Lopez Island, Fisherman Bay

This is my (Ken) first of hopefully many posts since this blog was created. It seems like a lot has happened since we shoved off from the "home" buoy in Fairhaven. I feel like one post can't do it justice, but I'll do my best.

Wednesday was it. We had everything ready, the boat packed, tanks full, and we were prepared to go. A year's worth of work was paying off, times ten! The weather was sunny with a little bit of wind, enough to sail 3/4 of the way to our first destination, Cypress Island. To coordinate with the next day's stop, we stayed on the south end of the island at the state park rec center. It was a nice little sandy cove with some well plotted camp sites.

We enjoyed a good meal over a nice fire that evening, and called it a night.

Thursday I went on a supreme hike through the Pacific Northwest jungles of Cypress Island.

The trail led me first to an old airfield that was no longer in use. The second trail led to an amazing little lake called Reed. I swam for a while in the secluded sunshine of the lake, then made my way back to the boat.

Sometime around 4:00pm we raised sail and headed for our second destination, James Island, which is just outside Lopez Sound. The beat across Rosario Strait was one of my favorite sails yet. The wind was around 18 knots and the boat was heeling about 15 degrees. We danced with a few ferries (by dance I mean we got the hell out of the way) and tied up to our buoy just before dark.

Friday started out with a hearty pancake and hash-brown breakfast complete with two eggs and a banana. Next was some extensive relaxation for Evan and some island exploration for me.

We left James Island around 2:00pm and headed through Thatcher Pass into Lopez Sound. We found a calm bit of water on the east side of Lopez Island called Spencer Spit. Our first observation was that there was no room for us, but after a closer look we found an overturned buoy. A quick poke with the boat hook rited it and we secured the boat for the night.

On shore was a nice camp ground loaded with deer and tents. I ran into a few peers touring the islands on bikes. I turned out that I had met one of them at a concert in Bellingham. The rest of the evening was spent among friends on another island I had never been to before.

Saturday we had our eye on the village side of Lopez, and the weekly farmer's market we had read about. We got an early star and made it just outside Fisherman Bay by noon. As we closely studied the snake shaped entrance we began to realize that the abnormally low tide made the water not much deeper than 2 feet. We decided to drop anchor outside the bay and wait in line with 3 other sailboats as the tide came in. After sitting about 2 hours and seeing two other boats head in that knew what they were doing, we decided that at 4-5 feet of water we could do it too. We nervously made our way through what seemed like a labyrinth of shallow waterways into the beautiful and accommodating bay.

Weighing anchor at about 2:30pm, just half an hour late for the market, we wandered into town and spent the rest of the day getting our bearings.

Swimming in the resort pool that we are anchored just outside of has become a favorite activity for the last couple evenings. Pool at the bar, wandering through galleries and bookshops, and finding internet in local cafes takes up much of the day's time. Monday has yet to come, but I'm thinking a trip to Friday Harbor is soon in order...

Thanks for reading!

~k.b.