Sea Kayak - San Juan Islands from Anacortes

Trip Report

SIGHTED: ORCA, DOLPHIN, SEAL, EAGLE, BROWN HEADED MERGANSER, BLACK OYSTER CATCHER, SNAKE, CHIPMUNK, GREAT BLUE HERON, CORMORANT, PIGEON GUILLEMOT, COMMON MURRE

Our third paddler had to cancel the night before the trip.  I stayed up in Lake Stevens on Wed night.  I got up to the 9:00 alarm, ate my breakfast afer I pulled my stuff together and made the bed. I left around 9:20 and  stopped at the Starbucks on Route 9.  I got to Anacortes with little traffic around 11:00.  The day was already promising to be hot. I drove first to check out the launch and parking situation at Seafarer’s Park after using the restroom. Plenty of room for launching although the ebbing tide was ugly and going to get a lot uglier.  Plenty of parking in the “cars only” lot and I left a VM for Terry.    I went to Safeway and Terry called just as I got out of the car.  He’d just gotten off I5 in Burlington.  I offered the choice of launching from Cap Sante to save parking fees but he opted for WA Park at 1:00 and I said ok.  I had my sandwich made and then drove to go see family before arriving at WA Park about noon. Terry had just arrived and we were surprised to see so many blank parking spaces adjacent to the beach. 

 

We got cracking getting our stuff unloaded and moving the cars.  Parking is $11 per night and I used my  credit card.  A WAKE group had just come in and one of the members named Amy chatted with me as I was getting my gear on.  She worked at Marblemount and was GIVEN a permit in May to go to Ross Lake to find the water level down 32 feet. She couldn’t even get to Little Beaver as she would have had to scale a wall. But she said it was interesting.  She is going back soon.  I was very surprised when she told me that most of the rangers who work at MM have never been to Ross Lake! She also asked me about the zipper on her drysuit and I told her to use Vaseline on the housing.  Somebody was yelling for her to get her boat up and she said good bye and left.

 

There was no pre trip huddle as it was just Terry and I and we launched on time at 1300. 

With a current rapidly building to 5 knots I calculated a straight line across Guemas Channel and we had to do only a minimum of adjusting as we approached the southeast corner.  Terry clocked us about six knots during the crossing and through the chattering water around Cypress Head.  We slowed to about 4 knots once past that and the current actually flowed against us a bit approaching the Cones.

We paused for a snack and bio break there and Terry reported looking up to see about 15 seals in the water going around the corner; I only got to see about a half dozen furry faces that disappeared before I could grab my camera.

 

The current hits a kind of dead zone between Guemas, Sinclair and Towhead Islands.  Once out by the buoy in Rosario Channel things pick up again as we headed up towards Lawrence Point at the SE end of Orcas Island.  I chose a heading just east of Peapod Rocks.  We had to stop at one point and watched a rather exciting confrontation between a very fast moving freighter going north off to our left and a power boater smack in front of it.  The tanker was repeatedly blasting its horn, 5 times at one point as the boat finally moved off to the side towards us. 

We waited and watched with the current pushing us at 3 knots but it was only about a minute as the ship was going at least 20 knots and swung north ahead of us and soon we were hopping over its wake.  Once abreast of Peapod Rocks we shifted east towards Lawrence Point, going a little wide to stay in the current towards Clark.

 

I had wanted to stop at Clark for lunch but decided to continue on to Barnes on the west side of it. Once again things turned into a bit of a slog as the water got shallower approaching the rocks before landing on  the pretty beach on the south facing side with a lot of NO FIRES signs everywhere. I gobbled my lunch quickly and Terry had a snack.

 It was 1738 when we took off again and we saw a large and empty picnic area complete with a barbecue grill just around the corner on the west side. Soon our real slog began.  We could hardly bust 2 knots as we worked our way through the fairly smooth water to Matia.  The fish were jumping like crazy ahead of us, some of them really good sized and multiple times, sometimes high out of the water.  But we didn’t see anything chasing them! 

I was getting frustrated with our lack of progress and it was just strange how we didn’t seem to find a current in front or behind us and couldn’t make much headway past Puffin Rock.  The sun was getting lower, the water quieter and I knew the tide was going to shift soon which likely wouldn’t help us.  We finally reached the side of the island and began paddling along the pretty shoreline with its interesting cliffs and tiny coves.  I was completely losing Terry ahead of me in the bright sunshine until he pulled up and waited for me in one of the coves.  Then it was around the corner and a short distance to bounce through the tide rips at the entrance to the cove with the really welcome sight of the dock on the north end.  We hit the beach at 1958 having taken two hours and twenty minutes to go about 5 miles.  There were maybe four boats at the dock and anchored in the cove. 

