July 23, 2020. We spent several days at Squaw Bay where we got drinking water from some friends who live there. There is a nice trail on San Juan Trust property accessible from Squaw Bay. The only thing wrong with this anchorage is the hourly ferry wake. I got my kayak down from the roof, got in and promptly tipped over! It happened so fast I don’t know how. I’ve had this kayak for a dozen years and have never tipped it over. Well, it was a hot day and one way to stay cool is to get soaked!

We stayed four days until we could no longer stand the wakes. Yesterday we sailed up Upright Channel, around the top of Lopez and then motored the rest of the way into Spencer Spit. This place is a zoo with over a dozen boats! We will take a short hike around the Spencer Spit State Park and then leave this afternoon. There are a lot more boats here, as expected. We’re taking evasive action and heading for less-known places.

July 23, 2020. We thought about going back to Port Gamble again rather than back to the San Juans, but we were getting bored with it so on July 14 at the crack of dawn we started across the strait. It was a rough crossing, not at all like the peaceful passage from San Juan to Sequim on our way over.

The trip from Flagler to Aleck Bay at the bottom of Lopez Island took five hours. We spent an uncomfortable night in Aleck Bay because a west wind kicked up out in the strait sending rollers around the corner into the bay. Next morning we raised anchor and went to Mackaye Harbor to wait for slack tide through Cattle Pass (between southern end of San Juan and Lopez Islands). While in Mackaye Harbor we went ashore and hiked out to Iceberg Point.

July 23, 2020. We ended up going back to Gamble Bay where we stayed for a week. We hiked more of the trails, but our favorite was the one to the beaver pond. We still haven’t seen any beavers but the place is swarming with cedar waxwings.

After a week at Port Gamble we were in need of fresh water, fuel and laundry so we went to the marina at Port Ludlow. We stayed one night at Ludlow, walked around a bit and then headed north to get groceries at Port Hadlock. There is a QFC just up the hill (everything is uphill from a boat!) from the public dock at Hadlock. Very convenient. After loading up with groceries, we went directly to Kilisut Harbor and anchored near Fort Flagler. We stayed almost a week at Flagler where we hiked every trail and every possible combination of trails!

June 19, 2020. Furry eyeful alert!!! Hood Canal really is just as beautiful as any of the inlets in Canada. And, except for last night at Twanoh, it’s been very deserted and peaceful. Last night we had some boys on jet skis trying to impress some girls on the beach. I really wanted to shoot them with a flare gun but Alan wouldn’t let me! So we pulled up anchor and left right after sunrise:

It was a stunning morning, not a cloud in the sky, no wind, mirror water surface and when we came around the corner, there were the Olympics in the background. It doesn’t get better than this does it?

We motored until the tide gave out on us and ended up at Stavis Bay. From here we can look up Hood Canal, down Hood Canal, up Dabob and Quilcene Bays, and across to the Olympics. Truly stunning. This would not ordinarily be a good anchorage because it is totally unprotected from winds in any direction, but today and tonight are calm and beautiful. We head back to Gamble Bay in the morning.

June 17, 2020. We motored 8 more miles almost to the end of Hood Canal to Twanoh State Park. This is a very nice park with a picnic area along the water, swimming area, tennis & horseshoe courts, mooring buoys and boat ramp. Back in the forest across the road is a campground and an awesome trail along a creek with a few old-growth trees. We hiked a mile up the creek and back this morning. Truly lovely. Unfortunately the population density has been steadily increasing as we have traveled south along the canal. There are wall-to-wall houses along both shores with lots of lights and noise. We’ve decided to head back up the canal tomorrow morning (June 19).

June 16, 2020. We were able to sail on a broad reach for half the trip from Triton Cove to Hoodsport, where we stopped for groceries. The grocery store was mostly a bust; no organic veggies! We bought a few things and headed on down to Potlatch.

The bottom of Hood Canal is shaped like a fish hook. At the bottom of the hook sits Potlatch State Park. The park itself is lovely with a short but steep trail. The views are gorgeous and the Olympics peeked through clouds in the early morning. We only stayed one night because of road noise (Hwy. 101), lights and too much wave action (long fetch). It was a difficult anchorage, deep and steep. We anchored in 25 feet, the wind changed, swung us around and next morning at low tide we had 2 feet under the keel. Not your ideal situation.

June 15, 2020. We have been plagued with south winds ever since crossing the strait. Even the slightest south wind set up uncomfortable waves at our anchorage in Quilcene Bay due to the southern exposure and long fetch. Next-door Dabob bay is the same, but we saw a small spit where we could hide, so we did. For a few days of cold and rain. We even had to start our diesel heater. We were well-protected behind our little spit, though we lost Roger. Good riddance! Reading about recent events is like watching a train wreck. Unbelievable, yet we can’t take our eyes off of it! Speaking of which, they extended the border closure yet again! It’s been pushed back to late July. I doubt we’ll go to Canada at all this year. But the main reason we go so far north is to avoid the crowds. There are no crowds here now. We otherwise would never have ventured south, so it’s all good.
At the end of the spit was a driftwood structure that was quite unique and about three stories tall. When we walked out there we also found some rough tables, benches, a fire
pit and a barbecue! We think it was probably built by kids from Camp Discovery, which is directly across the bay from the spit. I found yarrow and plump sea asparagus growing on the spit.