North wind against the rip at Turn Rock made it feel like rowing down the Wenatchee

Strange day with ash falling from the sky, apparently from Mt St Helens, but just because of wind, no eruption. Caught an excellent ride down the channel and this time I mostly went around the Swirls.

Only had time for a short one today. Rowing by Invictus, Rick Caruso’s yacht was cool

Hit the swirl (that’s what the chart says in the area of Reid Rock) at peak chaos, lots of whirlpools and white caps in the turbulence. Fun route though, taking advantage of currents from the North and the South

Same route as yesterdays row and much faster on the SUP chaotic frenzied chop in the heart of the current was really working the legs.

Smooth in the eddies and rock n roll’n in the tide rips. A late ferry meant I could ride the current back to the harbor in the ferry lane.

That’s a wrap on a good weekend

Started out fast on the end of the flood down the West side with a headwind, until I hit a wall of current and chop near Strawberry Island. Was prepared for a slog the rest of the way, but once I got to the South shore and closer to “slack”, I made decent time the rest of the way. Portaged across the saddle at Cypress Head and went thru the Cone Islands before getting back to the boat anchored at Pelican Beqch. Constant mist but visibility never got worse than maybe 1/4 mile

Fun cruise to Cypress. Slightly choppy and Blakely Pass was pretty swirly against the current but otherwise uneventful. Dropped the anchor in 40 feet and backed right up to the beach.

Quick trip to drop a lunch hook at Roche and pick up Kelly.

Had a theory about catching a North bound counter current a ways off the SW shore of Stuart… it didn’t pan out, so I abandoned it and headed close to shore but the damage was done. It was pretty slow, but a beautiful morning. Lots of Eagles and Vultures, and sleepy Seals.

Smooth sailing after dropping Kelly off for an overnight trip with his soccer team and getting donuts from Roche Harbor Cafe. Was extra cautious thru Stuart Island reef after hearing about a charter boat that missed the cut a few weekends ago. Stuck to the chart and no problem.

Busy start out there to the holiday weekend, lots of wakes

A gray day with a few sprinkles, a nice change from our dry streak.

Been nearly six weeks since I rowed last. Felt great. I’m thinking of painting the interior though. I love the look of the wood, but this boat gets a lot of use, and the prospect of refinishing it as is sounds unappealing. Thoughts?

As my bow plunged thru a bloom of bioluminescence, leaving a neon wake to fold over the stars reflecting off the glassy water, I had a thought. I bet there’s lots of cool planets and stuff in outer space, but Earth… well Earth is pretty rad, and it’ll always be my number one planet 🌎🖤 Made excellent time to start and made it to Hankin Pt in an hour and 45 min. That’s when the hot thermal winds started gusting against me, until I was past Blind Bay, but the current remained at odds with me until I was thru Wasp Passage. Then it was a nice push back to the harbor.

Some motoring, drifting, and sailing. No fish caught, but it was an excellent day to be out with no particular place to go.

Fish jumping all around but none on my hook.

Absolutely ripping current today, and I think I stayed in it pretty well. Confused seas, and especially tall and steep coming back across the channel, right at the rip outside the harbor.

Been a while since I’ve had a Southerly wind to paddle into, but this low pressure system is moving in and it kind of feels like Autumn already 🤔

Drifted and fished around Turn Rock until I lost a lure. Nice sunrise for a cloudy day.

Would like to catch a Salmon off my board. Trying it out this morning. No bites, but the setup is promising.

Calm seas of it weren’t for boat wakes. I don’t mind a few, but it doesn’t take that many boats to make the whole channel rough with wakes bouncing between Shaw and San Juan.

One more paddle with Kenny before he leaves the island.

Been way too long since I got to paddle with my Bro in law who is visiting from California . Perfect morning for a tour

And we’re back! A rough and busy day for our last leg on the first day of salmon fishing. Phone check in with customs went great, though we did have to throw half dozen Canadian eggs overboard

A slow trip, a lot of grinding against currents. Mostly flattish, with swell action on the East side.

Other than dodging ferry’s at Schwartz Bay, and navigating thru Iroquois Channel and the shallow entrance to the spit, the journey is as pretty benign.

Plus a stop at Maple Bay for pump out and water which was pleasant. Then to Tod Inlet which was packed. We attempted to stern tie, but the combination of a rising wind funneling down the inlet, plus setting the anchor too far out caused us to bail. We got it all set up, but I didn’t like it with the wind. So we went to Mill Bay where we have a large anchorage all to ourselves. Buchart Gardens will have to wait for another day. We did have two Orca sightings along the way and they were pretty close.

Some big water out there today, but it was the best weather window for our schedule. Military exercise zone Whiskey Golf was active today, which meant we had to take some less than ideal headings for the waves. Put up some jib and the mizzen to help with rolling too much. Made it to Gabriella Pass an hour early, but made it thru no problem with 3.5 knots pulling us thru. Unfortunately the pump out at Oyster Marina here is not functioning, so we’re staying at Manana Marina until we can get to a pump out tomorrow.

