SAN JUAN ISLAND CRUISING

With a geological quirk, the northern corners of this country offer our finest island cruising. Maine and Washington have island cruising equal to any on earth. But North means coolish summers, and in Maine, a short season. Washington cruising, on the other hand, benefits from the mild (but wet) Pacific flow and allows cruisers three full seasons of boating. (For that matter, ÒrealÓ Northwest cruisers wait until winter for the empty, almost lonely anchorages to appear – all you need is a good heater!)

Northwest cruising stretches from the benign waters of South Puget Sound to the wild fjords edging AlaskaÕs Inside Passage. Some Northwest boaters find solace in weekend getaways just a few miles from the city. Others spend six months wandering north to lose themselves beyond Desolation Sound. Then there are the challenges of Vancouver IslandÕs wild west coast, a rugged wonderland washed by 5,000 miles of Pacific rollers.

Roughly in the middle of all this, WashingtonÕs San Juans raise their sandstone wonder in a series of islands at once beautiful, accessible, and somewhat mysterious. Sitting in a rain shadow created by the Olympic Mountains, the flora, fauna and glaciated island topography differ from the surrounding mainland rain forests. The sculpted sandstone, the orange barked madrona trees, and the black erratics dropped within the clear cold sea generate a sense of exotic journeying. While the islandÕs population grows, natural beauty still trumps manmade order. The San Juans remain a cruising ground defined by nature and a restless sea. Tides are big in the San Juans and that means periods of currents so strong that rapids and overfalls can form. Yet it remains a mostly gentle cruising area where the next island is always in sight and only a short time away. Porpoises, bald eagles and orcas are commonly sighted while wending through these unique sunken mountaintops.

Due to some amazing foresight, many of the most delightful small islands are within the Washington State Marine Park system. Fifty some years ago, forward thinking Northwest yachtsmen joined together to purchase islands which were then donated to the state for public use. Today they provide boaters from megayachtsmen to kayakers with an ocean playground second to none. Big and small, the marine parks are dispersed throughout the island group. Some have few if any facilities while jewels such as Sucia island provide numerous bays, anchorages, docks, trails, beaches, campgrounds and even water, a rather precious commodity on islands that get as little as 10 inches of rain a year.

The stunning, yet somehow bucolic island natural world is nicely balanced by some excellent harbors and marinas. Roche Harbor and Friday Harbor on San Juan Island are busy, pleasant and highly social must-do stops. Roche Harbor Marina, site of many powerboat rendezvous, offers the historic Hotel de Haro complete with store, swimming pool (donÕt expect to go swimming in the 50¡ Northwest ocean!), restaurants and lovely gardens. A sculpture park is one of the many interesting destinations reached by woodland paths. Friday Harbor, the islandÕs county seat and major metropolis, swells with tourists during the summer presenting the boutiques, shops, galleries, restaurants and bars that support them. The town is the regionÕs transportation hub with state ferries, seaplanes, whale watching vessels and several charter boat vendors.

If you prefer less busy anchorages, FishermanÕs Bay on pastoral Lopez Island is a good destination. With a good marina, access to the charming village of Lopez and a central location within the islands, FishermanÕs Bay exudes the laid-back charm of island living. Lopez is, after all, an island where every passing driver waves to another and no one seems in a hurry to get anywhere. Orcas Island, the largest in the group, offers a fine marina in Deer Harbor with limited dining only a short walk away. Rosario Resort, a hundred year old mansion turned into a full service facility, offers everything from hotel lodging to fine dining to golf to swimming pools and spas all adjacent to a small marina. Rosario is a good base for exploring Orcas island with quick access to Mount Constitution rising 2,400 feet above the sea and providing a stunning view of WashingtonÕs Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges.

