[Paddlewise] An Early Fall Paddle in Puget Sound - long and probably boring :)

My 23-yr-old son and I spent the weekend on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound
north of Seattle. He has paddled with me often on rivers and has a decent
roll but he's never been on saltwater in a sea kayak so this getaway was to
show him that sea kayaks can be just as much fun as w/w boats. Of course,
the word "fun" means different things to different people. White water
kayaking is wonderful for teaching the rougher aspects of paddling but it
does nothing to ready you for steady paddling over several hours.

Our 9 mile r/t paddle to Coupeville was fun with some nasty 1-1/2 to 2 foot
wind waves at the launch in Oak Harbor but by the time we had reached Penn
Cove it was glassy calm. Interestingly enough, the water was about as rough
in about the same places on our return. Our route passed by a large rock
which was festooned with sea lions and the harem bull watched us
suspiciously as we went by. His wives were relaxed and the pups lower on the
rock were curious. One of the pups followed us closely on our return trip
and briefly bumped into Dan's kayak.

A few hundred yards into Penn Cover I spotted a Loon in the water and
pointed it out to Dan. He and I both "cooed" to it more to play around than
in any real attempt to encourage it to talk back. But a minute later the
haunting refrain of the loon's call floated across the calm water.

It was late when we got back to the car and the city campground at Oak
Harbor looked exposed. We had the option of going to camp at Deception Pass
State Park or just driving the 4 hours back home to the farm. We decided to
check out the state park and even though it was dark found ourselves a nice
spot and made camp by the light of headlamps and lanterns. Washington State
has a terrific disability pass which offers 1/2 price so we had a cozy
campsite and warm fire for only $8 for the night!

That night a system big enough to subsequently close Snoqualmie Pass rolled
over us and in its aftermath we could hear a lot of wind in the trees. We,
along with the other ten campers occupying something like 300 available
slots, were snug; the campsite we selected - in the dark - turned out to be
nearly perfect. After a quick meal of Safeway sushi and a soda apiece we sat
outside next to the fire using our headlamps to read our books (his was
science fiction and mine was a mystery) until a cold wind and a lack of wood
drove us into the tent. Later it began to rain hard but we were both tired
enough to snooze through most of it. Dan discovered that us ol' guys have
some good ideas; the new camp cots are lightweight, sturdy and comfy. He got
his mother's and vowed the next morning to borrow it for every camping trip
from then on. "Fat chance", I thought to myself.

Sunday morning the weather was still blustery so we opted for breakfast in
Anacortes and then some sightseeing. I had spent 2 years living in this area
40 years ago and although there were lots more condos and big houses, the
launch sites were the same and Deception Pass itself was unchanged. Dan
didn't feel that he had much paddling left in him so I drove him down the
hill to Bowman Bay to see what things looked like there. Bowman Bay, a
nice-sized harbor about 1/2 mile "outside" Deception Pass can be a pleasant
anchorage and a good launch site. It was neither of those this day.
Four-foot dumping waves were hitting the beach and bigger waves were
crashing onto the rocks at the entrance. Farther out the ebb tide zooming
out of the narrow confines of Deception Pass (and Canoe Pass - they are
separated by an island in the narrows of the channel) was meeting the
25-knot cold westerly wind and the rips were awesome.

Three paddlers were getting ready to brave these elements. Two students and
an instructor were suiting up. As we were watching them get ready another 4
or 5 cars showed up and paddlers began to unload and suit up. Dan, who up
til then had thought sea kayaking was something geezers did to relax,
watched the first three guys launch through the dumpers and got all excited.
Now *this* looked like fun! If he'd brought a drysuit and warmer clothes
he'd have been in his boat and right out there with them. As we stood in the
parking lot about 8 feet above the beach we could see the three paddlers
dissappear in the troughs between the swells in this normally quiet little
bay. Dan and I decided to break our camp at the park across the way and then
watch the fun from the Deception Pass bridge.

But when we'd packed everything up and drove back there were no paddlers in
the water around the pass. We could see what we assumed were the original
three kayakers standing on the beach in a tiny cove just west of Canoe Pass
but no sign of anyone else. The water at the outlet of Deception Pass was
churning with slowly moving waves that looked to be up to 8 feet high.
Everywhere the water touched land there was spray. But there were some clear
eddies that we could see that could be used to get access to the fun parts.
I was not about to let him out in these waters without some preparation,
however.

We drove back to Bowman Bay and found to our surprise that all the cars
bearing the rest of the kayakers had disappeared and that apparently only
the first three paddlers had actually launched. Not that I could blame any
of them for not going out in those conditions, mind you. But Dan was
mightily disappointed.

We turned our car towards the freeways and began a long trip that was to
include being stuck on the western side of the Cascades while Snoqualmie
Pass was closed (for four hours - with only 2 inches of snow at the summit).
Those headlamps and the books came in handy again.

So I appear to have convinced my son that there is excitement in sea
kayaking. He  is still convinced that it is a geezer's sport; after all,
most of the kayakers he'd seen at Bowman Bay had gray hair. But at least
these geezers knew how to have a good time.


Craig Jungers
Royal City, WA
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