Friday, July 28, 2017

Our first trip to the San Juan Islands - Part 2 La Conner to Fisherman's Bay, Lopez Island & then to Deer Harbor, Orcas Island

San Juan Islands - Part 2


On Friday, July 21st we left La Conner around 1:30pm after replacing our power steering pump on the port side engine.  We were headed to Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island through the Swinomish Slough and up and around Anacortes and via Thatcher Pass & Guemes Channel, about 26.6 nautical miles.


The slough is a no wake zone and is very shallow. It took us about 30 minutes to get through it. The weather was cloudy and quite a bit colder than the day before. 



As soon as we came out of the slough into the bay, we headed into the Guemes channel around Anacortes. Going across the Guemes channel was a bit choppy and you definitely want to be on the look out for logs! Within a few minutes, we were now in rain which makes in a bit hard to see.





We got through Thatcher's Pass pretty quick and that's when the rain stopped and the skies started to turn blue.

  Fisherman's Bay Marina is a very tricky to get into. First of all, you have to go in at high tide and even at high tide, it's not that deep. Be sure to stay in the center of the channel! The marina is part of the Lopez Islander Resort. The resort had a great restaurant / bar, all the amenities, including showers, restrooms and a gift shop. The marina also has a small store.







One other word of CAUTION when docking at Fisherman's Bay is the current is wicked! It might look calm, but you will need help from either the harbor master or crew from another boat. We struggled and we also watched boat after boat, struggling with the current.



That evening, friends of Kurt's were also moored at the marina and they had just gone crabbing. Looks like we're having a crabfest on Semper Fi!


Bryce, Kurt, Scott Susan and Mike on Semper Fi

Me, Patsy and Susan







Ron, Susan and Scott


After our fabulous crab feast we headed to the bar at the resort where they had live music and lots of beverages! Trust me, if you get to this bar you will have a ton of fun!




We had custom t-shirts made for Kokomo

Saturday morning (Day 3), we followed Kurt's dingy out to the bay in our dingy LilMo to put crab pots out. It was so shallow, that Scott and I stayed in the bay in about 2 feet of water and I made him pull the engine up. I didn't want it to get caught up in all of the sea grass. It was bizarre how low the tide was.




The marina had quite a few boats anchored in the bay, including this very cool "pirate" ship! Everyone who came into the marina, took a moment to take a photo of it.


We let the crab pots sit for a few hours while we waited for high tide to leave Fisherman's Bay and head to Deer Harbor, Orcas Island.  It was scheduled for 5p, but checkout was 12p.  Knowing that we couldn't go anywhere, the marina was very flexible with our departure time.  We ended up leaving about 2pm, as that was half way between low and high.  I still recommend going low and slow thru the bay and channel!


As soon as you come out of the bay you enter the San Juan Channel. It was pretty windy and rough for us.  We headed due west towards Friday Harbor.



Again, you need to look for logs and it's difficult as we had 2' white caps going through the channel.  We got through pretty quickly, going about 20 knots and got into Deer Harbor within about an hour.
When we arrived to the Deer Harbor Marina , we first went to the fuel dock and also pumped out. My brother Ron was incredibly generous to fill up our tank. I kept asking him "are you sure??!! it won't be what you expect!" Another $300 in fuel and we were set to go. 

I will say the marina staff wasn't the friendliest welcome committee. We had made our reservations weeks ago, along with my sister.  They gave us our slip assignment and when we got to the spot, one of the dock hands came out and said he was going to put us in the slip across from the assigned one and walk us in stern in first and put Kurt's boat in front of us.  That made no sense, as we wouldn't be able to leave and we couldn't use our dingy. The kid argued a bit with us and asked why we needed to leave during the day. I replied "Well, we are here to go boating and crabbing". Apparently they were trying to squeeze in a 52' boat behind Kurt's boat, but they gave up. The moorage is also quite a bit more expensive than say Fisherman's.  We paid $34/night at Fisherman's and for Deer Harbor, with power it was $63/night. Plus you have to buy tokens for the shower.







They do have a cute gift shop with lots of clothing items and souvenirs, plus a well stocked grocery store. On Saturday and Sundays they sell freshly made donuts in the morning and they have local artists selling goods too. 

We were able to snag a picnic table on the dock, that we used for our meals and gatherings!





The next day, Kurt went out to pick up the crab pots they dropped on their way in. Oh, are you wondering how many crabs we got in Fisherman's Bay? None.....he forgot to cut the plastic zip ties that hold the doors together when they are shipped. LOL  This time around he got five (the limit for one person per day) beauties! We celebrated with Mimosas, pre-made! Yumm!



Scott and I spent the morning zipping around in our dingy and checked out all of the cool boats that were in the harbor!






That afternoon, we all went out on Semper Fi to check the pots, since Scott and I both had crab licenses.  Unfortunately, they lost a pot either from a high tide or someone took it. It was a very fun relaxing afternoon hanging out with everyone on one boat.









We met a local traveler from Olympia, Ray who has been a live-aboard for a long while and his dog Rex.  Rex got all of the attention and he had "human" eyes. But I could never quite capture his look.




The day ended with a great crab feast, salad and birthday celebrations!













Soon after this "party" photo was taken, the guys headed up to the pizza place to order a pizza and the gals chatted away.  We were parting ways the next morning as we were headed home and Ron & Patsy were staying a bit longer on Semper Fi.



Stay tuned for Part 3 - Deer Harbor to Oak Harbor! #Kokomo

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