We spent much of September buddy boating around the San Juans with our friends aboard SV Muse. We coordinated 2 weeks of vacation time and planned lots of fun. It started out with a weekend boat sitting their boat in the anchorage outside Anacortes as they had a family function that they needed to attend at the very beginning of vacation. They moved their boat up to Anacortes from Tacoma the few days prior and then left her anchored while we kept an eye on things.
It was all smooth sailing until a windstorm came through on Monday which blasted the anchorage with sustained winds in the 20s and big gusts into the mid-30s (knots). We knew the winds were coming and we’d both anchored our boats in preparation for high winds. What we couldn’t prepare for were all the boats around our two big cruising boats dragging anchor and causing general chaos.
All told, at least 6 boats in the Anacortes anchorage dragged anchor that day. Several were close to us and one was upwind and dragged between Mosaic and Muse. It was a very tense and stressful day but ultimately a good experience as neither of our boats budged an inch.
Muse’s family arrived back home that day and we spent the next day making final preparations for two weeks out cruising the San Juans and then moving a few miles to anchor together at Saddlebag Island to the NE of Anacortes. We were treated with a stunning sunset to kick off our vacation.
And the next day we all enjoyed a fabulous sail as we transited from Saddle Bag Island up north to Clark Island where we picked up a state park mooring ball and Muse anchored. We got to spend several hours ashore enjoying a wonderful sandy beach and each others’ company.
The next morning we left Clark Island bright and early and headed toward Sucia, the crown jewel of the San Juans. Inside its sheltered Shallow Bay, we were lulled into a false sense of security and felt comfortable rafting our two boats together at anchor. Little did we know at the time, we really shouldn’t have trusted that anchorage… (cue ominous music… 🎵)
We stayed for a couple nights in Shallow Bay. Unfortunately, at one point, a very large wake came through the anchorage and our boats, rafted together, rolled different ways at the same time and ripped a chunk of our teak toe rail off. So that definitely put a bit of a damper on the day. And, to top it off, the smoke from the West Coast fires came in that evening and dropped our air quality and visibility for most of the rest of the vacation.
During our trip to Roche Harbor a few days later, we had less than a a half mile of visibility in the smoke… But it was good practice for us navigating with radar, AIS, and GPS navigation.
After a few days in Roche Harbor and then Westcott Bay, we headed out for a sail down the west side of San Juan but had to change our plan once we got out there and found that we had zero wind and poor visibility, again. Turning north instead toward Stuart Island, we watched as a ship coming up Haro Strait eerily came into sight, passed us, and then continued on and disappeared into the smoke again.
We stayed two nights at Stuart Island and enjoyed a wonderful hike out to the lighthouse one day.
The next stop on our tour was Jones Island. But not without first another journey through the thickest fog we’ve ever experienced. There were points on this trip when Muse was ~100 yards behind us and we couldn’t even see them.
We enjoyed a fun hike around the east side of Jones Island the next day before moving onward to Friday Harbor.
Finally, while in Friday Harbor, our air quality finally improved and the smoke cleared. We didn’t get nearly as much sailing in during the vacation as planned thanks to all the smoke and visibility issues.
When we left Friday Harbor headed for our last anchorage together, Fisherman’s Bay, we finally got a bit of downwind sailing in which was a fantastic way to end our vacation.
And then, just like that, our vacation was done and they headed off to return to their Tacoma slip for another PNW winter.
So that wrapped up most of September and now we’re sitting here starting to look for our own weather window to cross back across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and head south for the winter. We’re planning to put the boat into winter moorage in Olympia this year and spend most of November, December, and January off of the boat staying with family down in the Portland area while returning to the boat on weekends, etc. to work on projects.
We’re looking at our final winter in the Pacific Northwest. Next fall, with any luck, we should be ready to leave for extended international cruising – starting with a passage down the west coast and to Mexico. Follow along in real time on Facebook and Intagram. Cheers! ~Rachel