We awoke around 5:30 to the sound of a light rainfall. We, and especially Erin, have become very much attuned to rainfall, as we have a few interior leaks that need to be accommodated. Also, we had several of the windows enclosing the bridge out and stowed. We got up, and while Erin put out bowls under the drips, I got out the windows for the bridge and zipped them in. Everything was taken care of in a matter of minutes, and we could sit back and listen to the pleasant sound of rain on the windows and canvas top. We planned on leaving around 9 o'clock, so we just stayed up and enjoyed our extended morning.
The winds from the day before had died down, and the water was calm – just what we wanted for our cruise to La Conner. Because of our early stop, we had about a 4 hour cruise ahead of us rather than the 3 hours it would have taken from Hunter Bay, but it looked like the day would perk up after our morning rain.
We left the dock at 9 o'clock as planned, and headed out towards Pole Pass. Erin just put the fenders up on deck rather than stow them, as we would be docking again in La Conner, and would most likely use our preferred port side tie. As we were cruising at idle while she was out on deck, a runabout of 20 feet or so that was approaching us on the port side accelerated to full speed as they came alongside us, rudely throwing out their wake against us, only to come to a stop about 75 yards directly in front of us to retrieve a crab trap. Normally I swing wide of small boats that are fishing or crabbing, but I maintained our course while increasing speed a bit as Erin returned to the cabin, cruising past them about 10 feet away as they were leaning over to get their trap, returning their wake to them. I told Erin I was defending her honor.
We continued on through Pole Pass and headed towards Harney Channel, the passageway between Orcas and Shaw Islands. A Washington State ferry had just come through Wasp Passage ahead of us on the other side of Crane Island, and was now waiting for another ferry to leave the dock at Orcas so it could land there. As we continued down the channel, the ferry that just left Orcas crossed over to Shaw, a ride of only 5 minutes or so. By the time we were adjacent to the ferry landing, it was already backing away. It reversed direction and paralleled us through the narrow part of Harney Channel before turning to the south to head towards Lopez. We continued on along the Orcas shore towards Obstruction Pass.
Last spring, while the Potentate was in the yard for a month getting some boards replaced on the transom, we met Bill and Sylvia, a couple working on their beautiful sailboat Salubrious. Their boat had been in the yard for several months, as they were replacing their mast and repairing some damage from a hoist mishap as well as taking care of other projects. We learned that they lived on Orcas Island, and had a view down the channel towards Spencer Spit on Lopez Island. They had a mooring buoy for their boat near Shag Rock, just off the Orcas shore past Guthrie Bay. This was directly on our route, so we wondered if we'd see the Salubrious there. We spotted the buoy, but no Salubrious – hopefully they're out enjoying a cruise somewhere and not still on the hard in Port Townsend.
After crossing the mouth of East Sound, we headed out through Obstruction Pass, passing to the north of Obstruction Island. The wind was quite a bit stronger out in the strait, but the water remained calm as we headed for the north shore of Cypress Island. We passed between Cypress and Towhead Island, a small dot about 300 yards off Cypress. We remained in the lee of Cypress and Guemes and even when the wind gusts came up the water remained calm. We also avoided the busy Guemes Channel that passes Anacortes by taking this route.
Turning slightly southeast, we continued on towards the northern tip of Guemes Island and followed its eastern shoreline down towards Saddlebag, Dot and Hat Islands, popular crabbing areas that both Erin and I and Trav and Barb had frequented many times in the past. This lined us up with the entrance to the Swinomish Channel, which we followed on into La Conner.
We had reservations for dock space on the G dock in the north basin, as the south basin, closer to town, had already been filled when Erin called the day before. They told us signs would be posted on the dock for us, and they were, but we needed the binoculars to be able to read them, as the font wasn't all that big from mid channel. Trav and Barb continued on to the fuel dock to take on some fuel while we moored to the dock. They came back maybe 20 minutes later and tied to the dock just ahead of us. We're at the head of the dock, and although it's a long walk into town, Trav and Barb will most likely use their dinghy to go into town, tying to one of the many docks in front of the businesses there.
Less than an hour after our arrival, it began to rain, so we were glad to have left when we did. We had great cruising weather and enjoyed the scenery and island views along our more northern route here. Erin decided it was good chowder weather, so started a pot of seafood chowder, which we shared with the Wills. As usual, it was delicious.
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