Border-hopping on a weeklong charter through the islands of the

The
Sunset over the
anchorage off
Thetis Island
North Country
Border-hopping on a weeklong charter
through the islands of the Pacific Northwest
story & photos by Christopher White
MARCH 2016
36
Fare
S A I L M AG A Z I N E
37
A windy day has plenty of
sailors out on the water as
we cruise out of Orcas Island
Orcas breach on our way
to South Pender Island
I was reminded of a few things during my week of cruising in the Pacific Northwest—you can’t
always trust a weather forecast, it is a lot harder to get into the United States without a passport
than it is to get into Canada, and the San Juan and Vancouver islands offer some of the most
beautiful cruising grounds I’ve ever seen.
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the very most northwest
bar if you drop the hook on the east side, but be aware that you need to
corner of the United States that sit off Washington state, north of the
play the tides—staunch determination and dragging our tender through
Strait of Juan de Fuca, west of the Rosario Strait, east of the Haro Strait
knee-deep water got us across the shallows. Worth it? You bet. Next
and south of Boundary Pass. To the east sits Vancouver Island and the
morning, after coffee and messing about on stand-up paddleboards in
Gulf Islands. With so much coastline and so many islands, the region
the anchorage, we headed out into the Trincomali Channel. We made our
offers a wide array of cruising destinations. I flew into Victoria, the
way south along the shore of Galiano Island headed for Montague Harcapital of Vancouver Island, to meet up with the crew for my charter—
bour, where, we planned to drop the hook and head ashore to stretch the
my brother Andy and our high school friend Doyle Robinson—and we
legs and have some lunch. Arnie Hammerman, my friend and a Pacific
made our way to Port Sidney Marina. There we met with the folks from
Northwest local was coincidentally cruising the same group of islands
Island Charters, a Preferred Partner of Sunsail, who led us to the Jeanwith his family, so we had arranged to meet at Poet’s Cove on South
neau 429 that would serve as our base of operations over the next week.
Pender Island for dinner and drinks.
The marina itself is one of the nicest I’ve seen, with excellent security and
While I had packed for the cold nights and dreary weather typical of
service, top-notch laundry and shower facilities, and a central location
fall cruising in the Pacific Northwest, the dog days of summer were in
that made provisioning a breeze.
full swing for the first few days of our cruise, with blue skies, plenty of
Now before I get too far along I need to warn the wary charterer—the
sun and temperatures creeping into the 80s. Our trip from Montague to
wind in this region is, at times, nil. You’ll be dealing with currents runSouth Pender was pure Pacific Northwest cruising at its finest. The warm
ning at up to 9 knots and if you don’t time them right you’ll be going
weather held right up to sunset and the wind built a bit as the evening
nowhere, slowly. The water is deeper than a Chekhov play right up to the
approached, allowing us to raise sail and have a bit of fun as we made
shore, and the tides run like a Kenyan sprinter. That said, when the wind
our way out past the tip of Mayne Island. With the snow-covered peak
does blow, you’ll get some seriously satisfying sailing—cruising at hull
of Mount Rainer reflecting the waning afternoon sun in the distance, we
speed in deep water between mountainous islands, taking in the stuntacked back and forth over the U.S.-Canadian border, spying bald eagles
ning scenery found around every corner and marveling at the abundant
perched ashore and orca whales breaching all around. This is what sailing
marine and avian wildlife.
in the Pacific Northwest is all about.
The first stop on our cruise was Thetis
Poet’s Cove is a picturesque little harbor with a
Thetis Island
island, which the Island Charters team said
solid anchorage and first-class marina, complete
Gulf
would give us a good taste of the lifestyle and
with spa and heated pool and a lovely restaurant.
Islands
beauty of the Vancouver islands. And I can’t
After a fun dinner we bid the Hammermans adieu
argue with the recommendation. A tip for
and headed back to our boat. By morning, a thick
cruisers—if you decide to drop anchor on the
layer of fog was clinging to the trees ashore and
San Juan
east side of the island’s cut, there is a great
creeping its way into the anchorage. The sky was
Islands
Poet’s
anchorage with easy access to the channel
grey, the temperature had dropped and a light rain
Cove
that divides the Gulf islands from the Strait of
was falling—welcome to the Pacific Northwest.
