Seeking knowledge about San Juan cruising

[tkaustin]

My wife and I purchased our R25-SC a few years ago with the objective to cruise the PNW. We live in Minnesota and so far, our experience with our Ranger Tug has been on the St Croix River, Mississippi and a bit on Superior. The long term goal is to drag the boat back to the PNW and cruise the inside passage towards Alaska, exploring and exploring and exploring along the way. We do expect this to be a multi-year effort. Retirement is wonderful.

This summer (2018) we intend to get our feet wet in salt water as preparation for the subsequent years. I'm thinking for this first salt experience that spending a few weeks in the San Juan Island area would provide a good opportunity to get some exposure and learn what it is we don't already know, without getting too far away from civilization.

It happens that we'll be in the Bellingham area (without the boat) around April 20 to 27. We'll be able to use much of that time to scout the area, but I think it would also be very helpful to find someone who has direct experience cruising the San Juans and knowledge of launching sites too. Are you'd be willing to meet us and share your knowledge of the area?

Private Message, and thank you very much.
Tom & Nancy

 

[Larry H]

A good start on cruising info for the PNW is this publication. http://waggonerguide.com/product/2018-waggoner-cruising-guide/
Either order one now or pick up a copy when you get to Bellingham.

This store and others carries the Waggoner guide and also has other guide books and charts for this area. http://www.lfsmarineoutdoor.com/

Bellingham is a good place to start a San Juan cruise. Squalicum Harbor has a good launch ramp and truck/trailer storage, see: https://www.portofbellingham.com/199/About-Squalicum-Harbor

Link to marine weather forcast: https://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=pzz133&syn=pzz100

Hope you enjoy our area!

 

[tkaustin]

Terrific help. I have the latest Waggoners. The others are new to me. Thanks.

 

[Les Blackwell]

My oh my what a propitious time to write your email about wanting to know about the San Juan Islands. The advice already given is excellent so I'll make another offer you can hardly refuse. On April 25 the Squalicum Yacht Club is holding its monthly pot-luck dinner in its club house. They have over the years been cruising these island all the way to Desolation Sound and Alaska since 1936. Really! We're the oldest cruising club in Bellingham.

So here is the invite--come join us for dinner and ask all your questions. It's free. And there will be a RangerTug 25SC skipper there--me. I'm a 100 ton CG certified skipper (retired) and have been sailing the San Juans for fifty years. The islands don't change--they are magical.

Give me a call on my cell 360.319.9061 and we can arrange things for you.

Les

 

[BradOwens]

Check out www.pacificnwboater.com for great information about the area. I highly recommend buying the cruising guide DVD. It gives a video tour of many of the Marine State Parks in the San Juans. You can order it from the website and start learning about the area right away, or wait 'til you get here and buy it from a local marina. I know they carry it at Anacortes Yacht Charters.

 

[scross]

We start our trips out of Bellingham as well. Nice place!
Due to construction in the long term parking area you may need to store your trailer off site if you are going to be gone for more than a few days. Call the harbor office for details. We plan two 3 to 4 week trips this year and will use the private off site secure storage yard for the trailer.
If you plan to do some serious exploration I’d recommend expanding your first year scope a bit and consider some of the places in the Gulf Islands. Say Ganges, Poets Cove or Montague Harbor for starts. We are on our fifth season of cruising the PNW and end up spending 75% of our time in the Gulf Islands. That said, don’t miss Prevost Harbor in the San Juan’s - it’s spectacular!

 

[Paul Elliott]

I've got a page of buoy reports and WX info for the San Juan Islands (and more) that you may find useful. It's not all-inclusive, just the ones I tend to look at:
http://www.sailvalis.com/pnwbuoys.html

 

[knotflying]

All great info above. We did all of Puget Sound and Desolation Sound in about three months about a year and a half ago. Besides Waggoners I found the tides and current book also a good resource. I also discovered that putting too much planning in advance is not necessary. We planned a starting point and the general geographic area and then a week at a time in detail. As you travel you meet people, talk to people and discover places to stop and go along the way. The area on out trip was absolutely outstanding.

 

[Bruce Moore]

Check out the excellent webinars on Slowboat.com. Sam Landsman lead the Points North seminar for Ranger Tug and Cutwater Boat owners this past weekend. He and his partners have extensive PNW/SE AK experience and present it in a very accessible way.

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[tkaustin]

Thank you all for the rich replies, public and PM. They will help immensely.