September Sailing Part 2 (13th-20th)

Sep. 13: It was a foggy morning in Friday Harbor, and I was glad our start time was in the afternoon: Kait’s ferry got in at 1, and we didn’t head out until 2:45.

The fog did lift, and after some grocery shopping we were on our way.

We didn’t go too far that day. The north side of Obstruction Pass was just under 10nm away. (nautical miles, not nanometers!)

After making dinner and getting settled in we noticed the sea seemed to sparkle when we agitated it. I had seen this before when dumping liquids overboard at night, some faint glowing flashes in the bubbles, but had always assumed it was just the dim light of the sky reflected in the bubbles somehow.

I got a paddle from below deck, put it below the water, and swished back and forth. Now we became certain that we were seeing bioluminescence and not some optical trick. I wasn’t creating any air bubbles, and the swirling water was clearly glowing.

We got into Jojo the dinghy and went for a row around Boatato, hoping to see a fuller effect from the oars, and were not disappointed. It was too dim to capture on camera unfortunately.

As a final trick I started the engine, put it in gear, and revved it up. A whole plume of water lit up in the turbulence of the propeller. It was so interesting to play with this!

After looking at the current maps for the next day, we decided to head up to Sucia island, one of the northernmost islands in the San Juans. A lot of the time when Kait was with me, we were trying to go places where orcas are common, because she really loves seeing them from the water. She also kept a log of the various animals we saw which I’ll put at the end of each day.

Today, it was a couple of harbor seals hanging around the boat in the evening. They are common to see, but cute nonetheless.

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Sep. 14: After a perfectly calm and sometimes rainy night, we got moving at 6:40am. We had the current with us but not much wind, so it was almost all motoring. Kait had a zoom call to attend starting at 9:30, I anchored us at Sucia Island at 9:40, and we spent a couple of hours doing computer stuff.

Sucia is a popular area and it’s easy to understand why. My guidebook described it has having “white sand beaches”, which we struggled to find, but it was a beautiful spot for sure.

We skipped the mooring balls and anchored out a bit farther from the beach access, but rowed Jojo in anyway, and went for a scenic 2-3 mile hike that wove along the edge of the island.

Rowing back to Boatato, Kait started yelling that she had spotted some orcas! I quickly rowed us the rest of the way and then with binoculars and DSLR in hand we watched a group of 3 orcas milling around near some kayakers not too far away. Birds circled above.

It was a great day, the only really bad thing was that the night was not calm at all. The waves coming into our anchorage were quite gentle but Boatato insisted on sitting beam-on to them all night, so we really got rolled around and woken up quite a bit. I’m gradually learning the importance of protected anchorages and knowing which way the wind and swells are coming from.

Kait’s animal log:

6 harbor porpoise
10 harbor seals
1 garter snake
1 mousey type thing
3 ORCAS!!!!

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Sep. 15: After a slow and still quite rolly morning, we finally pulled up the anchor and continued on.

Next stop: Patos Island for a few hours to do the loop hike there.

Strange currents and winds between Sucia and Patos, tried to sail sometimes but nothing was consistent. Finally decided to motor there.

Here we got our 2nd orcas sighting — 4 or 5 of them this time, with no other boats around. I didn’t get any photos this time but we felt lucky to see 2 different groups 2 days in a row!

We found plenty of space to anchor for a lunchtime stop. Rowed ashore for the pleasant hike, with a lighthouse at the end and a paved trail that must have been used to cart supplies historically. The dock it once connected to no longer exists.

Leaving Patos Island we had good wind for sailing for a while, but once again it died off and we motored the rest of the way to Stuart Island. This time we made sure to pick a spot that was more protected so it would be calm overnight again. Reid Harbor was great for this.

Kait’s animal log:

9 harbor porpoises
9 harbor seals
4-5 orcas
1 lions mane jellyfish
2 deer

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Sep. 16: We struggled to find a good route for this day because the tidal flows just didn’t seem to cooperate with any plan we could think of. Finally I came up with the idea to head south in the morning with the current to Lime Kiln state park, anchor there and go ashore during slack tide, and then ride it back north again in the afternoon.

