7/25 Sidney to Sidney Spit

A few departure chores took up some of our morning – we walked into town to the Sidney Bakery for a few more of those butter horns, and  made a side trip to the Ace Hardware store to pick up some D cell batteries for Trav.  I wandered out to the overlook by the breakwater to see what the water was like on the outside, and it was nice and smooth.

 

The boat behind us had planned on leaving an hour before us, around 10 o'clock, so we made sure to get back to the boat to help fend off, as he'd have to squeeze by a bit.  He must have decided to just wait for us to leave.  He seemed nervous about it when we talked to him, and at his scheduled departure time, he was still connected to shore power.  We decided to get cranked up about 10:30, both to get out of his way a little early, and also to give us some extra time to get away from the dock, as we were angled in pretty good at the end of the fairway.  We were able to crab away from the dock then rotate around to back out without any assistance, or scuff marks either, so that was good.

 

We left the breakwater and began our lengthy cruise to Sidney Spit.  It was well over 2 miles.  We left the engines at idle and proceeded over at about 5 and a half knots.  There were only three or four boats here, and lots of empty mooring buoys.  In Washington, boats over 45' are prohibited from tying to the buoys – we didn't know the rule here, but we knew the bottom had good holding for anchoring, and that being free we just dropped the hook next to a few vacant buoys.

 

Trav and Barb were leaving the marina at about the time we were setting anchor, and they were soon at the Spit, approaching a mooring buoy next to us.  Barb was on the bow with a boat hook with bow line and carabineer attached to it.  She had on her headset, and was giving Trav directions as they approached the buoy, putting it out of sight from the helm.  She reached down with the boat hook and snapped right onto the ring – excellent job!

 

That lengthy cruise over here must have been taxing, because the crews on both boats settled right down for a rest for the next two or three hours.  The wind picked up somewhat providing some chop and roll, so it was a good time to be doing nothing.  When the wind died down we both launched our dinghies and went for a nice ride around the spit to check out our surroundings.  To the south is a lagoon, and along its shore we came upon a couple dozen Canada geese resting on shore.  A few of them appeared to be burrowed into the sand in such a way that we speculated if they were nesting there.  We continued on around the west side of Sidney Island, where we spotted some crab buoys, and one boater retriever their trap.  They told us they'd gotten several keepers in about 45 minutes.  We plan on doing some crabbing tomorrow!  After our dinghy ride we stopped at the Bar-T-Na for a visit and a treat of brownies and spiced chai tea.

 

Our anchorage is not really a bay, although it's surrounded by some sandbars that remain underwater for the most part.  To our northeast is the spit that extends from Sidney Island about three quarters of a mile, ending with a beacon that marks the passage Miner's Channel.   The spit is traversable by foot most of the time, but at high tide parts of it are awash, so if you went out there for a hike at the wrong time you'd be getting your feet wet getting back. 

 

At the other end of the spit, the island end, is a dock that can be used by dinghies, passenger ferries from Sidney, and even a few pleasure boats.  It provides access to shore, where there are many trails around the park.  We plan on going ashore tomorrow to hike and explore the island and spit. 

 

Although there were just a few boats here when we set anchor, they continued to arrive all afternoon and there are now over 40 boats either anchored or tied to the park mooring buoys.  It's now about 8 o'clock in the evening, and it's actually warmed up quite a bit from earlier this afternoon.  I'm sitting up on the bridge as I type this, with outstanding views in all directions.  To the west is the town of Sidney, with the sun soon to set behind it.  To Sidney's north I can see some of the Gulf Islands that we cruised through over the last couple of days.  A little earlier a Washington State ferry cruised by the end of the spit on its International run between Sidney and Anacortes.  To the east we have a panorama across Haro Strait of the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker in the distance.  I can clearly see Orcas, Spieden, Stuart and some of our other cruising grounds over across the border.  To the south, in the distance I can see the Olympic Mountains rising above the low lying islands between us and the Straits of Juan de Fuca.  As I said, outstanding views in all directions.