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Come join us at Jarrell Cove State Park February 22-23. Typically this month is when our heartiest cruisers anchor out and freeze their toes off. But this year by popular acclaim we choose electricity and heat. There is plenty of parking for those who prefer to drive in and go home to a warm bed.
For those who have never been, this park on the north side of Harstine Island has an awesome dock, fire pit, hiking trails, bathrooms and shower facilities, and most importantly, shore power! There is also a pump-out dock nearby.
Potluck under the picnic shelter Saturday at 5 p.m. Bring firewood and skewers for the s’mores! We will provide the makings!
Current flows east out of Dana Passage any time after 10 a.m. Friday, or after noon Saturday, so easy going getting there. Low tide is after dark if you arrive late. Otherwise you shouldn’t have any trouble getting into the park basin. Mind the sandbar as you round the point — it sticks out much further than you think. Best to hold your course and round the mooring ball directly off the end of the dock.
If you can clear the bridge, you can take the shortcut up through Pickering Passage from Hope Island. The charts are labeled: FIXED BRIDGE // HOR CL 95 FT // VERT CL 31 FT. The 31 feet is measured above Mean High Water. If you time the tide wrong or your mast is just too tall you’ll have issues with the bridge (which might make for a good article next month). In that case you will have to transit up the Case Inlet and buttonhook around the NE corner of Harstine Island.
March’s cruise location will be easy to reach by boat or car, so mark your calendars for March 22-23. We will be convening at 4:30 on Saturday at Frye Cove in Eld Inlet for happy hour, followed by a potluck at 5:00 in the picnic shelter that we have reserved. Come early so that you can enjoy the many hiking trails around the picnic area. There is a rest room with running water, and plenty of parking.
This will be a celebration of the March equinox, so we can look forward to the days being longer than the nights for the next six months.
Frye Cove is a lovely spot, with a good anchorage in the bight north of Flapjack Point. Bring your dinghy so you can row ashore. There is no need to worry about the currents in Dana since we will be heading west from Boston Harbor but do be mindful of the shallow spit off the end of Cooper Point both coming and going. It probably won’t be an issue for anyone since low tide on Friday is at 5:30 in Boston Harbor, but still….You don’t want to be the one who goes aground there.
April will find cruisers returning to an old favorite at Joemma Beach State Park, on the East shore of Case Inlet just a bit south of McMicken Island. The Park has a floating dock and jetty along with a few mooring buoys (no power or water at the dock, but there is water on site). Anchorage is possible as well, although in unsettled weather, you may want to move overnight to the protection of McMicken Island.
This has historically been a great spot to fish and crab, but unless the crab season miraculously opens, you may have to content yourself with watching them scuttle busily below the jetty, blissfully ignorant of their ancestors’s fates.
We have rented the covered picnic shelter that includes 5 picnic tables and a couple of barbecues, so bring along the briquettes to grill your meat of choice to go with the potluck offerings. Happy hour will start sometime around 4:30, with the potluck to follow. There is plenty of parking for land cruisers as well, and it’s an easy drive from Olympia. Come and join us, stroll the lovely sandy beach and watch the sun set behind Hartstine Island!
It’s time to start planning for the annual Memorial Day Cruise. As in the past, we will be at Penrose Point State Park, in Carr Inlet on May 23- 26.
This is one of the best attended Cruises, and there are many reasons why. It’s a three or four day weekend for people with jobs, and that means you can spend two or three full nights with a leisurely day or two at the Park. There are moorings for people who don’t like anchoring, and you are more likely to get one if you arrive on Friday. There is lots to do at Penrose Point State Park: hike the trails, forage for oysters, play Frisbee, walk the dogs or just hang out on your boat and watch other people work. The weather is going to be much better than it has been this winter!
Navigation to the Park presents an interesting challenge, as you must watch the tides in planning your transit of Pitt Passage. Pitt Passage separates McNeil Island, site of the former Medium and Maximum security prisons, from the mainland. Stories abound of inmates who swam or floated across to be fed and helped by a woman who lived on the mainland side.
You will want to get an early start to get though Dana on the ebb on Saturday and then you will want to arrive at Pitt Passage after the south-flowing current has eased. The passage looks narrow and shallow and it is…with several shoal areas in the center. However, you will see plenty of water under the keel if you stay in the center of the eastern channel, which is the more straightforward route (although I have gone both ways and I have sailed through the east channel as well.) Keep all the navigation aids to port. As you exit Pitt Passage, look to the Northwest and locate the two green markers at the west end of Wyckoff Shoal. They always seem farther to port than they look on the chart. You will keep them to starboard as you head to Mayo Cove. Keep paying close attention to your chart and your depth as you round Penrose Point and come into Mayo Cove. The shallows extend quite a ways beyond the visible end of the point…and just inside the point is another sand/gravel bar that also extends out quite a ways from shore. As you round the point, locate the mooring buoys in the cove and keep all of them to port…that will keep you off the gravel bar.
Head deep into Mayo Cove to find shallower water for anchoring unless you find an open mooring ball. Set your anchor well as the southerlies can file in through Lake Bay — I have seen boats drag here.
Depending on your draft, the tide and the crowd, you can also anchor in Lake Bay at the south end of Mayo Cove…again watch your chart and proceed slowly to avoid the bar on the west side. The state park has a float on the southeast shore but few cruisers will be able to stay off the bottom there given the expected tides.
Once anchored, hop in the dinghy or kayak and head to Lake Bay, a former stop for the Mosquito Fleet. The old marina is in the process of being renovated and the ice cream store is not yet up and running, but it’s fun to paddle around the bay and see how its progressing.
Coming home on Monday the current will be southbound through Pitt from between 10 and 4, but the tide will be -3 in Filucy bay at 10:30 in the morning…so depending on how you felt about Pitt Passage on Saturday, you may want to wait until the tide has come up a bit before your transit on Monday.
I will be camping on shore on Saturday and will try to commandeer a picnic table around which we can gather for the potluck at 6:00. 25 years ago, when I was the Cruise Chair for the first time, we executed a star raft-up, where boats drop their anchors in a big circle and pull their sterns together. We sent my son, then the smallest person in the crowd, up John Sherman’s mast, the tallest one in the fleet, with several cameras. If people are up for it, we can try it again and do our potluck on the sterns (but anchor separately for the night).