Weather windows for going back South across the straight are getting smaller, so went straight here, hoping the weather holds tomorrow for crossing over to the gulf islands. Was pretty rough for a while until we got past Powell River, but we had the current pulling us the whole way.

A cloudy start with the ebb current from Prideaux Harbor to Otter Island. By the time I got to Otter Bay the sun was out, and I ferry’d between the train of boats leaving anchor to go between Melville and Morgan islands, trying to find some respite from the increasing ebb.

A quick stop at Powell River for pumpout, trash and water. Surprisingly free, and no waiting for the pump out. Several Orca and Graywhale sightings near Copeland Islands. The sun slowly faded behind dark clouds the closer we got, and after no wind all day it was ripping down Homfray Channel as soon as we passed Mink Island. Puttered around the anchorage for a bit before we spotted the last available chain ring near the entrance. I’m a bit rusty with stern tying so it took longer than it should have but it worked out pretty well.

Left the dock at 0400 to go thru Malibu Rapids just before 5 which worked out perfect. Little nerve racking with reduced visibility but it went smooth. Head winds met the ebb in a few places and made for some splashiness, but overall nice with clouds and sun coming out towards the end. Only saw one other sailboat headed up Jerbia Inlet.

Sun brightened clouds and more waterfalls after yesterday’s downpour 😇

Rain all day had the waterfalls bursting, with new ones springing up every hour. Had to get off the boat and get wet!

5 stars. Wasn’t even mad when it started raining, seems like it should be here. Lost count of waterfalls. Ventured down to the first eddy at the rapids, it was flowing about 6 knots on the ebb so didn’t feel like going further down and having to struggle back up. The main attraction here is mooring next to Chatterbox Falls, with James Bruce Falls towering above . At 2755ft tall, it’s the tallest waterfall in North America.

We did it! Been wanting to get here ever since we got the boat. Totally lives up to expectations.

Low tide made for a crunchy portage to Bargain Bay over a shell midden creek. Enjoyed the calm sheltered water on the West side before going against the current and the East wind back to Pender Harbor.

Excellent day to cross Georgia Strait

Pretty chill motoring with a brief delay at customs waiting for room at the dock. Didn’t want to deal with shallow Pirates cove entrance in the morning so found a spot on the other side, hopefully it’s not too exposed for tonight’s weather.

A very gray day, with a slight hint of a sunrise. The channel felt wider and the trees seemed taller with the low tide.

Lumpy again with a building East wind. Super fun downriver section from North end of Patos back to Sucia, where I portaged from Shallow Bay back to Echo.

Active waters, strong currents, but pretty chill. Lots of starfish at very low tide.

Easy peasy cruise with the current to Echo Bay.

A difficult row with a stiff SW breeze

Kind of a weird route near slack tide but it was a fun one.

Ext need the route to grindstone Harbor to get over 20 miles. 1st 4 hours were pretty easy, last hour was gnarly on the legs and slow. All in all a good tour on the San Juans 🤙🏼

The dilemma with paddling in a beautiful place is constantly wanting to stop and take photos. I only allowed myself to stop 4 times this morning 🦅

Solid North headwind today made Northward progress slow. Downwind from Jones Island back to the harbor was very fun.

PR for me on this route, got really locked into this current and rode it around Griffin Bay. Other attempts I have overshot the turn and gotten sucked towards Cattle Pass too far, or undershot and get caught up in the middle slosh.

West wind picked up toward the end. Sheriff stopped to make sure I was okay out in the channel 😄

Unreal weather today 🫠

Lowest tide of the year

Been wanting to take the fam here forever and today was the perfect day. Lost count of the different types of wildflowers I saw.

Was going to go to Waldron, but there was a spot on the South side of Jones, and we’d never put the boat there before, so we snagged a buoy. Surprisingly few boats out… yet.

Tried to take it easy. Soooooo nice out. Despite the frowny face cloud. ☹️

Constant confused chop, plus it’s shrimp season, so dozens of fishing boat wakes. This was also just a bad route for the current and wind conditions, but at least it was a killer workout 😝

Fun upwind leg with less chop than last weeks although same wind. Lots of baby seals out swimming on their own right now and they are very curious. Not sure why the track ended early on this one.

A choppy day, lots of slapping going upwind to Turn Island with the current.

Started off with rain, ended with SUN. Love it when a route works out. Got a decent current push out and back.

Cruised to Watmough Bay, with a stop at Smith Island to look for Puffins. No Puffins, just lots of Rhinoceros Auklets and Porpoises.

Glad to be out after not paddling all week after I threw my back out skateboarding with the kids last weekend 😂. Stopped at Yellow Island briefly, peak wild flower season right now.