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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
Re: Circumnavigation of San Juan Island, Part 3 *Pic*
Posted By: Shawn B In Response To: Re: Circumnavigation of San Juan Island, Part 2 (Mike Hanks)
Date: Friday, 1 September 2000, at 4:11 p.m.
That night, we prepared a huge pasta feast with a little help from Ragu. We had fettucini with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and dehydrated hamburger (I had expected to cook this feast on an island) in a red sauce with bagels!
We all went to bed early, but sleep was difficult thanks to the campful of noisy powerboaters in the next site. We got somewhat of a late start due to the fact that slack before ebb wasn't until about 10:00 that morning. Of course, Haro Strait doesn't get too many currents right next to San Juan Island because the island sits somewhat perpendicular to the flow coming in from the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
We paddled out of Mitchell Bay at about 10:30, and headed south along the coast. I had expected slack, but Mike noticed that all of the kelp was lying southward, indicating that we had a following current. It must have been a residual eddy from the last flood, but it was okay with us, because it was shooting us in our intended direction. To help things even more, we had a 5-7 knot tailwind that wasn't hurting either!
We took a brief rest stop alongshore between Smallpox Bay and Lime Kiln. After stretching, and eating a granola bar and some dried fruit, we were on our way. The first 6 miles of the trip took much less than 2 hours.
Just past the rest stop, the Lime Kiln Lighthouse came into view. There were hordes of people all over the beach, all sporting expensive binoculars and cameras, with the hopes of spotting orcas. As we later found out, all of the orcas ("Killer Whales") were either up the BC coast, or out in Juan de Fuca, eating salmon.
After we lost our current, making way got a bit slower.
We took another rest stop just outside False Bay. Dale paddled around the tide pools, Mike, Dan, and I poked in the tide pools and saw a lot of small crabs, and some really big ochre stars. Shell and Paula napped on the gravel and shell beach.
We got back out on the water about 3:15, and headed alongshore to Cattle Point. This shore is really boring. The south end of San Juan Island is very arid-the tapering off of trees from the north end to the south end was striking! Paddling along steep, seemingly endless dirt bluffs, we finally rounded Cattle Point. There were a few hikers out, probably settling in to wait and watch for the sunset. We paddled past the big beach homes just north of Cattle Point and on into Griffin Bay.
We had planned to camp over night at the Griffin Bay DNR site-but Griffin Bay is a big area, and we didn't know exactly where the campground was. Just inside the south end of the bay, we saw about 5 sailboats and a couple powerboats moored. Aha! This has got to be it.
Dan and Paula, Mike, and Dale were all taking pictures and watching seals on Harbor Rock, but Shell and I had the 'get back to the barn' instinct in full gear. We stopped at the nearest sailboat-Shell wanted to talk to the nearest boat, which was a motor yacht, but I told her I'd rather visit with sailers-to ask them if the place inshore was the DNR site.
They were a couple from New Mexico (traveled even farther than we had to taste sea water!) with a cute 3 year-old son named Josh who interjected a gleeful "HI!" into the conversation every 30 seconds. They told us they weren't even sure about the status of the shoreline. They had seen the other sailboats, and it was a good anchorage, but they hadn't explored inshore yet. They looked in their gunkholing book, and it said that the shore there was the San Juan National Park. The others caught up to us, and Mike paddled up to the shore for a closer look. A lone sign proclaimed "no camping!" If only kayaks had anchors and a v-berth-we were pooped!
The lady in the next sailboat mentioned that the DNR site was just inshore from Halftide Rocks-nearly two miles away. Uff Da!!
Total distance: about 17 nautical miles.
When we finally reached shore, and stable land felt oh-so-good, we unloaded and stretched our weary limbs. Another couple was there, and the guy was smoking a big, stinky stogie. I like the smell of cigars when I'm in the city, but it really doesn't fit in out in the wild.
We prepared a big Mexican feast, and lounged around until dark. Due to our east-facing panorama, there was no spectacular sunset to be had, so we just turned in.
