SAN JUAN CRUISE
September 11th to 27th, 2009
Great weather and a great cruising destination. The San Juan Islands truly have a multitude of treasured moorages and seaside towns to explore. In all, twelve boats were involved in the cruise which started on the Friday in Montague Harbour. Shavasan, Misu, Serenity, Shadowfax and Ms. Betty arrived in Montague on Friday; 3 boats went on to Sidney Spit, one broke away and one stayed an extra night in Montague.
Sounder arrived a day late in Montague and joined up with Misu who spent an extra night and Kellikim III who pitched up for the evening. A cruise around the harbour showed Northern Comfort on a buoy, enjoying the weekend sunshine.
On Sunday, Sounder & Misu departed for Roche Harbor from Montague, Shadowfax, Ms. Betty & Shavasan departed from Sidney Spit and Rosa Colletti & Kelly’s Pride departed from Victoria. All arrived in the afternoon to Roche Harbor on San Juan island, cleared customs and all moored on the same finger. El Amuleto was in the harbour and joined the cruise. A two day stay included lots of sightseeing. The nearby sculpture garden is a must see as well as “English Camp” a short dinghy ride away. The second evening had Kingfisher join us to meet friends and all had a wonderful pot luck dinner on the docks. At Roche, they have specially made floats (2) each topped with a 30 x 30’ tent and picnic tables for visiting boaters to use.
Eight boats headed out Tuesday for Reid Harbor on Stuart Island. Only a 6 mile run, this is a well protected bay and Washington State Marine Park. Similar to our marine parks, buoys are aplenty and $10.00 a day. They also have here two floating docks ($.50 a foot) with picnic tables which we took advantage of to have an informal happy hour on the first evening. Lots of walks for the hale and hearty and on Wednesday 3 of our fleet headed off for home. Kintra joined us later that day, cruising with friends of another club.
A two day stay called for a cruise to replenish the larder and the fleet, down to 5 boats (Sounder, Shadowfax, Rosa Colletti, Kelly’s Pride and El Amuleto) headed off on Thursday to Deer Harbor on Orcas Island. A full service marina with fuel, supplies, snacks and lattes, not to mention hot showers refuelled us all. A great restaurant a short walk away at the “inn” was a real treat.
All great cruises are flexible and Shadowfax, Rosa Colletti & Kelly’s Pride wanted to do some serious crabbing and opted to go to Spencer Spit on Lopez Island for two evenings and pray to the seafood gods for full traps! (In the San Juans crabbing is only allowed from Wed. to Sat. and only until the end of September.) Sounder & El Amuleto cruised to Friday Harbor. The gang got their wish and caught their limits and feasted. See Part Two.

English Camp in Garrison Bay