Unfortunately this time of year in the Pacific Northwest, prevailing winds are light and opportunities to sail are few. So once again we fired up the iron genny and made our way north to the Wasp Islands. These islands are a collection of what the locals affectionately call "Piles of Rocks" at the western entrance of the Harney Channel between Shaw Island and Orcas Island. Most of them are known for their wildlife and wildflowers and are owned by the Nature Conservancy. A fe

The weather really couldn't have been more perfect for our cruise around the islands. The type of days that we suffer through winter for because they're just so glorious here in the Pacific Northwest. We get so few of them, they are to be treasured! After 4th of July at Friday Harbor, we made our leisurely way to Stewart Island, right on the border of the US and Canada. A quiet protected anchorage, there was absolutely nothing there, just sunshine, gently lapping water aga

Friday Harbor pulls out all the stops for the 4th. A beautiful location, marina was full, fireworks, a parade...perfection! We started the day at the parade, quite the cast of characters! Lunchtime found us at Downriggers for a burger and bevy on the waterfront. On the way back to the boat after lunch we decided to pop in to the seafood shack to buy some prawns to have for our dinner on the boat. We met Popeye, the famous sea lion well known for her presence in the harbor. A

Fast forward to 2017, a bigger boat, much more safety gear and a much healthier respect for weather warnings and here we are in Friday Harbor again. When Darrin said he wanted to do Cattle Pass again I was trepidatious to say the least. No. Absolutely Not. We need to go a different way. I’m not doing that again. No. He talked me into it. He’s not one to let anything get the better of him. He did lots of research. He had it all mapped out. Weather. Tides (the right station th

Cattle Pass. For two years just the name has sent a frisson of terror down my spine. And with good cause. Cattle Pass is a half mile gap between the south end of San Juan Island and Lopez Island. It can be a very nasty area of water especially with tide and wind opposed and the tide is going out, big tide rips are created. There are rocks on each side. As we approached the pass we could see standing waves and other boats being tossed around. To put it mildly. But through th

We thought we were really prepared for our trip across the Strait. We had pored over maps, provisioned, had fabulous life jackets and thought it would be a breeze, everyone said it would be provided wind wasn’t against current. So from Port Ludlow we made our way to Port Townsend as our jumping off point to cross the Strait. We had a lovely evening in the marina but it was getting a bit windy, so we checked the forecast and we decided it was a bit too much wind for us and t

The year after we bought Knotty Dog (forthwith known as KD), we decided we should sail to the San Juan Islands for our annual vacation rather than go to Mexico or the Caribbean to a resort. It seemed like a natural progression at the time, even though we were still moored in Lake Washington we had braved the locks on several occasions to sail in the Sound, and we felt we were up for the adventure. It started off well enough, we got through the locks (a three hour transit) an