2022 Cruises & Adventures

Catman · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 12:30 am Post subject: 2022 Cruises & Adventures

Prior to the last five days, I hadn't been out in my boat or even seen it since mid-September. For four months I'd hoped for some decent weather so I could sneak away for a spin. Luckily, that just happened here in the San Juans as the snow melted, record rainfall subsided, waves were less than one foot and wind light and variable for three days. Time to cruise!

I headed to Sucia Island Friday morning and shared the dock with six good-sized powerboats. Seems I'm usually still the smallest boat wherever I land. Anyway, MikeR had the same craving, and motored to Sucia a day later. As his advance man, I texted him about dock availability, and that the big boys had gobbled up a lot of space. But you can raft to me, I assured him.

On Saturday morning I got a rapid knock on my window. A woman on a 32' Nordic asked if I'd heard about the tsunami off Tonga. Holy cow, a tsunami? I hadn't, and watched as all but one boat nervously untied and headed away from the dock, into fog yielding maybe a half-mile of visibility. I started my engine and prepared to leave the dock, but as I received more information about wave size in Puget Sound from multiple sources, stayed put. Long story shorter, I didn't feel a bit of wave activity in Fossil Bay, and MikeR said he might have experienced minor waves as he motored north of Orcas at 19 knots, but maybe not. What he did find was a virtually empty dock waiting for him on that unique day. I'm just grateful that our coastline didn't experience something much worse, and hopeful that Tonga's tsunami-hit people and islands recover quickly.

hardee · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:38 am Post subject:

Catman, What a way to start the season with a real adventure. I read the warning **> Did not get one on my phone<** but it was too late to head to PA and see if I could tell when the 0.5 FOOT tsunami wave came in. Even if the timing had been exact, that would have been hard to catch.

Here's to more (and safe) adventures.

I did go down to our Port Williams launch ramp. Foggy, 2-300 yard viz, and a huge amount of floaters out. At first I thought it to be a fleet of crab boats, but through the glass, it was big sticks, small logs, and some big ones. Most with seagull standing on them.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

robhwa · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:51 am Post subject:

Catman · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:42 pm Post subject:

Gosh, you guys are sure right about logs and driftwood! Harvey, I was fooled once as I thought I saw several kayaks paddling off Waldron Island. Turns out it was a gaggle of logs with cormorants at the helm. The driftwood in Echo Bay was much more than I’d ever seen there, and large log and driftwood collections frequently slowed me until Rosario Strait. But I’ve found that’s pretty common in December and January.

MikeR · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 9:57 pm Post subject:

Photos or it didn’t happen! See if I can remember how to post a link..

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album3400&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

hardee · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:07 pm Post subject:

Mike, It worked. Thanks for the proof. Surprised there were that many boats out there. Is that red splotch on the large plotter Rain? Looks like it might be.
Nice set up.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

MikeR · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:30 pm Post subject:

Hi Harvey, no that’s not rain it’s about 100 AIS vessels in Cap Sante Marina! I always wonder how/why so many, do all the brokerages leave the transmitters on in all their yachts on the weekends? Surely there weren’t that many boats stirring about when I left the marina 30 min earlier, I was the only one. But yes those are dozens of active AIS signals. It’s even worse in the summer.

-Mike