Sunday, August 21, 2011

Olalla to LaConner: 72 miles

After a slow start this morning, we dropped the line off our buoy at 1:30 and headed north.  As is often the case, the wind had come up in the afternoon, and it was a bit bumpy going up Colvos Passage and on past Seattle.

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As we moved further north, things got smoother but there was lots of boat traffic (as one would expect on a warm, sunny Saturday), so we had to pay attention to what was going on around us, thinking through the “Rules of the Road” all the while. No lane markers in Puget Sound.

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Given our late start, we didn’t think we’d be comfortable crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so we traveled up the east side of Whidbey Island which allowed us to get further north, and positioned us to cross over to the San Juan Islands and perhaps the Canadian Gulf Islands tomorrow morning, avoiding the Strait altogether. Good call as there’s a Small Craft Advisory in the Strait tonight and tomorrow.

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We entered the Swinomish Channel about 5:30 and pulled into downtown LaConnor a little after 6PM.

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We’re now tied up at the location you can see in our Spot message below.  A great day and a great start to our annual boating trip.

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