Orca Strait
Sunday Aug 24th – Plan was to get up super early and make the run across the Strait of Juan de Fuca before the wind picked up. 6am – one last look at the weather report showed dense fog in the strait. Back to bed for a while to wait out the fog burn off – an added benefit would be currents pushing us a little faster later in the day anyway.
9:45am – we cast off – no fog in sight as we made our way through Mosquito Pass then south down the west side of San Juan Island in Haro Strait. Right where Haro Strait dumps into the Juan de Fuca Strait things started getting a little rough. Taking some spray over the bow we plowed through it for 30 minutes or so until the fog bank arrived. Seas calmed down at the fog line as one challenge turned into another – radar on, everyone watching close for other boats as we navigated out of the commercial traffic lanes. 30 minutes or so of dense fog then we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Right as we hit the middle of the strait – in the most open water – all the fog lifted and the sun came out to reveal the sea’s largest dolphin swimming down the strait – the Orca Whale! A whole pod of them straight off our bow – what an awesome sight. We followed them at a distance for a while, taking pictures and studying them through he binoculars. We didn’t want to leave but they had a different destination in mind so we parted ways.
We decided to take a short layover at Fort Warden State Park to play on the beach before continuing on to Port Ludlow on the Olympic Peninsula. We snagged a mooring buoy just off the beach and lowered the dinghy for the ride to shore. This is one of the best beaches in the Puget Sound area and the kids had fun running all over – digging holes in the sand and hunting for treasures while Julie and I relaxed.
Back underway it was a couple more hours to Port Ludlow. At 4:45pm traveling 48.66nm we tied up to the docks. We had a light dinner at the hotel then Skylar and I had fun cleaning and cooking all 11 crabs we caught in Roche Harbor. We had a late night crab feast! – eating as much as we could then freezing the rest for a later date.
