Six paddlers (4 men, 2 women, aged 25-35) from the University of Washington Kayak Club did this trip last weekend. This is a write-up for the club, so by way of background: The San Juans are pretty, but especially in summer taking a car on a ferry is a pain, so this route avoids that, at the "cost" of a 5 mile crossing at the beginning. The total milage to Turn Island is about 22 nm, but the strong following currents along much of the route cut at least a fourth off that in terms of paddling distance. With some great luck with the weather, we had a very nice little weekend. Leaving the Ravenna Park and Ride at 7:30, we arrived at Washington Park just before 9, packed, shuttled cars to the ferry port and put in at 10:35, just in time to catch the peak ebb in Rosario Strait at 3.3 knots at 1100. Weather was partly cloudy and clearing over the San Juans, with light southerly wind and barely rippled water. Once off the beach, thick clouds and apparent rain could be seen over the Olympics, but there they stayed. We paddled north then northwest to ferry out to mid-current in the outflow from Bellingham Channel. Diffuse eddylines and upwellings were visible entering the current, but without any incoming windwaves, these were of no consequence. As we exited Bellingham Channel, we turned to a course ferrying toward Belle Rock light. With a westerly component of the current still behind us, this required a fairly small correction angle of about 25 to 30 degrees, so our boats were aimed at James Island. A couple of porpoises passed in front of us, and a few pigeon guillimots took off as we approached. Farther out, it was clear as we reached the more southerly Rosario Current that ferrying straight to James Island north of Belle Rk would be impractical. (This was not the plan, just a comment.) Approaching the shipping lanes, we turned more toward Lopez Pass and crossed the lanes while the current pushed us SW toward Bird Rocks. Near the west edge of the lanes mild turbulence made the water look choppy, but again was not significant until we reached an eddyline and upwelling a few hundred meters E of Bird Rks which was strong enough to turn the boats somewhat despite countering sweep strokes. Leaving this area, small waves occurred as the water accellerated SE and S of Bird Rks. In significant southerly wind, it would doubtless be more prudent to remain a half-mile or so farther south than our course, to avoid the bulk of these current effects, even though the charted shipping lanes are somewhat wider there. Despite our ferry angle, we averaged about 6 knots over the ground to this point. Closing the shore at Kellet Ledge, we found less of a standing wave than expected, even though the predicted current was at least 25% greater than during my previous visit to the area. James suggested that the tide height might explain this, which must be correct, as the last time I was about 90 minutes later relative to the peak ebb in Rosario. Paddling south toward Pt. Colville we had progressively less current assist, so staying well offshore was an advantage. An immature bald eagle flew past carrying a fish, and several others appeared to join it when it reached the shore. Three marbled murrelets appeared in front of my boat; one dove and the others demonstrated their weird skimming take-off technique. A couple of rhinocerous auklets flew past, and while a few more were seen later, they made barely a tenth the number I saw on this route last August. Finally, we stopped just offshore north of the point, and found that we were not drifting at all, though it was only 12:30 so the ebb continued in the Straits for about 2 more hours. The water at this point was virtually glassy. Passing up a landing on a small beach for a furtive pee break was something a few of us would soon regret. Mea culpa. Without helpful and amusing currents, we had time to look at the inter- and sub-tidal life along Lopez's south shore. Kelps small and large, lots of chitons and big limpets and a few burly purple stars were the most memorable. A blue heron and four turkey vultures were seen flying over Lopez, about 10 seals bobbed off one rock watching us, and we had close views of a couple more young bald eagles perching and several oystercatchers foraging. Views over the strait are dramatic and long, rather than the intimate channels more usually seen in the San Juans. Cavities eroded in solid rock show that storm winds really do drive through here while we're all at work (or river boating) in winter. The last couple of miles up to Iceberg Point, a small foul current developed a bit earlier than expected for the predicted stations. Most of these are well off the south shore, so presumably the flood starts to sneak back in along the north side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca while the main thrust of the Rosario current pushes along farther south. It looks like the current at Iceberg Pt turns at about the same time as the S entrance of San Juan Channel (1322 in this case). We rounded Iceberg point just after 2 PM and hit the first pocket beach in the DNR land for lunch. In a bit under an hour we were back on the water, hitting Cattle Pass about an hour before peak flood (predicted 1653 at 4.5 knots). Visiting rocks SE of Long Island would have been interesting, as many birds could be seen around them, but the flood current pushes north into the east part of MacKaye Harbor, and would have made reaching that area more difficult than was desireable. Right off the SW point of Lopez, the tidal race looked just about like a moderate Class II rapid, say the last section of Powerhouse at 2000 cfs, in the virtual absence of any wind. We skirted this by staying away from the land, and continued angling into the channel for the better part of a mile while several whirlpools were seen spinning in the eddyline to our right. We shared the channel with several powerboats, the largest and slowest of which was visibly jostled by the currents. As the eddyline faded away, we concentrated on Turn Island, 4 miles away but closing fast. Gary's GPS indicated that even half way between Cattle Pass and Turn, we had enough current to be running almost 8 knots. Despite some grousing from the Looksha pilot, all continued to paddle solidly, so, sadly, no towing was done. Turn Island has about a dozen campsites, none of which seemed occupied at first glance. Taking advantage of this, we sprawled out over about 4 sites. I caught a good look at a pileated woodpecker just after landing, and harlequin ducks and noisy Canada geese were in the cove in front of the campsite at almost all times. A group of 3 kayakers and some students from Friday Harbor labs in rowboats finally did turn up, but were all staying out of sight, so we enjoyed a private dinner with 2 desserts (cheesecake and ice cream) and 3 bottles of wine, and a pretty sunset. The shady site was a bit chilly at breakfast, but the 2 mile paddle to Friday Harbor against almost 2 knots of ebb current warmed us up! Due to model yacht racers on the closest dock, we took out at a dock a couple hundred feet further away, so wheels were a big help in hauling the boats to the ferry staging area. We had just enough time for a quick meal at the Ale House before the 1:50 ferry. Not waiting in the parking lots is great!! Mike Wagenbach Seattle "When I hear post-modernist jargon, I reach for my pistol." -me *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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