This year’s cruise on Chantey V took us south and east from our base at Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Puget Sound is an interesting and scenic – but often overlooked – cruising area just a stone’s throw away. Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands are entirely within the USA, so once cleared in with CBP, you can cruise freely without further formality other than flying your US courtesy flag. Our crew comprised myself, Cate, and brother John, as well as canine crew Bridey the Sheltie and River the Labradoodle!
Wooden Boat Festival
Daragh, Cate, and John at Port Townsend
Port Townsend, at the entrance to Admiralty Inlet, was our first port of call after a glassy-water transit of the Juan de Fuca Strait. The anchorage out front, and both of the marinas were packed due to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival taking place that weekend. This is the largest festival of its kind in North America, and second largest in the world, with close to 300 watercraft of every size and shape imaginable. Undeterred, we were fortunate to find a scarce slip in the Boat Basin, and more so to stay on as reciprocal guests of Port Townsend Yacht Club the next day. We deployed our dinghy and kayak, ideal viewing platforms for the beautiful wooden sail and power vessels on display. As a major event for the town, it was a most festive atmosphere with several intriguing shipwright trades. This year’s festival honoured the many women in shipbuilding in the Northwest. We were invited to an evening party with the Off-Center Harbor group, an event overflowing with wooden boat enthusiasts from all over the world.
We departed for Port Ludlow next morning in heavy fog, which is characteristic for autumn sailing in the area. We motored slowly towards the Port Townsend Canal, no hardship as it was necessary to delay for slack water. Always exciting to pass under a low-clearance bridge, in this instance 58 feet compared to our air draft of 54 feet – we just squeaked under! We were towing our dinghy and had pulled it up close to the boat to facilitate docking, when suddenly Bridey, our Sheltie, had an instinctive urge to jump in! She misjudged the distance and landed in the drink with a splash! A quick-reacting brother Johnnie reached down and lifted a soggy puppy back to safety.
It was a 30 NM run to Eagle Harbour on Bainbridge Island, where we tied on at the City Dock to enjoy the proximity to the quintessentially small-town American town of Winslow. After scoping out the shops and restaurants, we were welcomed to the home of friends Chris and Mary for a scrumptious farm-to-table traditional harvest dinner that was fresh from the garden. We were surprised to learn that there was no marine fuel available anywhere on the island due to the ongoing environmental clean up of the harbour.
Our visit to Gig Harbor, after a 20 NM run the next morning, began with a leisurely breakfast at Madison’s Diner, a historic streetcar-style diner transported from New York City a number of years ago. This is a very picturesque village and a hub of activity. Unfortunately, the yacht club was quiet with no one about, as we found to be typical with most of the clubs on our travels.
Tacoma Narrows
The 32 NM trip to Olympia, the state capital, involves passing under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Lots of clearance here, but there is a formidable current that can run in excess of five knots. This necessitated an 0700h start with the SOG flying up to ten knots at the Narrows! The Olympia Yacht Club is a very old and recognized club, with a maze of boat houses extending around the nearby downtown streetscape. It was a particularly poignant arrival, as this is the spot where I purchased Chantey V over 17 years ago. Many miles have passed under her bow since then, but the old girl still has plenty of sea miles to go! I had arranged for a replacement fridge unit to be delivered to the West Marine store, and this meant an extra day here to do the installation. Anyone who has wrestled with fridge cooling lines will appreciate the relief of getting it done successfully. We celebrated with dinner and drinks at the Oyster and Fish Restaurant.
Olympia was also our turnaround point, so we now had to deal with the turbulent Tacoma Narrows northbound. Predicted slack at 1000h called for a pre-dawn 0500h departure. Fortunately, the visitor slips at OYC are located on the outside of all the docks, which simplified easing out to the navigation channel in darkness. We made the Narrows just after slack water, but even so we were reduced to four and a half knots as we passed under the bridge. We arrived at the Tacoma Yacht Club’s visitor dock before noon and were pleased to find that the club was open for lunch. This beautiful clubhouse is situated on top of Point Defiance and enjoys panoramic views of Vashon Island and surrounding waterways. The dining room was equally splendid and we enjoyed a tasty lunch there. Later, I rode our small electric scooter into old Tacoma downtown. This folding scooter weighs 24 lbs, has a range of 20 km and goes faster than I dare. It takes up less space than the folding bike it replaced and is a most useful addition to the boat’s equipment.