Orcas
Port
Island
Georgia. On the west side of the cut, there is
From South Pender it’s an easy jaunt across
Sydney
a marina with a restaurant and small store for
the Haro Strait to Roche Harbor on San Juan
Roche
provisioning and plenty of places to drop the
Island, where you can check into U.S. customs.
Harbor
hook. You can still take the dinghy over to the
This proved interesting, to say the least. My friend
marina and grab some dinner or a drink at the
Doyle and I had our passports and were ready to
MARCH 2016
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go. My brother, however, had left his passport in his desk drawer at home.
After the Coast Guard came alongside, and asked for our IDs, what we were
doing and why our boat didn’t have a name (what could be suspicious about
three guys in their late 20s and early 30s sailing a nameless boat with a Canadian flag? ), we made it onto the customs dock at Roche Harbor safely.
This is where I learned a few valuable lessons. First off, only the skipper can
set foot on the dock until all of his party is cleared. I learned that one when
a customs/homeland security officer, whose northern drawl would have put
him happily as a character in Fargo, handed me a form with a highlighted,
section stating that any crew member other than the skipper leaving the boat
could be fined $5,000 a head. I quickly urged the boys to get back onboard,
gathered their documents and headed back to the customs office. While
Doyle and I had our passports, my brother had only come with the contents
of his glove compartment—his driver’s license and his birth certificate (why
he had that in there I have no idea)—and two photos of his passport he had
his roommate send him. Fun fact—if you tell the customs officer that your
friend is stupid and didn’t bring a passport, you might get the same response
I did: “Oh, he’s not stupid, he’s in violation,” and then receive a form that says
you are violating immigration regulations. As for my brother, he got a big ol’
form that read “NOT IN COMPLIANCE” and a warning that in the future he
might have to stand in a different line when trying to get on a plane.
Since there was no time to go ashore, and wanting to get the hell out of
Dodge before anything else happened, we decided to depart Roche Harbor
and head on to Orcas Island, covering as much ground as we could before
nightfall. Despite the grey skies and the cooler temperature the cruising was
still great, with enough wind here and there to sail and the hum of the motor
helping us along the rest of the way. We cruised along the coast of San Juan
Island, past Friday Harbor (the island’s other main boating hub), split Shaw
and Lopez islands, and made our way to Eastsound, Washington, at the top of
Orcas Island. The forecast had been calling for 15 to 20-knot winds and heavy
rain the following day, so we figured Eastsound—with a movie theatre, a
supermarket and a nice downtown with several restaurants and bars—would
be as good a place as any to ride out a rainy day.
We performed what had become our evening ritual—found a nice place to
drop the hook, cracked a beer, changed our clothes and headed ashore to do a
bit of exploring. We settled in at a watering hole on the shore where we could
keep an eye on the boat and got to chatting with some of the establishment’s
patrons. One was a woman with a few friends who worked for the local
NOAA station, which turned out to be a serendipitous meeting. She informed
us that the forecasts we had read were incorrect, and that while there might
be some rain, the bigger issue would be the strong winds, coming directly
out of the south (which would mean a building fetch running all the way up
Orcas Island, a veritable horseshoe of mountains). She implored us to take her
mooring ball, which was conveniently located near the dinghy dock, about
200 yards from where we were currently swinging on the hook. We bought
her a drink for her kindness, and headed back to the boat to pick up anchor
and move over to our new home for the night.
While sunrise brought a light sprinkle and some building winds, it didn’t
seem like anything too hairy, and while I was happy to have a secure spot, I
The author at the
helm on the way to
Montague Harbour
A foggy morning in Poet’s
Cove, South Pender Island
FACT FILE
We chartered with Island Cruising through the Sunsail company. The
experience was excellent and everyone we worked with was friendly and
helpful. Their fleet is well-maintained, and their local knowledge is invaluable.