It took a few hours to get there and we anchored amidst a lot of kelp at Deadman Bay, which isn’t really mentioned in the guides and seemingly not used that often, but is a good way to access Lime Kiln state park by boat. It’s known as one of the best places to whale-watch from land, but we didn’t get lucky this day.

One of our priorities was to eat at some kind of food establishment because the stuff we brought to eat didn’t have much variety. I continued to make some version of tofu, veggies, and ramen every night we were anchored out. One of the few options open on this Tuesday was a place called the Blowhole at Lime Kiln. Really more of a hot dog stand with a lot of other snacks as well. We waited eagerly for the 11:00 open time only to find out the guy who runs the stand wasn’t there yet! By the time it opened we were desperate for food! We found a few vegetarian items and had fun talking to the guy who ran it as well as the other employee inside the gift shop.

It was good that we waited to eat here and indulged in many items because later in the day when we got to a marina, there were no restaurants open.

Full of food now we returned to Boatato and started the trip back north, with the goal being to get to Deer Harbor marina on Orcas Island. The current was helping us as we had planned, but a strong wind opposed us so we did a lot of tacking and close-hauling.

I saw a route that went through Roche Harbor, which looked like a fun route and we seemed to have plenty of time. I knew the current would turn against me in there and I might lose wind too, but wanted to see if I could make it anyway.

42 tacks later… we got stuck at a narrow point where the current was just too fast to overcome. It was good for a laugh anyway! Cranked up the motor and drove the rest of the way to Deer Harbor.

When I was with Atli the week before, there was a time when she saw a big fancy motor yacht going by and said “look at that giant boat”. Somehow I misheard this as “look at that Jag boat” (Jaguar? Mick Jagger? Sounded possibly like an expensive type of boat). From then on, any big fancy motor yacht became a “jag boat”, occupied by “jags”, like a slur for obnoxiously rich boaters, haha.

Anyway, we saw a total jag boat on the way to Deer Harbor.

This marina had a nice floating pontoon patio type thing with barbecues, tables, and a bathroom on it. It was nice to have a place to stretch out a bit as we cooked and ate another version of noodles, veggies, and tofu. Actually no — it was rice this time.

Two harbor seals spent the night on the slip next to ours.

Kait’s animal log:

1 goose
50+ jellyfish
8 harbor seals including the cult leader*
3 porpoises

*we passed a big seal in a shallow area that seemed to be sitting on top of the water like Jesus, with 4-5 smaller seals swimming around it.

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Sep. 17: This morning was slower again, and we needed to wait for Kait to have a 10:00 zoom meeting before we could head out anyway. It was nice to get some food, coffee, and ice cream from the cafe and the showers there were ideal as well.

Just an hour or 75 minutes of motoring to get to Friday Harbor. Once there, we had to hurry immediately to the ferry that would take Kait back to Port Townsend, but we made time for the classic Boatato selfie first.

Her visit was already over! But I felt like it was densely packed with great views and exciting animal encounters. Thanks for coming along, helping me see the San Juans, and bringing the orca hype!

Kait’s animal log:

Over 10 crabs
A sea-spider thing, if that exists, or a weird crab
1 seal

After dropping her off, I did another quick grocery store run before setting off again on my own.

I had been creating a list of safety-related things I should buy and was tempted to get them in Friday Harbor, but I realized what I should really do was head to Victoria and hit up a bigger marine supplier that would probably be cheaper once you factor in the conversion from CAD to USD.

So I decided my best plan was to go to the southern end of San Juan Island as a launching point for an early start across the open water to Victoria the next day. I got there using a mix of mediocre-to-poor wind, a variety of currents and eddies, some drifting, and some motoring.

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Sep. 18: Another early start, pre-dawn coming into sunrise. I’m just going to leave some photos here.

It turned into a pretty nice sunny day, no wind for sailing unfortunately, but I made decent time motoring across to Victoria.

Can anyone tell me what kind of bird this is? I have seen so many of them lately and Merlin can’t identify them.

