Anderson Island

12/06/14 -SAT –III—ANDERSON ISLAND CIRCUMNAVIGATION. APPROX 13 NM.
LEADER: LISA A JOHNSON
PADDLERS: DAN HALSEY, TERRY JARET, ROSEANNE LORENZANA, JAMES WILSON
TIDES/CURRENTS: NISQUALLY TIDES: 14.45F @ 0612, 7.01E @ 1136, 13.51F @1623. BALCH PASSAGE CURRENTS: -2.1 FROM APPROX 0830-0930 DRAYTON PASSAGE EBBING 0430-1045
CONDITIONS: SEA CALM TO CHOPPY 0-2+’ WW, S 0-12 KT, GUST 14 KT, SHOWERS, MOSTLY CLOUDY, TEMPS 40-50, VISABILITY FAIR TO GOOD.
SIGHTED: SEALS, SEA LIONS, ORCAS, CORMORANTS, SCOTERS, COOTS, BUFFLEHEADS, KINGFISHER, EAGLE

We met at Luhr Beach around 0900 and everybody had their current Discover Passes properly displayed. We had pre-trip huddle at 0945 and launched on time at 1000. The boat launch had become very busy with hunters who headed east while we went north across rippled water with obvious eddy lines to Anderson to begin a counter clockwise rotation. Once we reached the island we skipped the bay and stopped for a brief bio break before proceeding on up the east side. I briefly tested my new tow belt. We stopped when the whale magnet Terry was the first to spot 2 adult and 1 juvenile orca across the channel, rapidly travelling south past Ketron Island. We paused to watch them a bit before going on. The flood was just starting, helping us along with a gentle current against us as we approached Eagle Island at noon. Seals were piled up all over north east corner and we didn’t disturb them and proceeded on to the west facing side where we hauled out for a 45 minute lunch. We were rained on just a bit before we started back out again in the quickening current. We mostly hugged the shoreline in the lee of most of the wind after observing a darkening sky but the squalls went to the west of us. We ducked into a small slough area but the water was still too low to explore very far. We did observe some beautiful rainbows and we were observed by 3 sea lions at Treble Point. We hauled out at the Washington Water Trails site on the south side at 1400 for another break that lasted about 15 minutes and discussed our options. We then followed the shoreline for about 15 minutes and waited for another threatening looking cloud to pass by on the other side of the channel before turning to cross the channel into a now light wind that weakened as we approached the launch point in golden sunshine, arriving at 1600. The tide was fully up so there was no beach and we had to land at the still busy boat launch. After loading up a brief post trip huddle yielded no complaints and the observation that it is wise to verify that your radio is turned off after the radio check to prevent killing the battery. Even though this trip had a very wide skill set level all paddlers performed well with excellent group dynamics. Great trip on an almost perfect December day!