All 4 of us went out to pull the crab pots after leaving them in all night.  The pots were set in only about 25 feet of water making the pull much easier than the 150 feet we experienced at Oro Bay.  Skylar was able to get the up all on his own.  The first pot had 2 legal crabs and the 2^nd had 1!  Not bad for 1 pull.

We pushed off from the Roche Harbor docks with Patos Island being our destination.  Patos is the northern most island in the San Juans and has some of the most beautiful shore line we have seen.  Its fairly small but the whole island is a state park.  With only one small bay (Active Cove) suitable for overnight moorage, the issue is finding room to anchor or tie up to one of the 3 mooring buoys available.  We’ve been in here twice before wanting an overnight stay but were not successful.  We were hoping 3^rd times the charm but unfortunately this time was no different.  The small cove had 4 boats in it and that’s about the maximum.

We decided Shallow Bay on Sucia Island would be a great overnight anchorage.  We have been over there many times but never stayed the night so we were excited for a new experience.  As a bonus this bay has some of the best sunset views in all the islands.  We anchored in 10’ of water at low tide after 17.75nm.  Skylar took the Kayak out for a spin then all of us jumped in the dinghy to set the crab pots.  We had no idea if there were any crab here, no other pots were around but we figured we’d try and picked a spot.  The next cove over (Fox Cove) separates Sucia Island from Little Suca Island.  A nice vacant beach on Little Sucia was perfect for Julie and I to search for sea glass while the kids turned over rocks to play with the creatures.

As we motored back to Shallow Bay we noticed quite a few more crab pots around ours.  We thought we must have chosen the hot spot.  We pulled the pots to find a few females and a pesky starfish.  The other people with their pots next to ours both said they only put theirs in that spot because they thought we must know what we’re doing.  Our luck would not change with later pulls.

Skylar and I went out for some fishing with no luck.  The sunset was awesome that night as we went to bed early for a long passage tomorrow.

Trip Log – 276.82nm

Leaving Sidney at 11:08am we bucked the current across the border back into the USA.  Some Orca whales were in Haro Straight but unfortunately they did not want us to get a good look at them.  All they would show us is a few fins sticking out of the water.  Still pretty cool to see though.

When you cross the border in a boat your first stop must be a port of entry where agents check you back in.  Our port of entry today was Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.  Julie always gets super nervous dealing with the border protection agents after we had one experience where they drilled us with question after question in a tone that was just plain not very nice.  Today was a different story.  They were extremely nice and respectful although they did take our oranges.  I’m sure there are some grumpy ones but these border protection agents do a great job and I’m thankful for strict policies that help keep our country safe.

After clearing customs we were assigned a slip at the Roach Harbor Marina.  We backed into our slip at 1:15pm, 9.21nm traveled with the bow pointing west and no one in front of us.  The sunset was going to be great from here and we felt so secluded in what is always a very busy marina.

It was off to lunch at the restaurant with the bees again pestering us while we were eating.  This time though the waiter brought over a fabric softener sheet and placed it in the center of our table.  It sure worked, not another bee the rest of the meal!  After lunch we all roamed around the marina going through all the shops, taking pictures in the garden and getting goodie bags from the candy store.  The kids literarily rolled around in the grass, pushing each other down the hill and giving horsey rides.

The kids and I went out to set the crab pots while Julie had some much needed time alone.  As it got later in the evening we were distracted by the awesome sunset and Roche Harbor “colors” display that it got too dark to pull the crab pots.  We were hopeful morning would bring an abundance given the long soak.

Trip Log – 259.07nm

At 9:18am we untied from our mooring buoy at Sidney Spit for the 2.53nm passage to the town of Sidney.  We tided up the boat in their last slip that was just big enough for us.  After getting settled in it was off the Rumrunners restaurant for some lunch.  It’s a great little pub right next to the marina with an awesome view of the water.  The food was great, we highly recommend it, although Ava was in one of her “moods” and was pretty miserable to deal with.

With hopes of cheering her up we walked across the street to the Salish Sea Aquarium.  As you go into the aquarium doors open acting like you are going into a submarine.  You stand in this small room as the doors close the floor starts shaking and screens on the ceiling and walls makes it fell like you are going under the water. It was an extremely nice well-done aquarium (although small) that focused solely on the Puget Sound and Gulf Islands.  We got to see all kinds of interesting sea creatures and the kids had a great time!  Best of all Ava thought she was really under water the whole time.  It was so funny to hear her talk about it after.  She loved it!

We had a great time waking through town, stopping at a little pizza place for a beer and picking up some new clothes for Julie and I.  The town has a nice grocery store close to the marina so we stopped in and picked up some necessary items.  Even better is that you can push their carts all the way down the dock back to your boat!   That evening Skylar and I had a nice dock walk looking at all the boat

Trip Log – 249.86nm