Deception Pass is a narrow channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca (west) with Skagit Bay (to the east). It's how most boaters going north reach the San Juan Islands. During low tides, the current can lead to standing waves, large whirlpools, and roiling eddies (here's a
video of a sailboat wrestling with the current), so you need to time your crossing carefully, with the slack tide - a short period of time either side of high tide or low tide when there is little to no movement in the water. In fact, powerboats can make it through pretty much any time, but it's still challenging to navigate and requires a lot of concentration on the part of the pilot.
Once through the pass, we were greeted by four or five porpoises who danced around us as the skies cleared and the sun came out.
Related: Why do we not own an actual camera?
We stopped at Deer Harbor on Orcas Island to fill up on water. It's a nice place with lovely friendly people. Aside: Look at this beautiful boat. It's shorter than ours but looks like it's built to cross oceans.
We anchored that night at
Jones Island, a tiny uninhabited nature reserve and a state park. It has composting toilets and water taps but no showers. It has the loveliest campsites I've ever seen, some of which are reserved for kayakers.
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Instead of anchoring out or tying up at the tiny dock, we used one of the mooring buoys. So easy! (Tip: Hook onto the buoy from the stern.) Check out the amazing seaweed underneath the buoy that makes it look like some sea monster.
Phil set up our solar panels. These give us enough power to run the fridge, and the wi-fi (where available - in other words, when AT&T doesn't assume we're in Canada), power our lights and heat, and charge the dinghy engine without having to turn on the generator. They worked great!
Jones Island is beautiful. It's so small, and yet it's packed with wildlife. Over the two nights / three days were were there, we saw eagles (including a dramatic seafull-eagle takedown), seals, otters, crows, woodpeckers, jellyfish, leaping fish, pigmy deer, and so much more. (Again: NO CAMERA WTF?) The flora is equally diverse and reminds me so much of the botany of western Ireland, which is on a similar latitude: the mosses, daisies, thistles, little orchids ... the grasses, the lichens. And of course the trees. In 1990 a huge storm took down thousands of the trees on the island. Some of the fallen trees were dragged away, but many remain and have sunk back down into the forest floor, covered in moss or serving as the soil for new straight trees.
To see life in all its exuberance, its tenacity, variety, and adaptability, in such a tiny, self-contained place, was intensely moving.
Over the course of two days, we walked around the island in each direction. Going east from North Bay, you come to these perfect little coves, which provide great access to a beautiful green lawn and lovely camping spaces.
The west side is drier and sunnier, and has the only cactus found in the San Juans:
Have you ever seen a lovelier camping spot?
Here's the view from the west side of the island, looking towards Stuart Island on the left.
Sunsets were nice.
Goodnight!
