Sea Kayak - Squaxin Island Circumnavigation

Trip goals are to have a safe outing in sea kayaks on the salt water of Puget Sound on the day before the shortest day of the year, enjoy the comradery of other paddlers, and have a great time. 

Please be able to maintain a 3-knot pace while paddling. 

I expect the group to stay together, especially when doing any channel crossings. 

Bring whatever you need to keep yourself warm, fed, and hydrated.

Dry suits are required.

Helmets are not required.

Tow ropes are recommended.

Bring a VHF radio if you have one.

Meet at the Arcadia Point Boat Ramp in time to participate in a trip briefing and safety talk at 9:15 AM. Please be dressed for paddling and have your boat on the beach and ready to launch by 9:15 AM.

There are porta-potties at the parking area. The parking area is some distance from the water, so I recommend either driving to the ramp and quickly unloading your kayak, or park in the parking lot and bring a kayak cart to roll you kayak to the water.

We will launch no later than 9:30 AM.

This trip is broken down into three sections as follows:

Section 1: Distance: about 2.5 nm, Duration: a little less than one hour. Arcadia Point Boat Ramp, head north with the ebb current across the mouth of Hammersley Inlet and up past Salmon Point at the northern end of Squaxin Island. Proceed to a spot on the western side of Harstine about 0.4 nm north of Squaxin Island, approximately here: 47.23300536755414, -122.9250853609174. We will take a short break here on shore. This is the only on shore break until we get to Hope Island.

Section 2: Distance: about 7 nm, Duration: about 2:20 h. Harstine Island to Hope Island - still riding the ebb we will launch from Harstine Island and proceed south through Peale Passage. Once we reach the southern tip of Squaxin Island we will turn west and then northwest and ride a flood current toward Hope Island. Participants should definitely have food and drink accessible while on the water for this section. We will take a lunch break on Hope Island of about 30-40 minutes.

Section 3: Distance: about 1 nm, Duration: about 00:20 h. Hope Island to Arcadia Point Boat Ramp. We will have some opposing current between Hope Island and the mainland to the west. This should put us back  to the take-out at Arcadia Point between 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM.

Section 3 Alternative route: Distance about 3 nm, Duration: about 01:00 h.  Embark from Hope Island beach and paddle back over to Squaxin Island and explore the west side Squaxin shore into Palela Bay and further north past Potlatch Point, before ferrying back over to the takeout at Arcadia Point. This should put us back to the take-out at Arcadia Point about 2:30 PM.