 

We are the only ones at the campsite and worked fast to get our boats unloaded, moved, tied off and our tents set up.  It helped a lot to have a new set of stairs getting up the lower part of the embankment with large driftwood logs right next to it.

I hung my gear in the overhanging bushes next to the stairs. Terry made his sandwich dinner in the dark and I ate an apple. We were in our tents just after 10:00 after a gorgeous sunset all purple and orange that we were too busy to appreciate.

 Tomorrow Terry is making us an egg breakfast at 9:00 and we will likely go for a walk afterwards. Then the rest of the day will be spent at the dock or beach to escape bugs.  No fires are allowed—our campsite doesn’t even have a fire pit—and we didn’t bring any bug coils. It’s now 10:39 and I am going to read a bit.  I had a sponge bath and changed my clothes.  I will need the earplugs tonight—the waves and the boat generators will keep me awake if I don’t.  Hope nobody decides to leave early tomorrow…that can make some noise!!!

 

FRI 08/22/25  – NO PADDLE DAY

 

I didn’t sleep well last night.  I was at too much of a slant and could not get comfortable.  One of the first things I did when I got up was move the tent to a hopefully slug free zone under the tree on the other side of the picnic table. I hung my drysuit and clothes on the overhanging branches and there are very large pieces of logs for the rest of any stuff to dry there too. Makes it very convenient when I pack tomorrow.

 

As soon as the sun had moved a bit towards our campsite the little snake that lives in the bushes made its appearance. It or its relatives have been there for the last two times I’ve been here; it doesn’t seem to have a very big range.  I couldn’t get a decent picture of it though; it disappeared too fast when I had my camera and yet seemed to reappear as soon as Terry showed up!  It is different shades of brown, two feet or less long and about as fat as my thumb.  Walking to the loo reminded me of the black slugs that populate the San Juans; I like the snake much better.

 

The rest of the day was a delightful one on my favorite island in the San Juans.  Terry made a hash with powdered eggs.  He knocked himself out chopping up peppers and cheese to put in it.  Served up with some wonderful biscuits from QFC.  Tea.  My alarm had gone off at 9:00 and it was 12:30 by the time we had cleaned up and hit the trail.  I had packed a lunch and ate it at one of the look out spots on the west side of the island above a cove with interesting rocks. Terry said he can get cell phone coverage there.

We walked back the way we came so didn’t wind up doing a circuit.  Then Terry made his lunch.  Afterwards we went down to sit in some shade on the crowded dock to go over my GPS but didn’t get very far. I need to get a cable to hook it up to my computer and download charts and waypoints on it.

 

Boats were showing up at the dock and things were getting more crowded.  The sun was hot—it had to be well into the 80s—and we moved down to the beach to get in the shade.  We had to move twice. It was about 5:45 and all the shade gone when we got up to make our dinners.  Why do portions get bigger after you have packed them???  I am determined to eat what I brought but am already behind in snacks and apples.

 

I cleaned up my dishes and self and then joined Terry at the dock to watch a rapidly disappearing sun.  There had not been a single cloud in the sky all day! 

 

Tomorrow it is up by 9:00 to tear down camp, eat and launch at 1000 with five miles to go back to Clark and hopefully a lot faster than the other way around.  Then another day to sit in the sun and shade to relax. It’s now 8:57 and I will read for a while.  Probably fall asleep early to catch up from last night.  I’m on level ground now so hopefully will sleep a lot better.

 

SAT 08/23/25 – MATIA TO CLARK – 5 NM:  CLARK: -1.18 @ 1026 / S @ 1436

As hoped I slept better last night and got up at 8:30. 

We shoved off after a chat with some people from Blaine on one of the boats.  We turned the NE corner of the cove just about 1000.  It was a lot faster going south than north for sure.  We stopped paddling and slipped between some shoals to see the numerous seals on the rocks.  Happily only a few got into the water; I think it is our waving paddles that scare them. We got some good pictures and moved on. 

We very quickly reached Puffin Island on the east side to then head straight down in the chattering water towards the south east end of Clark. 

The current picked up and I had to make adjustments to our ferrying angle along the way to avoid being pushed west of the island.  We got around the northern corner with no problems.  We slipped up on the beach in the wide cove bang on 1100.  Proof that at least THIS direction we could paddle 5 knots!

