Sea Kayak - San Juan Islands from Anacortes

Trip Report

All boats on deck! The ferry wasn't full on the return to Anacortes so our boats got to ride up front like cars.  A nice change from being jammed in any available nook  or cranny. Here are pics from earlier in the trip...

Loading boats before rolling onto the ferry at Anacortes.

Waiting for the ferry to Friday Harbor.

On our way!

Michele Rushworth goes over her meticulous plan...

Brad shows one of his favorite routes in the San Juan Islands.

Disembarking at Friday Harbor for the twisty path to the marina.

We all gathered at the kayak launching dock and slid the loaded boats in, an easy process considering how heavy they were with all our gear and water.

Short tow lines made nice impromptu painters to keep the boats under control during this process.

Ed.

Michele.

Arriving at Jones Island.

 A chunk of seal Michele found in the water. It may have been the result of an Orca encounter but we did not see any whales this week.

 Dinner at camp. Living out of IKEA bags marked bow, day, and stern makes for easy gear management and fast boat loading.

 Brad lines up a shot during our sunset walk to the west side.

 The campsite at the south side had this handy hanging rack to help thwart the local raccoon population. There was a sizable troop of the critters around and this hanger worked great! The only raccoon related loss I experienced was the attempted theft of some fire starter wicks from my ditch kit. There was no food in the kit so I didn't hang it. Seems the raccoons had a hankering for the Sterno or whatever those fire starters were soaked in

 Some of our tents. I chose a spot away from the pear trees to avoid being bombarded during the night. The raccoons love to toss the fruit down on unsuspecting campers.

 Brad shows Elizabeth how to adjust some settings in her VHF radio.

 Dana found some interesting driftwood art on one of the small islands we passed at the west end of Wasp Channel.

Threading our way through small islands.

 Perimeter defenses on one of the private islands.

 Brad and Justin modeling coordinated sea kayaking attire.

 Peishan maintains a steady forward range on the crossing back to San Juan Island.

Carol and Michele.

 Dana.

 Peishan and Justin check out some more art work.

Ed.

Evening team meeting to go over the plans for the last day.

After dinner, Michele led a walk around the island, offering valuable photography tips along the way.

 Michelle M.

 Dana.

 My inadvertent camp guardian seemed to have done a great job because no critters disturbed my stuff on Turn. I did hear a lot of snarling and bellowing from the seal population on the small island just to the south, however.

Picture from my morning walk to the east side of Turn.

Packing up.

 Elizabeth.

Michele passes under a ramshackle dock on what appeared to be an abandoned island.

Brad.

Heading south down the coast to Pear Point on a quick jaunt.

Carol.

  Back at Friday Harbor.

 As part of the $8 per boat round trip launching fee we paid up front, we also got to store our wheels at the marina office.

The ferry dock manager had us stage our boats in the bike parking area. When it was time to board they had us take the easy way around the outside and down the ramp rather than making us thread through the passenger loading area.

All aboard!

We lucked out and got to park our boats like cars instead of squeezing them into whatever crack or crevice might be available between vehicles.

 Ready to head back to Anacortes.

For more details, check out the trip reports at the Everett Mountaineers Sea Kayaking committee's Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CSwMZrVTt/?

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