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Trip Report    

Sea Kayak - Hartstine Island

Change of launch plan yielded more miles on a beautiful day to be on the water. Lots of porpoises, fish and birds.

  • Road suitable for all vehicles

04/09/17 -SAT –III+—HARTSTENE ISLAND CIRCUMNAVIGATION.  APPROX 23 NM.

LEADER: LISA A JOHNSON

PADDLERS:  TERRY JARET

TIDES/CURRENTS:  NARROWS -3.65 @ 0904,  +3.89 @ 1443; DANA PASSAGE: -2.6@ 0830-0940, S @1800;  MCDOUGALL PT: S @ 1324; PICKERING PASSAGE GRAHAM PT: -1.66 @1029, +.97 @1542.

CONDITIONS: LITTLE OR NO S BREEZE,  MOSTLY SUNNY, TEMPS 50S,  SEA CALM TO RIPPLED, VISABILITY EXCELLENT

SIGHTED: CORMORANT, SCOTER, EAGLE, BUFFLEHEAD, GREAT BLUE HERON, PORPOISES, PIGEON GUILLEMOT

 Terry and I carpooled to reach a completely empty parking lot at Boston Harbor at 0845 and were on the water at 0915.  We rode the max in Dana Passage to reach and head north from Brisco approx 0940. We didn’t need any breaks and were met by a black Lab running along beside us at Fudge Pt who seemed as happy with her stick as we were with ours.  We landed on the low tide on the SW spot below the structures on McMicken Island at 1140 for lunch and shoved off an hour later. Soon after we cleared McMicken we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by a circle of at least 10 porpoises, a few of them within a stick range.  They surfaced singly and in pairs, sometimes jumping clear out of the water as they slowly moved south.  After about 5 minutes we continued on north where we met a determined (and successful) fisherman standing with the water at the top of his 4’ waders at Douglas Pt at 1340.  Although the flood was building behind us we weren’t getting much help from it until we reached the left turn on the NW corner and began heading down Pickering Passage, arriving for about a 20 minute break at the Hartstene Bridge at 1540. We then made good time with little effort down the west side of pretty Squaxin Island, arriving at Potlatch Pt at 1640 to pause and say hello to Hope Island and discuss our options.  There was little or no breeze and we decided to feel our way down Squaxin Channel straight towards Boston Harbor.  Although we had started before the predicted slack at 1800 in Dana Passage the ebb had already started at approximately 1715 out of Totten and (theoretically) Budd Inlets.   As we approached the middle of the channel I noticed that we had slowed down considerably and we changed our heading to just head towards Dover Pt and made better progress.  We hauled out at the boat launch at 1805. We loaded back up and had a very welcome and enjoyable dinner at the Fish Tale before heading home.  A  beautiful day without any rain in what has been a very wet spring so far!