Summer 2013: Cruise (4b) - To Sucia Again

Friday, 23 August 2013
Anchored off Saddlebag Island

One of the great things about being on a cruise for an extended time period is the loss of "time." Sure we knew what day it was, and which day of the week. But they didn't really matter anymore.

So after spending a morning exploring the Island (see previous post) we decide to continue heading north. L. and J. had both heard of Inati Bay on Lummi Island, and thought this would be a good stop-over on the way home. We could explore and then make Drayton Harbor the following day. Plenty of time.

We prepared to get underway: stored dinghies, got the out charts, raised main, (the cat go suspicious), raise anchor and sail off north in a light wind.


But the cat said, "Wait, there is no engine monster sound. Maybe I can stay out here after all."











We watched her. She was fascinated by the moving water, but didn't seem like she was interested in pouncing over the side.







Here you can see that the sails are still up and she was still out - rather than hiding under the dinghy as usual.

We had a nice quiet sail leaving Padilla Bay to the south and heading northwest toward Lummi Island to the west of Bellingham Bay (which is about 7 miles South West of Bellingham).








 Amazing how relaxed she was on this passage.







The last time J. and MERGANSER were through this way was coming home on the delivery passage from Anacortes to Semiahmoo. It was fun to see all of this again, and identify new sites. We had a perfectly calm and gentle wind to just carry us along.

Saddlebag Island is right about where the "1" is to the right of Guemes Island in Padilla Bay (Bottom Center).

Inati Bay, on Lumi Island, is right were "DANGER ROCK" is located (Left side just above the line running across the chart). Yes, that does mean you do have to watch out for this when entering/exiting.






Here you can see Eliza Island over the cat's back, and off our starboard bow is Portage Island. Lummi Island was off our port side (to the west).

It is just after 1800 (6 p.m.) and we are starting to look for Inati Bay. We could see the light on the small island just to the south of Portage Island (as you can see in this photo), which means that we should be coming up to Inati Bay.

We could tell by the chart that the bay is hidden, and well sheltered from the south, and that there is a rocky reef sticking out into the middle of the Bay. It must be just around the corner.


 The farther north we sailed, the clearer things became. "Great, it looks empty. This will be awesome!"
"Wait ... is that a boat in there?"
"What's one boat? ... But, no ... there are a bunch. Do we really want to do this?"
"I'm not sure ... "
"You know what? It's Friday. I bet that is the Bellingham Yacht Club. According to the guide book, they "rent"/"own" a part of the beach. I bet this is a yacht club gathering."
"In that case, I'm up for skipping it!"

We continued on north, looking for another option. The more north we came, the louder the crowd became. At first, we thought about anchoring in Smuggler's Cove - but as we come around the next headland, we see that this is a no go, as the rock quarry is near here and who knows what is under the surface of the water.  As we prepare to turn the engine on and head "more purposefully" up Hale Passage we notice a racing sailboat under spinnaker fly up around Eliza Island and toward Inati Bay.
Every group has a person whose voice carries across long distances. In this case, we hear a woman's voice yell out "Horray! Tommy's here!" Then we watched as the sailboat jibed around and headed back toward Bellingham. "Where are you going? Nooooo!"
We smiled and chugged along. We were going, too. After a peaceful cruise we did not want a load "re-entry."

We continued looking at the chart for possible anchorages, but finally decided that there weren't any options we were willing to take at this point. What to do? It was starting to become dark. After much discussion, we decided we'd head back over to Sucia, where at least we knew the anchorage in Echo Bay, even though we figured that it was likely to be fairly full on a Friday night, too.

Motor-sailing up Hale Passage, we watched the Lummi Island Ferry going back and forth and rounded the north end of Lummi Island. The sky to the west was jet black and moving our direction. Looking at the chart we decided to head to the south of Matia Island and around and into Echo Bay. This would avoid the marked but not lighted reef to the north of Sucia. Around we went, and down came the rain. Nothing like anchoring in almost the exact spot from which we started this cruise. Of course, then it was day light and sunny. In this case it was a wet night. We started the stove to dry ourselves out and hit the sack.




The yellow to the right is our day's run, further than we intended.






We declared Saturday a lay-day. We've made the return trip from Sucia to Drayton Harbor in under four hours (we've also done the trip in a lot longer when purposefully (the kids and L. might say "stubbornly") sailing in light ("nonexistent") winds). So we were not too worried about our time-line and could enjoy a day just putzing around. Which is just what we did.

And we ended Saturday by enjoying another beautiful sunset.