs FAST, nonstop.

We were at the Room of Doom (ROD) all day at the base of the bridge. There is no place to rest or event get out of the boat there, so it was non-stop paddling and playing. The ROD form this huge boiling feature that will suck you in, and smash you against the barnacle encrusted rock walls. Luckilly, I managed to power out of there as it drew me within inches of the wall. Others left offerings of gelcoat today. By 4:00, I was running on fumes and so tired, I had difficulty keeping control and even sculling and rolling were a difficult. Nobody swam, or needed rescue, but we all rolled several times to cool off. Ian had a nice combat roll, made more difficult by the fact that Chesters kayak was under the bow of Ians boat. He actually rotated over Chesters boat in the roll. Great but exhausting day. Good thing I can go to work tomorrow and rest up for the next time.