Hope Island

Six eager paddlers launched from Arcadia with one cancelation the morning of the trip secondary to kayak rack problems. It was a beautiful sunny day over the south sound as we left our launch point at 0945 traveling north with the current crossing the mouth of Hammersley Inlet I spotted my first seal for the day. We traveled up west side of the passage crossing east bound just north of Tuckapahwox Point. Then paddled south along the west shore of Squaxin Island encountering some eddies and whirlpools close to the shoreline. I had the opportunity to talk about reading the currents and eddies along our journey. All were able to successful navigate the currents. We crossed from Potlatch Point to northern Hope Island where we ate lunch with a magnificent view of the Olympic Mountains. Then after lunch we paddled south and explored the sea life between Squaxin Island and Hope Island on a minus 1.5 tide. On the low tide we observed a eagle, crabs,starfish, kelp beds with blue luminescent streaks,and other sea life. As a was explaining the low tide reef/sand bar to the paddlers we watched a speed boat bottom out his engine coming to a dramatic halt. I had a experience member of our group go over to check out the couple in the boat to make sure they both were okay. They were busy trying to asses their engine and attempt to restart their boat. The boat got off the reef and proceeded under it own power. We kayaked around the southern end observing many folks unloading their kayaks and canoes to go camping on Hope Island. We traveled up the coast of Hope and crossed just north of steamboat island back to our launch point. We arrived to Arcadia boat launch at 320. Total distance traveled 6.5NM afternoon temperature of 74 degrees. We experienced some wind before and after lunch max 6mph. All paddler successfully completed the trip. This was a experience paddle for Kay Lennartson.