Dan, Paula, and I all arose before sunrise, and sat on the beach and read until the sun started to rise behind Mt. Baker. What better way to see a sunrise than behind your namesake?!
We leisurely paddled up to Pass Point, and saw some pretty big waves just before Turn Island. I figured it was from the wind shooting through by the island, but it turned out to be a decent-sized tide rip. We paddled through it since the waves weren't too big. It was pretty interesting how there were some spots going our way, and some that just seemed to stop you dead in your tracks. Shell and I didn't have any trouble in Dale's long Guillemot Triple, but the guys in the singles got turned around a few times by currents. The current was starting to ebb pretty good when we entered Friday Harbor, but we were in no particular hurry.
Distance: 5.5 miles
After landing at the Port of Friday Harbor dock, we carried the HEAVY loaded kayaks up the ramp, and found a grassy area near a parking lot to set the boats down. We sat around in the shade for awhile, and then I walked off to find out about a cab to take us back to Snug Harbor to get the vehicles. It turned out that there is a bus system on San Juan Island, so we hung out until 1:30 and the bus took us back to Mitchell Bay-not a bad way to do a vehicle shuttle!
Dale's wife Debbie came in on the next ferry, and bade Mike farewell, as he took it back to Anacortes to drive back to Tacoma that night. The Bakers and Paula checked into our hostel, and Dale and Debbie stayed at a B&B.
Dan and I bought another crabbing license and set the pot out in the harbor. After an hour, it held one small male Dungeness crab. So far, Crabs 6-Baker Brothers 0. Dan set the trap again for the night, and we headed uptown.
We walked back downtown for awhile and ran into the Frolanders coming out of the Mexican joint where Michelle had wanted to eat. They said it was pretty mediocre, so I really didn't want to eat there. I felt pretty bad since Michelle had already made her own plans to eat there (and we weren't having the crab feast we'd planned on!), but I didn't want to pay good money for bad food. So, we trudged up the street to King's and loaded up on seafood to cook at the hostel. We made two huge seafood pasta dishes-one with marinara and one with a nice alfredo white sauce. With some more of the leftover vegetables, a little butter, and rockfish, cod, and salmon, the white pasta was amazing! After a huge plateful and several glasses of Cabernet (so what if I drink red wine with seafood!) we walked downtown to see the 'Harbor at night. The sailboats were rocking gently at their moorings, and the hustle and bustle of tourists who lined the streets by day were gone. It was a completely different town-one definitely more relaxing and quaint.
We pulled the crab trap that morning and found a huge female Dungeness with no claws. We felt like a soup kitchen for illegal crabs. Well, at least the crabs got to eat. I'm sure someone caught the female and ripped her claws off for dinner and tossed her back in the sea. Maybe it was a crab welfare program or something-since she was female, she never got killed, but without claws, she was unable to defend herself, so she just hung out in the safety of crab traps and got free chicken dinners every night.
Parked the van in the ferry line so we'd be assured of a spot on the ferry, and I went to the dive shop to buy some Sink-the-Stink. I didn't realize how much more salt water harbors bacterial growth than fresh water does. Our neoprene was getting ripe! While I was gone, Dan stopped in the San Juan Winery right by the ferry dock to sample their wares. I was told I'd better go check it out too. She was a really neat lady who served up some big samples of their fine wines (made the ferry trip real pleasant!) and I walked back out with a great Johannisburg Riesling and a very big, bold Cabernet. (I love that red wine but I had to get some 'Shell-wine' too!). We drove onto the ferry and bade farewell to Friday Harbor and the little island we had come to really like.
We saw several kayakers out in San Juan Channel from the ferry, and I couldn't help but waving and giving them the "thumbs-up". The day was grayer than we had had, and there was a bit more wind chop (which looked like a lot of fun) so I couldn't help but be a little jealous, because all I had to look forward to was a trip south on I-5.
Shawn
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