An Adventure: Sailing to Cypress and Lopez Islands Part 2

By Leslie Parks - Friday, July 28, 2023

 


Day two of our four-day trip, we rose early because that is what happens when camping.  Sleeping in a boat, being pummeled by waves, knocking against the buoy all night counts as camping.  The sun while shining beautifully, was calling up the fog from the water.  Quickly, we readied the boat, released the mooring lines and puttered out of the cove.  The fog at our back, chasing us as we sailed west towards Obstruction Pass.  The wind died and the fog rolled closer.  We started the engine, which we would need to do to go through the pass anyway and slowly motored away just barely faster than the fog. Rounding the bend, we came out into the middle of East Sound.  Islands surrounding us on all sides.  Ferries running from island to island. I felt as if I was in another country.  It did not feel like our back yard.  We were barely 30 miles from home yet felt as if we had crossed borders.  While we have lived here for twenty-two years, we had not explored the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea.  Oh, we did a couple of things such as camp on Cypress Island and Lummi Island.  We sailed with friends on their sailboat to Sucia Island and hiked.  We took the ferry to Lopez Island and rode our bikes and did the same on Lummi Island as well as hiked on Lummi.  But it isn't the same as taking your own boat out and sailing around the islands. There is something magical about raising anchor, unfurling the sails and letting the wind take you.  Earlier I had taken a weeklong sailing class for women, and we did just that, sailed the Salish Sea.  I just couldn't believe that I had been missing this.  After that trip I couldn't stop talking about it.  So here we are seeing East Sound together and it was just as magical as the first time.  We raised our sails, cut the motor, said goodbye to the fog that ended at the entrance to Obstruction Pass and let the wind take us.  Our original goal was Friday Harbor but decided on Fisherman's Harbor on Lopez Island instead.  Slowly rounding Upright Channel we sailed along the west side of Lopez until we came to the entrance to Fisherman's Bay.  There were rocks and shallows along the entrance which made it a bit tricky.  The skeleton of an old fishing boat complete with an eagle on the lookout greeted us. We slowly maneuvered our way.  I reached for the radio to call ahead.  I could hear but for some reason, it appeared to us that we were not transmitting.  I called again but nothing.  Thankful for our cell phones, I called the main Marina, but they were full for the night, so we motored deeper into the bay, calling the Islander Lodge to see if they had a spot for us.  We found the dock they gave us, hooking our mooring lines to the cleats and proceeded to the boat house to pay for our night.  Unfortunately we didn't take our dock extention cord so we were without power.  They had showers, coin operated, but quite lovely. 









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