 

Clark Island’s camp sites are along the top if the shingle beach between bushes that have the picnic table in the gaps with a shaved path behind that.  The path terminates on either end at a campsite so to continue on to the loo on either end you have to go back on to the beach to find the trail. The pay station is on the north end with the trail to the loo and more campsites that can either go up into the forest or on to the beach on the west side.  There is no camping allowed anywhere on the west side.  There is no trail that takes you completely around the island. The north side ends at the cliffs on the north end with no access to the rocks below.  The south trail goes along the top of the bluffs with amazing views but dead ends in the forest. But the madrona trees are something special on their own!

 

Terry went up to survey the sites and picked the familiar #10 in the middle of the beach.  With no firewood, tarps or poles it didn’t take long to unload and set up our tents.  This is a shallow ball bearing beach that doesn’t make it easy to get to the camping zone but there were plenty of handy driftwood logs to pull the empty boats up right in front of our site. However there were surprisingly few sticks to use as tent pegs so I ended up mostly putting some gravel in empty dry bags instead.  I also bring tiny screw eyes with a bit of line if a driftwood log is handy which worked well for the rainfly opening.

 

There was a huge party of kids and adults on the north end.  The grandfather came by to admire our boats and told us that the whole throng had arrived for the day on one boat doing multiple trips.  The dad bought it five weeks ago and the clan have been out every weekend since. I wonder if that will continue once the price of filling that tank catches up!  On the south end a power boat was beached almost at the campsite trail and we wondered if that was an accident or by design. 

 

The rest of the day was spent eating, walking around the island, taking pictures, reading and just being quiet and lazy in the shade of the bushes when it was hot.  We were amused by the antics of the little boys from down the beach on a SUP as we ate our lunch.  After lunch Terry and I went for a walk to the other side of the island.  The beach is quite a contrast between the sand on the north end that ends in rocks and from about the midpoint on just rocks all the way to the south end. 

Or so we thought.  There were lots of different shades and all shapes and sizes and are not kind to feet and ankles. These rocks don’t get turned over as there are no bears on the island so some were remarkably smooth. 

The tide was out the farthest that I have seen it before.  A black oystercatcher screamed at me to take its picture so I did.

We discovered a new beach on the southwest end just below the view point with the bench at the top.  I think part of it is a canoe ladder.  They are beach areas that the natives moved the rocks aside to create landing strips for their canoes and usually have midden shells on or around the shoreline defining their work areas where they discarded the bones and shells of their catch.  Like the Puget Sound, I think most of these islands had all sandy beaches before power boats arrived.  The difference between the less traveled west side of Clark and the lack of sand on the east side alongside a shipping lane plainly tells that story.

 

We went up the steep embankment to the beautiful madrona forest that covers this island before heading back to camp.

The sun was warm on my back and toes as I snoozed until Terry gave a shout at about 5:00. There were orcas on the north end of the cove!  The float plane going overhead provided that clue and out of nowhere there were at least six boats—two of them commercial whale watching boats—clustered around the pod including the anchored boats.  While the boats all looked like they were the required distance from them the noise from their engines must be deafening for those whales.  As usual, it lasted about 10 minutes before they had moved north out of the cove and things got quiet again, at least for us. 

 

The tide had come up nicely by now.  A seal kept passing back and forth as though inspecting us!

It was about 5:45 when I made my salad and warmed up my left over pasta.  Then cleaned up the dishes and myself before we walked down to the southern end of the island. An odd looking obviously home made kayak was pulled up where the power boat had been. Another campsite had a barbeque grill with two boys down by the shore.  They told us that they were with one of the anchored boats.  There wound up being around four boats anchored in the cove by the end of the day.  The Brady Bunch to the north had left in shifts when we were eating dinner.

 

We passed on to the trail, said hello to two guys in one of the campsites. They are very nice on this end (the campsites, not just the campers), all level and large with lots of beautiful trees and spectacular views. 

However, exposed if there is a southern wind and a long haul from the beach with no view of your boat. We sat on some of the rocks above the now filled in beach from before and took pictures of the lowering sun scenes before heading back to camp about 8:00. 

It’s now 8:51 and I am in my tent with it almost dark outside.

 

Tomorrow we will launch between 9 and 10:00.  The currents are fastest down at the south end of Bellingham Channel and the ebb should be maxing after 10:00 which will still leave an assist for us in the last part of the ride getting across Guemas Channel. I don’t anticipate any real slowdowns and will just eat snacks with the likely stops at the Cones and Cypress Head. 

