Hale Passage & Wollochet Bay

9-27-2014
Weather was foggy in the morning, sunny and warm at midday. The wind was light from the southeast in Hales Passage, and northeast in Wollochet Bay. We were a group of six with two leaders.
The group launched at the south end of the Fox Island Bridge at 9:30 AM. This launch has no restroom and sensitive residents nearby.
The first stop was west of the launch a half mile at the Fox Island Sand Spit Park on Nearns Point. We used the park sanican and looked for the new Washington Watertrails site.
Next the group crossed to Shaws Cove ferrying across a gentle ebb current, and followed the shore east to Wollochet Bay. The group then proceeded north into the bay along the west shore about .5 miles, and stopped on a private beach for a break and lunch.
Afterwards the group proceeded north to a point near the end of Peterson Dr and crossed to the east shore to explore Sullivans Gulch. Afterwards the group crossed back to the west shore near East Cromwell and proceeded west to Cromwell. The group then crossed Hales Passage to Ketners Point, and proceeded west to Tanglewood Island. The group then practiced rescues off of Tanglewood Island for about 20 minutes, and returned to the launch at 1:45PM. All participants performed well and enjoyed the trip. There were no incidents on this trip. The total trip distance was 8.5 nm.
One challenge to paddling in this area is a lack of public restrooms and pull outs. This can be overcome by being discrete, but this area is densely populated with almost no public lands.