The Forbidden Tour...

A few days ago, I was reading an article on the internet titled:

"The Top 10 Places in the San Juan and Gulf Islands You Don't Want to Visit!"

Here's a link:  http://www.usps.org/seattle/images/links/10PlacesYouDont%20Want%20To%20Visit.pdf

It was a chilly start to the day today.  Even though it was partly sunny (I'm an optimist, so I didn't call it "partly cloudy"), the south southwest wind had a cold bite to it.  No scooter playing today, but Wild Blue was tugging at her dock lines, wanting to do what boats do.  No particular place we were looking to see... Joan even asked, "Are you sure you want to take the boat out on a day off?" - kind of a busman's holiday.

"Sure.  You haven't had much boat time, so let's go.  How about we go through some "places you don't want to visit"?

We unhooked power, took down the VuQube (Tailgater), untied lines, and headed out.  Wild Blue was a happy girl.

Leaving Friday Harbor...

The sky looks better to the north - heading up San Juan Channel...

Approaching the Wasp Islands...

Joan didn't look too concerned as she enjoyed her coffee, with the Wasp Islands in the background...

From the stern...

Nothing too ominous-looking about this area, although it has been the site of many groundings.  I turned north before Crane Island, so we could go through the next place to avoid: Pole Pass.  Looking north towards Deer Harbor...

Then, looking southeast towards Pole Pass...

Notice how the sky looks less friendly looking south?  There are some shoal areas, with rocks just under the surface on the west side of the pass.  It looks like open water, but you have to pay attention to the charts.

Heading east; the Orcas Island ferry landing...

Then south to Blind Bay...

That is the Shaw Island ferry terminal.  Getting closer, you can see Blind Bay State Park...

Yeah, that lump near the middle of the photo is the park.  To the west of that is more rocks just under the surface of the water.  To the east of that is one BIG rock that is exposed at low tide - but waiting to bite your boat when the rock is covered at high tide.  There is a lighted marker on that rock, but every year that rock gets some boats.  We like this particular anchorage - with the prevailing south winds around here, this bay is protected.  Go back far enough in the bay, and you get away from the ferry wake and the bottom has good holding.  We have spent a lot of quiet nights here.

Just to the east, there is a pastoral looking site on Shaw Island...

Coming around the north side of Shaw Island, you can see the Olympic Mountains on the far horizon...

About this time, Izzy came out of the v-berth to look around...

"It's about lunch time, isn't it?"

"Soon."

Upright Channel is the water that separates Shaw Island and Lopez Island; it is a busy ferry route.  The timing always seems to work such that you meet the ferry at the narrowest part of the channel, between Canoe Island and Lopez...

Izzy settled into the V-berth for a nap, but not far from her food dishes...

And that takes us to the next "don't visit" place: the opening to Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island...

You can tell by the water spots on the windshield, the water had lumped up a bit.  The tide was going out, the south wind was in opposition to that direction.  The boat will need a washdown when we get back to Friday Harbor.

I turned us northwest and put some power on.  We had been using about a gallon per hour for most of this trip - I bumped it up to about 7 gallons per hour.  It's good to exercise the motor and good to help keep the bottom clean.  We were back to Friday Harbor in about 15 minutes.

Coming into the slip, Izzy made another appearance...

"Seriously, I am pretty sure it is after my lunchtime, isn't it?"

We pulled the boat back into our slip.  Yes, Izzy got lunch before we rinsed down the boat and wiped down the windows.

Speaking of lunch, it was time for us to head for pizza for a late lunch... definitely not a forbidden place.  ;-)