Pac Nor West Thanksgiving Sail

[Harryeod]

Anyone from the Puget Sound area plan to do any cruising this Thanksgiving? I'll be out of Guam on the 16th of November and if the weather is even half-way decent I want sail from Bainbridge Island to Friday Harbor. Yes I do know that the weather could put a stop to my plans.

Also if anyone has experience sailing through Deception Pass I could use some pointers.

Thanks.

[artbyjody]

No idea what I'll be doing for the holiday.

Deception Pass can be a bit tricky and you really need to be up the tides and hit it when slack. I did it this summer at not so slack - had a fun ride but we were luckily riding the tide out - the eddies were / can be a handful.

Also, have decent charts if you are doing the whidbey island / mainland side, I think around Easter Island (or so I recall) - lots of seriously shallow areas where you think it would be deep.

[Harryeod]

Originally Posted by artbyjody

No idea what I'll be doing for the holiday.

Deception Pass can be a bit tricky and you really need to be up the tides and hit it when slack. I did it this summer at not so slack - had a fun ride but we were luckily riding the tide out - the eddies were / can be a handful.

Also, have decent charts if you are doing the whidbey island / mainland side, I think around Easter Island (or so I recall) - lots of seriously shallow areas where you think it would be deep.

Good to know stuff!

I'm going up the mainland side for something different. I've been through Admiralitys Inlet lots of times. But if the weather /fog is too bad maybe I'll go south. I put my name on Friday Harbor Marina's wait list so I would really like to go see it.

[artbyjody]

If you want a safer passage - even with poor weather.

I'd recommend - Bell Harbor Marina. If you have a S/O - its a nice stay and you can enjoy the bells and whistles downtown.

Aribella's in Gig Harbor (but if you do that one - ride the tide - its always going west). To get there go the channel between West Seattle / Burien and Vashon Island. The tide is always one direction and Aribellas is a great marina and within walking distance of Gig Harbor. Leaving - do the Vashon / Pennisula route... tide is always outgoing (west5 / north).

Bremerton Marina - If you have not been there since they rebuilt it from scratch, you'd be surprised. It is brand spanking new. One of the best marinas in terms of amentities and every slip is literally huge.

Poulsbo should be a consideration as well.

Port Ludlow also is a great marina - although tricky to get in and out of at night. It's charm is that is off the beaten path - but friendly staff and you feel like you are out thre in the boondocks.

I provide this as if Friday Harbor is too much the trip - plenty of other locales to drop in.

[Harryeod]

Originally Posted by artbyjody

If you want a safer passage - even with poor weather.

I'd recommend - Bell Harbor Marina. If you have a S/O - its a nice stay and you can enjoy the bells and whistles downtown.

Aribella's in Gig Harbor (but if you do that one - ride the tide - its always going west). To get there go the channel between West Seattle / Burien and Vashon Island. The tide is always one direction and Aribellas is a great marina and within walking distance of Gig Harbor. Leaving - do the Vashon / Pennisula route... tide is always outgoing (west5 / north).

Bremerton Marina - If you have not been there since they rebuilt it from scratch, you'd be surprised. It is brand spanking new. One of the best marinas in terms of amentities and every slip is literally huge.

Poulsbo should be a consideration as well.

Port Ludlow also is a great marina - although tricky to get in and out of at night. It's charm is that is off the beaten path - but friendly staff and you feel like you are out thre in the boondocks.

I provide this as if Friday Harbor is too much the trip - plenty of other locales to drop in.

I do appreciate the info Jody! This will give me some more options in case I don't feel like braving to much of the rain and cold.

I have been to Bell Harbor and I really like staying there, especially this time of year. Not very many people and a lot of room to manuver. I was there last month and I let complancy get in the mix; long story short I ended up doing a full 360 in the marina and if there had been anymore boats in their slips I might have been paying for new paint jobs.

[erps]

We did Thanksgiving on the boat two years ago. Met a couple that brought their boat up from Everett. It was cold that weekend and started snowing on the way back home. This is how the boat looked on the following day. It was a memorable weekend. I've always wanted to go up to Sucia on a winter holiday to see what that place looks like empty.


[IMG][/IMG]

[Moonfish]

Sorry to be chiming in on this so late. Been busy... Anyway, we spent Thanksgiving at Sucia this year. Very cool! Though if you're looking to experience Sucia when it's empty, you better pick a different weekend. It was the four of us (me, wife, and two girls, age 15 and 18) on our North Sea 33, and two friends on their 45' wood trawler. We left Friday Harbor Wednesday about 2:00pm and arrived in Fossil Bay about an hour before sunset. We were the only ones on the dock initially. Before dark, one other powerboat showed up.

By late morning Thanksgiving day we had four more powerboats on the dock. By the end of the day one more arrived to make it eight boats in all. Still, it was rather quiet and quite nice. On Friday the wind really picked up out of the SSE, which made Fossil Bay a rollicking place. By mid-afternoon there were little whitecaps coming into the bay. We were at the end of the dock bobbing up and down, so we decided to run around to the east side of the island and pick up a mooring in Shallow Bay. As we were leaving, three more boats came into Fossil. It was starting to feel like summer!

Anyway, we had a nice, flat night (for the most part) in Shallow Bay, which we shared with just one other boat.

Now we're thinking of where to spend New Year's eve...