While the villages and marinas can be fun, the real charms of the San Juans emerge in the regionÕs many small bays and anchorages. Stuart and Sucia islands are both cruising gems with multiple anchorages, shore side docks, picnic tables and hiking trails all maintained in good order by the Washington State Park system. Sucia is so enchanting that many boaters go nowhere else, although the small sister islands of Matia and Patos, also state parks, are well worth a day trip visit. Other state park facilities exist throughout the islands, some encompassing whole islands, others just a small bay with a few mooring buoys, and even a few islands and shore lands lacking any kind of ÒimprovementÓ at all.

Boaters are not limited to state marine facilities however. Many bays and nooks offer anchorage for an hour or a week. However, the prevailing good weather northerlies and bad weather southerlies limit the number of all weather anchorages. While the summer and fall months are usually dry and pleasant, strong winds do develop and when combined with large tides, make for difficult to dangerous sea conditions. A lot of water flows in and out of the San Juans twice each day and every inter island passage should be taken with respect to tide and wind.

The San Juans can be accessed from several metropolitan centers. Seattle lies some 70 miles to the south along Puget Sound. Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia lie to the west and north of the islands respectively, with Victoria only an hour or so away. However, most cruisers access the islands from either Anacortes or Bellingham Washington. Both cities support large, full service marinas that function as charter bases for several companies. Provisioning for San Juan cruising is especially easy in Anacortes where large supermarkets, marine hardware vendors and good restaurants are all within walking distance of the Cap Sante marina.

The best time to cruise the San Juans? July 10^th through September 30^th. That is when there is the least rain – and the most people! While it is seldom actually hot in the islands – the cool ocean prevails – the peak daytime temperature during the cruising season will usually be in the 70s to mid 80s. Bring rain gear, even in the summer; the Pacific fronts can roll through for a day or so.

Many cruisers try to ÒdoÓ the San Juans in a week, hurrying from anchorage to anchorage or even town to town. Better to either give the cruise more time or slow up enough that youÕll only sample a part of the island group. In the San Juans, less is more!

It is difficult to capture the allure of the San Juans in words. There are few of the ÒislandÓ qualities that many of us associate with such cruising. That is, the water is cool, there are few sandy beaches, the weather is maritime rather than hot, and navigation must attend to reefs, current and tide. Despite such Òlackings,Ó a magic quality pervades the San Juans, a quality immediately apparent upon entering island waters. Go and visit and try to explain that magic to others. TheyÕll only understand if they do their own San Juan island cruise.

Small-scale paper charts are a must for cruising the islands. While electronic charts are very good, the prudent mariner would also have paper charts aboard. Copies of NOAA charts are available from the ArmChair Sailor in Seattle - http://www.armchairsailorseattle.com/.

In addition, anyone contemplating or planning cruises in the San Juans would be foolish not to get at least one of the guidebooks that cover the region. Gunkholing in the San Juan Islands by Bailey & Nyberg and A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands by Scherer are both excellent, detailed guides. Both are full of photos and chartlets that greatly aid orientation. Robert HaleÕs Waggoner Cruising Guide includes the San Juans within a larger coverage ranging from South Puget Sound to Prince Rupert, B.C. There is a lot of wisdom and practical information in the Waggoner that would be especially helpful to cruisers new to the region. The Waggoner web site is a treasure trove of relevant and constantly updated information.

These guides can be obtained from:

(Gunkholing) http://shop.store.yahoo.com/armchairsailorseattle/guninsanjuan.html

(A Cruising Guide . . .) http://nwboat.com/armchair/

(Waggoner) www.waggonerguide.com

Many Northwest charter companies can be found using the internet. Here are a few to start with:

a. Charters Northwest www.chartersnorthwest.com

b. Par Yachts www.paryachtcharters.com

c. 42' Grand Banks (private party) 403-540-5001

d. ABC Charters 800-426-2313 www.abcyachtcharters.com

c. San Juan Yachting www.sanjuanyachting.com

d. ABC Yacht Sales www.abcyachtsales.com

e. Bellhaven Yacht Sales www.bellhaven.net