Trip Report
Circumnavigate Orcas Island Paddle
Four of us, women set to circumnavigate Orcas Island by sea kayak. We decided early on that we will avoid camping on popular destinations on weekends, enjoy leisurely morning before launching, and paddle between 8 - 12 NM/day.
Felicia Wibowo
- Wed, Jul 23, 2025 — Tue, Jul 29, 2025
- San Juan Islands from Anacortes
- Sea Kayaking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Most of the time we paddled with current assist, except for rounding off the North side of Orcas Island we paddled against less than 2 kt current before lunch. We had a bit of a problem with the tide at Point Doughty and Doe Island. The ideal tide height to launch and land at Point Doughty is when the tide height at Echo Bay is 2.5 ft or higher. At 8.7 ft tide at Echo Bay there is no more beach at Point Doughty.
At Doe Island the ideal tide height to launch and land is when the tide height at Peavine Pass is 5 ft or higher. We arrived at Doe Island when the tide at Peavine Pass was about 0 ft. You could not land any where on Doe Island then. Some of us landed on the South side of Doe Island after paddling around the area for more than one hour, then hauled some of our dry bags up to the campsite and paddled the kayak when there was enough water to the campsite on the SE side of the island.
Except for Jones Island there is no potable water on our campsites. Campsite cost $12.00/night except at Point Doughty (free).
Lesson learned for myself, always call VSTS when crossing a shipping lane. We were glad that we called VSTS but still had a close encounter with a cargo ship when crossing Rosario strait from Lydia Shoal to Cypress Island.
Four of us met at Washington Park around 9:00 AM on July 23, 2025 to start our paddling adventure. Karen drove all the way from Eureka, CA a couple days earlier, Kristy from Stanwood and Teresa and I from Seattle. We brought down our kayaks, load our gear and food for a week in our kayaks and our support friend Marcy gave me a ride back to Anacortes to park my car. Parking at Washington Park overnight would cost me $11.00/night. Then it's time to suit up and start our paddle. We were hoping the fog would lift up by then, but no luck. We had to cross Rosario strait from Washington Park to James island with 3 ft visibility and did great with our dead reckoning. We stopped for lunch at James Island and at Thatcher Bay for Peavine Pass and Obstruction Pass currents to die down a bit. Our destination for the first night was Obstruction Pass State Park. We were able to put up all our tents on 1 site.
Second day destination was Jones Island where we need to fill up our water bags enough for 4 days. After breakfast we load our kayaks and off we go. The wind and the tide was not cooperating when we stop for lunch at Blind Island. We paddled along the shore of Shaw island for wind shelter before crossing to Crane Island and along the East shore of Crane through Pole Pass to Jones Island. We settled on camping on the South side of Jones Island, not the water trail side. We paid for one campsite, but our tents sprawled every where. since no one was there.
The wind blew most of the night and we were worried about the next leg, which thankfully would not be a long paddle. We had a leisurely morning, breakfast and did a hike on the island with spectacular view and madrone groves before paddling to our next destination, Point Doughty. My bad on not reminding everybody that we would not stop for lunch except for a short snack break, since our launch time was at noon.
We stayed 2 nights at Point Doughty and enjoyed every minutes of it. Watching beautiful sunsets, reading, knitting, relaxing, catching up with friends, checking sea critters at low tide, watching river otters and seals play..... We were the only one there for 1 night and had 4 other kayakers the next night. In the evening a guided kayak group from West beach on Orcas Island would come to watch the sunset.
After resting for 2 nights at Point Doughty, we were ready to paddle to Clark Island. At tide lower than 2.5 ft at Echo Bay, it was hard to find a a good spot to stop for lunch on the Northern shore of Orcas Island. A very nice gentleman let us land on his beach. It turned out the public access is next to his property, with a couple of parking spots upland. The location is where Buckhorn Rd ends (East of Lodge Ln) N 48.7065° W 122.8684° in case you need to use the spot. We arrived at Clark Island and I could not wait to take off my dry suit. It was the hottest day so far. We took 2 beach campsites and had Clark Island for ourselves for the night. 
Our food and water packs were getting smaller and smaller, so packing was getting faster and faster. We were ready to paddle to Doe Island a bit early. Hind side we could leave a little later so we did not have to wait so long for tide at Doe Island to rise. Also we thought we need to get water at Doe Bay Resort, but we all have more than enough water for 1 more day. So we scratched the water supply stop. By 5:00 PM we could land our kayaks at the SE Doe Island campsite. 
It's the last night of our adventure. Tomorrow we would paddle back from Doe Island to Washington Park. I was thankful for the great companions, great weather and tons of fun. But for now... good night.
To see more pictures you can go to https://photos.app.goo.gl/di8a6vgkkXpAUbHJA