Turnbull Cove to Sullivan Bay (and a Consolation Prize)

Distance traveled:  8.5 miles

Travel time: 1 hr, 17 mins

Last night’s anchorage was such a pretty spot, and we had only a short distance to travel, so were in no hurry to leave. It was another cloudy, high-fog morning with the sun breaking through about noon.

Pulling into Sullivan Bay, listed as a hugely popular spot in the cruising guides, we were surprised to find few boats, and some of those left in the next couple of hours. It’s already starting to feel like “late season” up here. This is an unusual marina in that it has a dozen larger and lovely Float Homes attached to the marina docks. There’s even a Sullivan Bay Homeowner’s Association. We don’t know whether any of these homes are occupied year-round.

We met the owner of this Float Home, and he said he’s here 3 months each year. The marina’s water tanks and satellite dishes are in the background on the right. There’s a seaplane landing dock with service from Seattle.

The back side of that same house is adjacent to the . . . .

Par 1 Golf Course, of course!!!

Neither of us golf, but you can see the “hole” in the upper right corner of the photo, in the water. Cathryn hopes to bring her brother-in-law Bob S up here someday so he can hit the hole, thus winning several nights of free moorage. Brad or Kate S, got any tips on Cathryn’s stance and swing?

We met Chris who lives here, and he offered us a “9 to 10-pound Coho/Silver salmon that’s more fish than I can use.” Who in their right mind would turn that down? Bob had to clean it, but we got a dozen fillets, and fortunately have room in the freezer now that we’ve been eating down our provisions for 3 weeks.

Glad they have a great fish station at this marina.

We’ve now got the hang of some details about cruising in very remote territory, we think, and how different it is from cruising in populous places in the U.S.  Food scraps are composted by throwing them overboard (in large waterways, not marinas). We haven’t seen a pump-out station since Campbell River, and it’s the norm, and legal, to dump your black water tank overboard (again, not in marinas, anchorages or small bodies of water; only big waterways with huge tidal exchange, which is most of them). There’s simply too small a population, even in summer, to support the construction of pump-outs and septic systems. And the water is so deep. There’s nowhere to take garbage. Some marinas take aluminum cans and plastic/glass bottles that have a deposit on them (which is most) because they can make money. But the rest has to be stored in bags in your lazarette until you get back to “civilization”, or taken ashore and burned. We’ve now anchored a few times in water deeper than any we’ve anchored in before, mostly with 3:1 or 4:1 scope, and we’re sleeping well anyway. It’s all an adjustment, and we just keep learning.