Wow! A sea plane just went by us whilst taking off. His wing tip wasn’t more than 20’ from us. Even Maddie was stunned into silence :-) We are anchored in quiet (not!) Roche Harbour…. OMG there goes another one; this time through a field of large yachts at anchor. I’m sure they were ‘impressed’
We slipped from Port Sidney Marina yesterday morning at 1030 hrs and arrived in Roche Harbor yesterday early afternoon. The trip was a new experience for us. I had no idea Haro Strait could conjure up so much current. It was quite amazing. At one point we were motoring at 2700 RPM (working the engine somewhat harder than usual) and making only 1.2 knots (kts)over ground. There were even whirlpools to be avoided!
Needless to say, we will pay more attention to the current tables next time and for the rest of this adventure. Yes, we consider this an adventure… not just because we are about to visit some unique historic San Juan Island communities and anchor in several somewhat uninhabited, natural wilderness bays; but because we’ve never been here before and it’s all new to us.
OK, here we go…
Roche Harbor: It is a large harbour and has, at this moment (the day after their enthusiastic 4th of July celebrations), literally hundreds of boats (big and small) on moorings, at anchor or tied up at the Marina docks. This is definitely not one of the uninhabited locations I just referred to :-) We anchored a fair distance from the Marina, not wanting to get caught up in the comings and goings of Marina guests and tenders to the boats at anchor. That being said, the traffic out here (where we anchored) is fairly steady anyway (and this morning’s sea plane taxi-by was rather unique as well :-). Lots of people, all having fun on the water; Dads teaching young sons how to run the outboard, couples visiting back and forth, dinghy races in and about the anchorage. This is a place where people come to have fun.
The Marina itself is situated on shore and in connection with a myriad of small shops, cafes and an ice cream stand 😃. There’s also a small grocery store (good thing, as we had to empty our larder before crossing the 49th). Anyway, the sidewalks and walkways are filled with folks, kids and dogs… all enjoying the festive ambiance. There’s even the sound of pickle ball courts in the distance. The harbour is ringed by beautiful homes and personal docks (all private property) so doggie shore leave requires a dinghy trip to the marina dinghy dock. We’re lucky Maddie has a pretty good holding tank! One down side (for us) was the very (and understandably) popular, Roche Harbor Resort “Lowering of the Colors” sunset ceremony. Last night involved a short speech and ceremonial lowering of flags of Great Britain, Canada and the United States, while each national anthem was played. That part was fine. What we hadn’t realized would occur following the ceremony was the firing of an extremely loud cannon at least five times and the blowing of boat horns and whistles throughout the harbour. Maddie was absolutely terrified and nothing we could do would sooth her. It took some time to calm her down, while we held her until she stopped shaking.
While there is so much more for us to explore around historic Roche Harbor and San Juan Island, we will have to leave that for another time . We’ve decided we must change our itinerary (or at least the timing of it) to ensure we are not here for this evening’s sunset ceremony. We have a plan which involves leaving here about 1330 hrs this afternoon. This time is set by reviewing the current tables and determining when the least amount of tide will be running against us as we head to our next destination. It turns out that if we had left at 11:00 as first planned, we would have been left standing still with 5 kts of current against us! First choice for tonight’s anchorage is Jones Island, north cove. If it’s full we’ll try for Deer Harbour Marina and if they’re full we’ll continue on to Rosario, where we expect to spend a few days.
That’s all I know for now. We are blessed with good weather and a windlass motor that is responding (for now) to firmly delivered hammer taps when it sticks (now on the list of servicing required :-) and, we’re looking forward to our next ‘port of call’. Including one photo of the boats in the harbour and we’ll post a few more later to show you some of the sights around Roche . Hope all is well and you are enjoying each day. CJ
1530:hrs. Same day…
Jones Island: yup, we’re here. Hoisted anchor at 1330 hrs (again, having consulted with the Gods of currents). We lucked out. Turns out there are only three mooring balls in the north cove and all were taken. However…😃 no one had claimed the centre of the cove… so we did 👍. Hook is down, beach looks great, we are quite protected from the SW winds forecast for the next several days AND… we have groceries and grog on board!! 🎉🎊🎉. Bye for now.