Seattle Socializing
Rain overnight put a bit of a damper on the day, but it cleared off as we approached Seattle. We had emailed and phoned the Bell Harbor Marina to no avail, so we decided to do a drive-by. We were delighted to get a response and a slip assignment on the VHF radio. We learned that the Port of Seattle had been victims of a Ransomware attack which had disabled all their normal communication. Bell Harbor Marina is close to Pike Place Market and bustling, old-town Seattle. We rendezvoused with Cate’s family here and treated ourselves to a stay at the classy Mayfair Park Hotel. Later, Chantey V hosted everyone for a fish BBQ on board. It was fun to watch the daily ‘throwing of the fish’ and eat a fish that had been “caught” at the market. Another treat was a fine dinner at Shuckers Oyster Bar at the Fairmont Hotel. The Seattle waterfront along Alaskan Way is greatly improved with foliage and walkways, along with an impressive extension to their Aquarium. Here we bid adieu to John and River the Labradoodle, who returned via the Clipper Catamaran service to Victoria.
Flying fish at Pike Place Market
Everett Yacht Club, some 30 NM further along the east side of Whidbey Island, is a vast marina beside a US Naval base. It is well serviced by numerous marine support services including West Marine. I have difficulty passing these stores without finding some parts I suddenly “need”, and this time was no exception. We hosted friends Grayce and Tripp to Sundowner G&Ts with real ice produced by our new fridge, and later a lamb BBQ at their home – a real treat for this Irishman!
Our route continued up the east side of Whidbey Island with a stop at Oak Harbor Yacht Club. This was one of the few legs we were able to sail; it was great to ghost along without the sound of our diesel. This harbour has a fairly shallow approach and a tricky entrance best taken at half tide or higher. A surprisingly strong side current contributed to a botched docking. It was unfortunate that there was no one to catch a line, but on the other hand the incompetent manoeuvres were unwitnessed! The OHYC invited us to join them for dinner and a presentation on boat maintenance that followed. We met the Commodore and several members for a most enjoyable visit, as well as getting some advice on the tricky passage to La Conner the next day.
Chantey V at Oak Harbor
Swinomish Channel and La Conner
High tide next morning should have made for an easy departure, but visibility was severely limited by fog. This was more concerning as all local advice emphasized the necessity of using the range markers to determine the safe entrance to Swinomish Channel. Luckily, the fog lifted enough to see them – but only just! Half an hour later we were docking at the Swinomish Yacht Club, conveniently located at the north end of town. La Conner is charming, with many trendy shops, bars, and cafés to choose from. The La Conner Pub & Eatery provided great food and drink at extraordinarily low prices – can you remember the last time you got a pint for three dollars?!
La Conner sunset
Finally, I had determined that half tide was optimum for arrival and departure, when current is minimal for docking and yet there is enough water sustained for the hour-long transit to the channel’s north entrance. We saw a minimum depth of eleven feet as we passed the railway swing bridge, confirming that we could not pass here at low tide with our six-foot draft. We carried on to Bellingham Bay where we conveniently refueled before docking at the Bellingham Yacht Club. The club was not open, but we did enjoy a nice walk around the waterfront, which has been greatly upgraded since my last visit 20 years ago. It’s an active fishing port, and they have succeeded in harmoniously blending these hardworking commercial vessels with the many recreational boats that are also based here. Our Alaskan buddy boat friends, John and Nicky, came down and joined us for pizza in downtown Bellingham. It was great to reconnect, and John provided some good anchoring tips for our next stop at East Sound, Orcas Island.
It was very flat water all the way past Lummi and Blakely Islands, which made for a pleasant passage to East Sound. We anchored in a bight on the west side to provide some relief from the forecast southwesterly that night. Many American restaurants are pet friendly, and Café Aurora had a very nice garden setting. This was yet another village exuding that small-town American charm we so appreciated on the trip.
Homeward Bound
Although it was only 14 NM further to Friday Harbor, we weighed anchor early to be underway before the forecasted wind picked up. Within the hour we had 20 kts apparent wind which stayed on the nose most of the way. We were grateful to have reserved the RVYC outstation as the marina was pretty full. Friday Harbor is always a treat to visit. We strolled through town and found a great variety of shops with a maritime emphasis. This rounded out our last port of call for the voyage.
We choose the south route home; it was a couple of miles shorter than going over the top of San Juan Island, and the timing for slack water at Cattle Point at 1000h was feasible. This passage can have current up to five knots and is not to be taken lightly. As we entered Haro Strait, we encountered thick fog with visibility down to a mere quarter mile. Gingerly, with both AIS and radar, we eased our way across the traffic separation zone. Over the radio, the voice of the captain of a large container ship crackled, asking us to stop as he passed by! We readily complied, but we never did get a visual on him as he passed. The fog lifted as we approached Cadboro Bay, and we were safely back in our slip at RVYC by early afternoon. We think Peter Puget would have been well-pleased with our voyage; it took him considerably longer to survey the sound in 1792! We had covered 340 NM in 11 legs over 17 days in mostly sunny weather – pretty good for September cruising!
Chantey V‘s track through Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, along with Ports of Call and distances travelled
Currents PDFs
