Anacortes to Hope Island June 19th, 2008

The four of us, Alexus, Rachel, MK (Mary Katherine) and myself, left Anacortes around 2pm and headed out the Guemes Channel and turned inside of Burrows Island through Burrows Bay and into the Northwest Pass and on to Deception Pass. Deception Pass is where the Straights of Juan de Fuca and Rosario intersect. This is an area where massive amounts of water meet. We would be going there on a flood tide. The pass itself is only about 200 yards wide. Previously we had been there by car and had taken pictures from the bridge. We could see the speed of the current then. Now we would be entering into the pass and taking pictures of the bridge from the water. As we entered the pass by water, we picked up speed and made 11.7 knots, unbelievable for us. The water created significant whirlpools that made navigation a challenge in the small pass, but Alexus handled it well. It would not be a good place to go overboard with all the currents and whirlpools.
We thought we might stay at Cornet Bay, but when we looked it over, Hope Island State park seemed more attractive. In fact as we were passing it, Alexus received a text from Carolyn saying as much and letting us know they were in Coupeville and looking forward to meeting us there.
There were four mooring bouys at Hope Island and we tried our hand at fishing. MK the vegetarian was lucky enough to snag Kelp, but the rest of us had to make due with hotdogs and of course our barbeque favorite dessert, S’moores! That evening we saw bald eagles and we captivated by the sound of coyotes calling in the quite on Hope Island. It was a very peaceful night after a fun, but short first day.