I made it through the shipping lanes with no traffic, got into the mouth of the harbor, followed the yellow buoys to stay out of the water runway, and tied up at the customs dock to use the phone and report my arrival. I was a bit disjointed — forgot the name of the dock where I was calling in from, forgot my phone or another way to make note of my confirmation number and had to ask him to wait as I ran back for it. But the guy was really friendly. So far it’s been way more chill checking into Canada than the US.

I ended up staying 2 nights at the Wharf Street Marina.
(Whenever I see the word “wharf” I pronounce it like it’s a barking dog. Wharf! Wharf!)

The first day, my goal was to secure that safety gear I had been thinking about buying. So I walked about an hour to Trotac Marine, a big supply store that had everything I needed.

I got some sturdy waterproof gear — a jacket, pants, and boots. I realized one day I’m going to have to sail while it’s raining and with the clothes I had I would get drenched and it would be cold and miserable.

Then I chose a life jacket, one of those fancy inflatable ones that has a harness so I can tie in to the boat. I understand it can be quite easy to fall off the boat in various situations and this would be bad news for me, especially in the times when I’m sailing alone. This was more expensive than I had hoped but I know it’s worth it.

Finally, I got some binoculars after seeing how handy the pair was that Kait brought.

The last thing on my big spending spree was a cheaper used smartphone. I wanted an actual Canadian plan that I could rely on during my time here rather than the roaming on my US plan that shuts off after 0.5GB/day.

One really nice thing about coming to Victoria is the food. Compared to Port Townsend… there are just so many different kinds of restaurants, so affordable, and open so late. Pizza slices anytime for less than $3USD? A big Qdoba-style burrito for less than $10USD at 12:30 in the morning? These are not options I am used to.

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Sep. 19: This was the first “zero day” of my trip, which surprises me to realize. In the morning I called the harbour authority and asked if I could extend my stay and it was no problem. So I did some more chores, relaxed, and ate good food. Walked around Victoria some more.

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Sep. 20: Checkout was at 11am, and I left just before that, after getting groceries at a couple of Asian markets and some more slices of pizza.

Stopped at the fuel dock and filled up. My capacity is roughly 24 liters and I’m really happy with that amount, I feel like I have a lot of range and it’s easy to keep enough of a backup that I could motor all day if I need to.

I noticed that I get the same sense of relief leaving town, getting back out onto the water, that I felt when I was thru-hiking and left town to hit the trail again. As complicated as boating can be, it’s still simpler than the chaos of a city, being out by yourself with all the time to do what you need.

There were some bigger swells and strong winds leaving Victoria. Always exciting in my tippy little boatato. I made sure I was clear of the breakwall and that my course was taking me somewhere safe, and then I carefully went forward to hoist the mainsail. I’d say putting the sail up cut the rocking motion in half at least. I’d heard of people putting a sail up in rough seas for stability, but never fully understood why until now.

I was already going over 5 knots with just the mainsail, thanks to the current also being strong in the direction I was going. After a while I put up the jib as well, and my land speed was as high as 8.3kts! Made very efficient time around Oak Bay… and soon ran into the common problem of the wind dying, and I waited patiently for a long time, finally catching a bit more wind from the other direction and tacking most of the way to my destination.

I set my anchor in Saanichton Bay and settled in for a rainy night and worked on this blog.

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That brings us to today, it’s now 11:41 am and I’ve been finishing this up since I’m waiting until noon for the current to be favorable.

I’m not sure what the weather is going to do, but I’m hoping to keep sailing north and possibly go as far as Desolation Sound. Some people think the weather will get too bad by October, but others have said it can still be nice and there are good hidey holes in case of storms.

The Canadian border agent checked me in for up to 6 weeks on this trip, so who knows, maybe I’ve got a few more of these full-length reports coming. 🙂

Let’s see my whole track so far just for fun!

This is saying 408 nautical miles, but it does include some walks in the track. At the end of the trip I’ll have to clean up the data and get a proper measurement of sailing distance!

Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading, I hope to get into a better rhythm with this and figure out what kinds of stories and photos can make my presentation more interesting and unique. I’m open to ideas.