 

 

20250824 SUN – CLARK TO WA PARK – 13 NM: CLARK: S @ 0715 / -1.6 @ 1109 / LAWRENCE POINT: S @ 0654 / -1.6 @1057  / TOWHEAD ISLAND: S @ 0836 / -0.5 @ 1011 / S @ 1214 / BELLINGHAM CHANNEL NORTH: S @ 0613 / -2.7 @ 1004 / BELLINGHAM CYPRESS HEAD:S @ 0625 /-4.1 @ 1015 / BELLINGHAM CHANNEL SOUTH: S @ 0559 / -4.2 @ 0955 / S @ 1335 

 

It was a comfortable night spent in the tent and I got up before my alarm went off around 8:00 I think.  Tide was about where it was when we had arrived the day before and it didn’t take long to pack things up, dumping the water bags to make things easier. We shoved off at 0930 and headed out towards the chattering currents south of the rocks. There was little or no NNW breeze and the current wasn’t going to be as strong as it usually is on these runs so I chose a heading that had us pointed just where the hill began rising on Lummi. 

We adjusted it as we got farther south at a satisfactory pace and soon found ourselves pointed straight at the buoy in front of Sinclair before shifting west as we approached the island.

As expected, the current slowed considerably as we got around Sinclair’s west corner and didn’t start to pick up until we were almost even with the north tip of Guemas.  Then it really racked up as we approached the Cones.  I went wide in case there were any seals on the rocks (turned out to be none) and could see the top of the rock passing the range of trees behind it very fast.  It was like crossing a river to get over to the south facing shore, arriving at 1045.

This time Terry stayed in his boat and I sat on mine having some nuts for a few minutes.  Curious seals did keep popping up to snatch looks at us before disappearing.  Pelican Beach didn’t look too crowded but we had no desire to stop there.

 

After about five minutes we got going to the east side of the feature to grab the current again.  We were about halfway down to Cypress Head when dolphins appeared directly in front of us.  I only saw two little fins and in spite of waiting with the camera they didn’t appear.  That pause costed me as I got drifted east which resulted in a harder ferry to keep from getting swept around the head down below.  I squeaked into the cove and joined Terry at the north side of the spit.  It was busy with a couple of anchored boats and when we sat down at the picnic table for our snack we watched two women portaging their kayaks from the lllooonnngggg (and getting longer) muddy opposite side.  They were mother and daughter from Bellingham who were returning to their boat anchored in the cove just south of Pelican Beach. 

 

We saddled up and got going again at 1145 for the last leg back across Guemas Channel.  We jumped out into the current rushing around the head and I figured we had at least three knots left.  I chose a heading pretty much towards the ferry dock and soon we could see the red buoy fast approaching. 

So was a ferry from the west but it didn’t cause us any problems as it banked well in front of us to approach its dock just as another one was leaving.  No wait saved us some time and we arrived at Washington Park at 1258.

 

I landed next to the still serviceable boat launch and had just started unpacking my boat when I heard my name yelled.  I looked up to see a bearded man wearing a baseball hat waving at me from the launch….it was Peter Babler!!  I haven’t seen him in years!! We exchanged some hurried words; he quit kayaking three years ago because his daughter couldn’t and bought an 18’ power boat instead.  They started on Wed and were at Sucia the first night and did some island hopping and he was just leaving to get the car.  What a coincidence…the last time I paddled with him was a Doe Island trip years ago!

 

Terry and I were surprised to see empty parking spaces when we pulled up which seemed really strange since it was such a warm and sunny Sunday.  Something happened though by the time we brought our cars down; there were no spaces left.  Terry was rudely shut out of one that he was waiting for at the day use lot; I had pulled into the boat ramp waiting area.  We were loaded, cleaned up and on the road in about an hour where we then headed to The Corner Restaurant down the hill from Anacortes. Terry kindly bought me my lunch and we shared a chocolate pudding cake with ice cream before heading back to our respective homes.

 

Once again this summer I have been blessed with picture perfect weather for the whole trip.  With the exception of the Barnes to Matia slog the paddling conditions couldn’t have been better.  Thursday’s route was an experiment to try Bellingham Channel on the flood.  In the future I will stick with Rosario Strait going north on the flood and definitely south through Bellingham Channel on the ebb.  After numerous tries with different positions next time going north between Clark and Matia I will also stick to the shipping lane for as much as can be dared to see if the current will cooperate better.   Last and not least: I haven’t paddled with Terry since April and this trip made me realize again how much I have missed doing that! 

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