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Sea Kayak - Hope Island

A fun day with some challenging conditions including wind and some strong currents provided lots of experience for students.

Will Greenough Will Greenough
June 25, 2024
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Boat ramp was open and not busy in the morning when we launched, but very busy in the afternoon when we came back. Many of us used wheels to bring the boats back to the parking lot due to the heavy boat launch/recovery traffic.

    With the large tide exchange on this day, the currents in Hammersley Inlet, Pickering Passage and north of Steamboat Island were fairly strong - certainly over 3kt in many places.

    The forecast W-SW wind was accurate with 5-8kt much of the day and occasional gusts and short periods well over 10kt.

All arrived on time and we were able to get on the water by 9:45am.

We paddled toward Cape Cod, stopping along the way to demonstrate how to cross an eddyline. At Cape Cod all did 3 eddyline crossings successfully with no capsizes. The current was estimated to be around 2-3kt. We then ferried across to the north shore for a short break.

After the break we reentered the current and paddled north in Pickering Passage, crossing to Squaxin near it's north end. We then paddled back south along the shore against the current and 5kt wind. We experienced a strong current going around Tuckapahwox point - almost faster than some in the group could paddle against.  We crossed to Hope Island and paddled along its eastern shore in the lee of the wind. We stopped for lunch at the beach at the trailhead across from Squaxin Island. 

After lunch we crossed to the reef and spent 20-30 minutes looking at the life. Unfortunately the wind and clouds made viewing less than ideal. We then paddled over to the shore west of Carlyon Beach and then along the shore past Steamboat Island. We stopped in the cove at the northwest end of Steamboat Island and the students performed rescues successfully. 

After rescue practice, we entered the strong flood current and rode it back to Arcadia, arriving back at the launch around 4pm.