A slightly more civilised start on Sunday, when we planned to motor through Deception Pass at slack tide. This dramatic rocky pass experiences some incredibly fast tides – up to 7 knots! – and slack water lasts a mere 20 minutes.
Sadly, the morning fog made another appearance and as we approached the mouth of the pass it just got thicker, and thicker, and thicker, until we couldn’t see either side of it. Plan B – head back to Hope Island’s neighbour – Skagit – and wait until the next slack at 3pm.
And what a cracking plan. Not only did we get to row around Washington’s newest state park – Kiket Island – we then beached on Skagit and fell in love with it.
It’s fringed with dramatic madrona trees, with a windy path that takes you on a complete circuit, over rocks, shrubs and beaches. The island was used as a hideout by one of Jesse James’ old gang back in the day. Now, it’s just home to a bald eagle or two – and probably the best skipping stone beach I’ve ever been to.
But the tide waits for no man, so we weighed anchor and headed back to Deception - just as the sun came out. Here’s the last photo before the currents got too fast to do anything but steer! We had 4.5 knots behind us as we shot through standing waves crashing and frothing all around. Exciting stuff!
A couple of minutes afterwards, through into the Rosaria Strait, it’s like a completely different day. Calm waters, blue skies and harbour porpoises dancing at the bow. I’ll spare you the details of the mad rush to register at Skyline Marina, the sweltering bus ride to SeaTac and the expensive cab home…
No comments:
Post a Comment