SUNSAIL 877-630-7254, sunsail.com
S A I L M AG A Z I N E
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Morning at anchor
off Thetis Island
Andy is all smiles
at the helm
thought that grabDoyle spotting
bing the mooring
whales off the bow
ball probably wasn’t
necessary. Then
the wind started to
build. By 1000 it was
blowing a steady
30 to 40 knots, and
kept right on going
up to 50. The VHF
weather reports
crackled warnings of
downed trees, boats
loose and people in
the water. The stack-pack cover on our mainsail blew open and we had
to lash down the main with dock lines. The SUPs lashed to the lifelines
on our bow struggled and strained to get loose. Water crashed over the
bow as we pitched in the 4ft to 5ft seas that were coming dead at us, and
the rocks on the shore a mere 200 yards astern taunted us. My crew,
still getting their sea legs, were resigned to lie in their berths and curse
the world as I administered seasickness pills, donned my foulies and
took up station at the helm, spray coming from all directions, hand on
the throttle, ready to charge dead-ahead into the building seas if, God
forbid, our mooring lines broke loose.
This was our day until around 1500, when the wind had finally died
down some and the seas subsided to a manageable enough state that
we were able to free ourselves from the mooring and motor to Rosario
Resort, the nearest marina, where, fearing a mutiny, I reserved us a slip.
After tying up to the fuel pier, the last spot they had, I was chatting with
the dockmaster about the storm that had just blown through.
“That was the strongest wind I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been doing
this for 30 years,” he told us. Then he pointed to a long stretch of dock
awash on the beach. “That was the dinghy dock,” he said, pointing to the
mangled wood, concrete and rebar that was now bobbing sadly in the
surf. “The wind blew it right off.” (We later found out that the storm had
caused major power outages and significant damage all across the Pacific
Northwest on both sides of the border. It was the largest outage event
ever recorded by BC Hydro, the power company in Vancouver.)
The storm was a bit of a blessing in disguise though, as Rosario is a
great stop over for anyone cruising the San Juans. Listed on the National
Historic Register, Rosario Resort is situated on 40 acres of waterfront
property and home to the Moran Mansion, which now serves as the
main building in the resort featuring a museum, restaurant, bar, spa,
gym, pool and plenty of guest rooms and banquet facilities. The day
we arrived there was a wedding just getting started. The grounds offer
MARCH 2016
40
breathtaking views
of Orcas East Sound,
and the marina has a
small store and restaurant. Most importantly for us though,
it offered a chance
for some muchneeded time on
solid ground. Next
morning we were
greeted with perfect
sailing conditions of
the—the wind had
blown away the clouds and the sun was shining bright, and while the
wind had diminished from the hooley conditions of the previous day,
there was still enough left over to give us the best sailing we would get
during our charter. We motored down East Sound, raised the sails, and
spent the day cruising between Lopez and San Juan islands, tacking back
and forth and dodging the flotsam and jetsam that had been blown into
the water during the storm. Our destination was Roche Harbor, easily
reached in a few hours, so we spent the day doing what is most fun—
messing about, sailing just for the joy of sailing.
Everyone took a turn at the helm, and we while we ran against the
tide on our way south, after turning about we picked up 5 knots of boat
speed and virtually raced back up the coast of San Juan Island, hitting
11 knots at times. After making our way back to Roche (keeping our
distance from the customs house, just in case), we dropped the anchor
and headed ashore for one final night of exploration.
The morning brought another cloudy day and the wind carried a chill,
so we were more than happy to raise anchor and motor back across the
Haro Strait to Van Isle Marina to fuel up before we returned the boat
(there is no fuel dock at Port Sidney Marina, but there is at Van Isle,
about 10 minutes north). You can also clear into Canadian customs at
Van Isle Marina. The Canadian “customs office,” unlike the office in the
U.S., is a phone booth with a number to call, which will put you in touch
with a very pleasant customs officer who will ask you a few questions,
give you a clearance number, and send you on your merry way. Bit of a
different experience when you’re going the other way.
After clearing we headed south to Port Sidney, tied up back in our
slip without incident, and while I cleaned up the boat Andy and Doyle
packed their bags and got ready to head out. Our week-long charter in
the Pacific Northwest had given us a little bit of everything—the last
stretch of summer days, beautiful vistas, a good bit of sailing and one hell
of a blow. Now all I have to figure out is when I can go back. s
Rosario Resort on
Orcas Island