10 Day San Juan’s Itinerary

[thechadmiller]

Ok. It’s decided.

Giving ourselves an easy 10 days (with a couple extra wiggle room days in case weather gets dumb) to explore the San Juan’s, starting and ending in Anacortes about May 7th.

Doing it in our C-22 cruiser, no dinghy yet, but will probably get a WM PRU-3 before we leave with just oars.

If this were your trip (and you know the area)... what would your itinerary look like?

Thanks.

[JamesTXSD]

[thechadmiller]

Not looking to spend much time at marinas. Mostly just looking for quiet time away from people and work.

[Brewkid]

The 7th is a good launch day. I would avoid trying to launch or recover on the 2nd,4th,9th or the 11th. They are halibut days and will be a mad house, especially the two Saturdays.

If you're just looking for quiet, there are quite a few anchorages around to choose from around almost all of the islands. Stuart and Sucia for example also have moorings and docks that are moored off of land but at a price. https://parks.state.wa.us/651/Northern-Moorage-Sites
I would say that half of the charm is visiting the harbors and towns though. Even Friday Harbor on the weekday has a tranquil quality about it. The docks are normally quiet in the morning. I have my coffee and grab a shower and I'm off before it even really comes to life. Fisherman's Bay and Rosario are also great little harbors with their own charm.

If you're into fishing, May is a great time to wet a line as well. Lings will be open and the Islands are the spot to hook a few!

Don't get too wrapped around the difficulty of it. Use your navaids, pay attention to the water and remember ferry's move faster than you think so give them room! Aside from that explore, it's a lot of fun so enjoy it!!

Almost assured I'll be out there at the same time so PM me before you leave and I'll send you my #, if you get in a pinch or have a question give me a ring!

John
Scallywag

[Knipet]

Thechadmiller,
Will you be taking your cute little dogs with you?

I'm very interested in what the group continue to recommend for an itinerary. My wife and I just recently bought a 22 cruiser ourselves, and will be up in the San Juans beginning late April and through the summer. Oh, and we plan to take our little dogs along provided they like it.

Looking forward to reading about your adventures!

[Salmon Fisher]

Our favorites in order:
-Shallow Bay at Sucia Island, privacy on the hook, great hiking
-Prevost Island at Stuart Island, privacy on the hook or a little less private on the dock, great hike to Turn Point Light Station
-Fossil Bay at Sucia, privacy on the hook or at one of the two docks, hiking
-Jones Island, on the hook or the dock, again, great hiking
Marinas:
-Deer Harbor, cool, relaxing marina
-Friday Harbor
-Roche Harbor, probably more laid back in May, nice to visit

All in all, San Juans are what everyone else has said. Try not to do too much or else you won't be able to relax. We have stayed at Sucia twice, on the front end and back end of our 12 day trip up there. Have fun!

[starcrafttom]

Like all things, it depends. Mostly it depend on the wind. If you want to spend a night on the hook or on a park dock its a lot better NOT to have the wind rocking and rolling you all night. So just have a lose plan with one bak up each night that is not in open to the same wind direction each day.

As an example. Sucia is a great island with three main bays. Echo, fossil and shallow. Echo and Fossil are both open to the southeast wind, but echo is effected by a northeast wind when Fossil is not. Shallow is open to a north east wind but good on all other winds. so have a plan A and plan b. It may just be at the other end of a bay or just behind a point. Blind bay is open to a north west wind UNLESS you are tucked into the northwest corner behind the point.

Lastly do not over look the land around you. You could be tucked in close to a beach to be out of the wind but if its a low area the wind could really come in and blow you around. Spencer spit and Garrison bay both have that problem.

Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

[hardee]

Chad, it's all good so far. I might ad that at Stuart Island there are docks on both sides of the island. If the weather is up a bit or unsettled, I like Reid Harbor, because you can get a 22 in behind the dock (shore side) and you have protection from all around. From either dock on Stuart, you can walk up and over to the other one in 5 minutes. On Jones, It always looks cook to be the boat out on the end of the dock, but you will get wake waves there, so getting up near the shore end will give nice protection. Let the 30 or 40 footers break the waves for you. In Garrison Bay, you can get way back in, close to the dingy dock, and have good protection. Be careful in Mosquito Pass, going towards Roche, to watch the marker buoys, as it get real shallow if you get into the wrong side there. If you stay up at Sucia, it is worth the run to go up to Patoes and Matia Islands. There is a dock on Matia, just barely big enough fora C-Dory.

The nice thing about the San Juan's is every where is not far from where you are, and there is fuel at every marina that Jim mentioned.

Enjoy,

Harvey
SleepyC

[starcrafttom]

All the above mentioned places are great and well visited. Heres a list of not so popular or well known.

mackaye bay
aleck bay
watmouth bay
eagle harbor
vendovi island
east side of clark island Doe bay/ island
turn island
parks bay.

[thechadmiller]

Thanks everybody, I am very excited and May can't arrive soon enough.

So, am I hearing that since the distances aren't big, the order of which islands to visit doesn't matter too much?

What would you say the average cruising time is between destinations at a nice mellow cruising speed?

Also... dinghy is essential or no? We don't need one for the most part cruising the river around Portland, and would love to avoid dropping $900 if we don't really need it. Anybody in Portland or Anacortes wanna rent us theirs?

[hardee]

If you don't have to go to shore, you don't need a dingy. If you stay at the park or marina docks you don't need a dingy. If you get the State Marine Park Pass, You could have it paid for by the end of your trip if you stay at the parks. You can dock or take a mooring buoy at the parks, but if you want to use the "facilities" the dock is the easier route.

Harvey
SleepyC

[Brewkid]

If you left Friday Harbor, took the west side of Orcas island to the north, came back down Rosario strait on the east side, past Blakely Island, to the southern tip of Lopez and back up through Cattle Pass and return to Friday Harbor you might have traveled 55 nm. If you went all the way around San Juan Island (instead of going through Cattle Pass) and split Spieden and Stuart you might get 75 nm.

So size wise it's fairly easy to cover a lot of ground there. We frequently run out of Cornet Bay, fish, crab, have lunch at Friday Harbor then head back to Cornet in a day.

It's the nooks and crannies in between that take up the time! Drifting watching whales, ice cream in Friday Harbor, pulling pots...you know the tough stuff!

John
Scallywag

[thechadmiller]

Yeah, I'm just digging around on Navionics and really seeing how close everything is. I feel like we can take it very easy every day and see tons of stuff.

Also, it's only looking like crossing Rosario will be the only potentially rougher part of the traveling?

[cmetzenberg]

[Brewkid]

Don't sweat it!! Just watch the weather and you'll be fine!! I've read lots of "danger beware" post in the past and it spooked some people off sadly. Anywhere can be bad... Use your common sense and it'll be a great trip!

John
Scallywag