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Trip Report    

Sea Kayak - Goat Island

Scenes from today's ~9 nautical mile paddle from LaConner to Craft Island and back. Great weather, smooth seas and calm winds made for a wonderful day on the water.

Doug Palm Doug Palm
December 30, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Winds and seas were calm the entire day, with partly sunny skies. The trip was planned to take advantage of tidal and river currents.  That said, we did have a bit of work to get from Ika to Craft Island, managing 2.5 knots tops on that section.  At other times we managed well over 3 knots thanks to current assists.  At one point we hit 5.2 knots thanks to a helpful powerboat wake. The fishway in the dike between Goat Island and McGlinn Island was clear and easily navigable on the very high tide today (10.5 feet when we went through).

PC300003.jpegCathie paddles down the Swinomish Channel with the aid of the south bound currents.

PC300007.jpegDan and Bill head for the south opening of the channel.


IMG_1101.jpegWe checked out the fishway in the dike and were happy to find it clear of debris. We were counting on that for the last leg of the trip. At this point we left the fishway and proceeded to Goat Island on the north side of the dike.

IMG_1116.jpegWe skipped the usual landing on the north end of Goat and sought out the beach on the sunny south.


IMG_1120.jpegBill and Cathie silhouetted against the backdrop of the North Cascades. The weather forecasts were spot on today: calm winds and seas with somewhat sunny skies.


IMG_1128.jpegAt the south beach we decided to see where the mysterious ladder led. A rope line made the short climb easy.

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There was a trail along the bank leading toward the fort but it was much longer than expected so we decided to skip it this time. The trail to the fort from the north beach is much better IMHO

IMG_1159.jpegOur landing spot on the log strewn south beach.

PC300030.jpegBill heads toward Ika Island, which from this vantage point resembled the upper half of giant Goldfish cracker.


PC300040.jpegDan and Cathie passing Ika. Mount Baker in the far distance.

PC300047.jpegBill has his sights on tiny Craft Island as he threads his way through snags and large logs hung up in the shallow water. Here the depth was about 5 feet with the tide level at about 10 feet and rising per the LaConner tide station. We never hit bottom while paddling but we did take soundings with our paddles from time to time just for fun.

IMG_1171.jpegThe view to the south was obscured by fog until around lunch time. We were pleased to see Mount Rainer to the south beyond the silhouette of Camano Island. We saw thousands of birds on the skies to the south.

IMG_1183.jpegThe tide was at about 11 feet at this point, making for easy paddling right up to the rock outcropping where we had lunch. Much nicer than at lower tides.

PC300056.jpegDan and Cathie start across the mouth of the North Fork of the Skagit River. River levels and flows were back down closer to normal after the recent storms. We had no difficulty crossing the mouth to reach the branch leading to Fishtown and back to LaConner.

PC300069.jpegEnjoying a nice current assist as we headed west down the northern branch.

IMG_1188.jpegBill and Cathie head into the fishway in the dike for our return to LaConner. The water level on the river side was slightly higher and we enjoyed the extra current boost and a bit of swirly business.

IMG_1193.jpegDan rides through the fishway, northbound. The tide was about 10.5 feet per the LaConner tide station. We enjoyed a nice current assist all the way back to LaConner, at times reaching just over 5 knots thanks to some nice powerboat wakes near the end.

IMG_1202.jpegTrip stats for our 8.93 nautical mile journey. We finished about an hour and a half earlier than I had planned. We took shorter breaks and had more current assist than I expected.