We reached Sucia Island last night and took a mooring ball in Snoring Cove. We’re the only boat in here and it is stunningly gorgeous. I was inspired to rise with the sun this morning and spend a half-hour outside soaking up the peaceful views, which got me to thinking that I need to catch up on the past month here on our blog.

Spring Cruising in the Puget Sound

After our slight delay in departure from winter moorage, we left Olympia on April 6th and struck out for Gig Harbor. Luck would find us that very day as we were able to cross paths with a pod of orcas and spend an hour with them in Carr Inlet near Fox Island. Kali proclaimed it the “Best day ever!!” and I tend to think they were there to wish us good journey on our cruising plans this year.

The nights were still dropping low into the 30s and we wanted to be able to continue running our dehumidifier at night, so we spent a couple of night on the Jerisich Public Dock in Gig Harbor where their dock rates were half price for the off-season: just $0.50/foot including power and access to the well-maintained showers.

Cruising tip: You can get groceries delivered to the public dock here through Instacart.

From Gig Harbor, we jumped further north to Blake Island. We saw some windy-windiness predicted and we knew we’d be well protected from south winds at the dock at Blake Island. Plus, it is definitely one of our favorite stopovers in the central puget sound. Read more about why we love Blake Island so much here. Oh! And Brenden and the kids got to see another orca on a very brief pass of the island off the NE tip – Rachel was back at the boat recording a podcast with her coworkers and missed it!

After the weekend spent at Blake Island, we spent a couple days at the public dock in Eagle Harbor. Their off-season rates were still in effect and we could stay there for $25/night and still be able to take advantage of our dehumidifier. There’s plenty of nice walking from there (and a beautiful park with great pinecones for pinecone wars) and a good chance for groceries. Unfortunately, their shower is closed to transient boaters at this time, even when paid at the dock.

We got word from Brenden’s mom that she was going to have a chance to come up for a weekend visit, so we opted to anchor out in Poulsbo for a week or so and enjoyed a wonderful visit. As is normal, the kids got to stay with her in her hotel room every night. We enjoyed goodies from Sluy’s Bakery and various other restaurants around the waterfront. We also drove to a nearby state park for a lunchtime picnic, to Port Gamble for some touristy fun, and to Point No Point to look for orcas (no luck).

After our week anchored in Poulsbo, we were ready to head all the way north to the San Juans. But we wanted to go up via the inside passage behind Whidbey Island and try to see some grey whales which were frequenting those waters taking advantage of a shrimp buffet.

We left Poulsbo and spent three more nights at Blake Island and then two more nights again at Eagle Harbor. When the developing weather for the coming weekend looked less-than-ideal, we decided to opt for less waiting and more going. We would move each evening after work: Eagle Harbor to Edmonds, Edmonds to Oak Harbor, and Oak Harbor to Cornet Bay.

We finally got the sails up for a nice downwind sail from Eagle Harbor to Edmonds.

We didn’t spend much time in Edmonds or Oak Harbor- arriving at each spot late in the evening, working the next day, and immediately leaving for the next spot. Unfortunately, when we jumped from Edmonds to Oak Harbor, the most likely leg to see the grey whales inside of Whidbey, the whales were there but were back up in Port Susan out of our path and we didn’t get to see them.

But when we reached Cornet Bay just inside Deception Pass on that Thursday, we planned to stay for several nights due to another wind storm predicted to come through. Cornet Bay is a nice state park and pretty well protected from winds which can roar outside Deception Pass having come in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Cruiser’s Tip: if opting to stay here for more than a few hours to wait for slack tide to pass through Deception, we would recommend tying up to one of the disconnected state park floats even over the convenience of easy land access at the main dock. There is a very active fishing population at this dock and you’ll find much more privacy out on the outer floats. Also, expect to be waked frequently by boats going in and out of the marina there without any regard for boats at anchor or on the docks. You’ll also get big wakes from boats running Deception Pass.

We stayed our first night on the main dock and quickly jumped out to an outer float early the next morning when a spot opened up out there. Also of note, there’s a very nice 1+ mile walk along the water east from the parking lot at Cornet Bay. We watched a family of otters float by on the current, swimming down and collecting some shelled creature which they were feasting upon.

We were hoping to take Mosaic through Deception Pass. We’ve been here before to Cornet Bay via the Swinomish Channel but have never gone through The Pass. This pass is famous for its treacherous waters and extremely strong currents – you have to plan your pass through for slack tide and favorable conditions on the outside. Currents can top 8 knots and if you get wind on the outside opposing a strong outgoing current, the pass can be quite dangerous. But it’s a PNW icon and I would personally love to get the chance to go through before we leave for Mexico.

But, this was not the time. The weather conditions would probably have been okay for us to go through and head to the San Juans that Sunday, but they weren’t going to be perfect. And an opportunity opened in Anacortes for Brenden and I to get our round one Covid vaccines, so we opted to turn back and head up to Anacortes once again through the Swinomish Channel.

We ended up in Anacortes for several days, got our first vaccine successfully, got fresh showers and provisioned up for several weeks out in the San Juans. From Anacortes, we left on a Wednesday in search of a good anchorage spot where we could ride out the next little weather system blowing in. We found a good spot to settle in for a couple windy days at anchor in Swift’s Bay on the NE tip of Lopez Island.

That brings us up to date with being in the San Juans. It’s funny – life just has a different feel here in the islands. Brenden and I were discussing the other day: we’ve been out of winter moorage for a month now but, just now, just being here in the San Juans finally, it now feels like cruising again. I think a lot of that might be that we’re no longer trying to get somewhere. We’re here; we’re where we want to be and can now move about or stay where we please- of course, within the constraints of our lifestyle, i.e. where the weather allows for favorable conditions.

We’ve seen whales again twice already here in the islands, but I’ll share more about that in my next post! Thanks for reading! ~Rachel