cruising from Everett to Victoria in Tom Cat 255

J

joechiro30

New member
I plan on doing a cruise this winter from Everett to Victoria. As long as the wind and waves cooperate. I was thinking of either heading through port susan through deception pass, pass through the west side of san juans and head into Victoria.

Or go through admiralty inlet straight through san juan de fuca and into Victoria. I am a little concerned about the wind and waves though. Has anyone had experience doing this? We plan on staying at the main harbor in Victoria close to down town.

Thanks for your input and advice.
 
I can comment on your passage through Port Susan, we live there on the north end. The route through is called South and west pass, and it goes under the bridge connecting Camano Island to Stanwood. Its shallow with a lot of sandbars, and this southeast portion of Skagit bay is shallow. Only pass through on a higher tide. Its a beautiful route and always calmer than Saratoga passage. Once you make it out through deception pass, you have a lot of different options through the San Juans. When its really calm, we prefer to go straight out and then north through cattle pass between Lopez and San Juan Island. If the straits look rough, we go north and skirt around the east side of lopez, being more protected.


The outside route through admiralty inlet is way more exposed and effected by wind waves, but on a day with light winds it would be fine.
 
Just a consideration: if you are as far as Cattle Pass and heading to Victoria, there is no point in going through the pass - just keep heading west to Victoria via Juan de Fuca (assuming the weather and sea state is cooperative).
 
Once out through Deception, if you time the tide and current right, you could have a 3-4 knot boost in travel speed and if you have winds in the same direction as the currents, you could have a really smooth trip. The T-Cat should be able to make that on a single tide exchange, I would think. Might hear better on that from one of the Rogers, or other TomCat skippers.

I would look for a nice stable high pressure, and you should have good sea conditions with that.

Enjoy. Keep an eye out for the Victoria Clippers. They are about the only thing that will sneak up behind you at 35 knots.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Thanks for the input. If the straight of juan de fuca is too rough we may just stay at san Juan's. How far and roughly how long does it take to get from san Juan's to Victoria. Cruising about 22-25 miles per hr?
I was looking at going to Sydney first and cruising along the coast to Victoria as well if it is more protected.
 
Going from Friday Harbor to Victoria, I usually plan for about 2.5 to 3 hours; a half hour from FH to Cattle Pass. Even when the water is relatively calm in the Strait, my experience has been that it is usually lumpy outside Victoria Harbour. Add to that the slow speed required in the waterway leading to the Harbour, and the trip will generally take longer than you expect.

Plan for a stop at the Canadian Customs dock on the way to the Inner Harbour - that time will vary according to their staffing (you will be checking in by phone).

Love the Inner Harbour at Victoria - haven't tried it in the winter, though. Should be interesting.
 
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