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Seattle's modern Bell Harbor Marina provides great access to all the city's attractions.
Upper right: Aboard Surprise, entering Nettle Basin, Lowes Inlet.
Lower right: Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island, in the San Juan Islands. |
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Totem at Alert Bay.
Lower right: Sunset at Shearwater, north coast of B.C.
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PLANNING A NORTHWEST CRUISE?
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Cruising in the Northwest: An Introduction
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C
ruising in the Northwest offers it all: stunning scenery, breaching whales, secluded anchorages and urban escapes. From Olympia, Washington and north, you needn't go far to have an outstanding cruise. Don't try to pack too much into a limited holiday afloat. Cruising takes time. On any given morning you can be up and out at first light, but over the course of a week most people are lucky to be out by noon (well, maybe 10:30). Two or three hours later, it's time to stop. If you've met some interesting people, or it's foggy or the wind is up, perhaps you won't move at all.
The farther north you go, the more spectacular the scenery gets. Puget Sound is perfect, except that the
San Juan Islands are better. As good as the San Juans are, the Canadian Gulf Islands have a special appeal.
Desolation Sound, 200 miles north of Seattle, is outstanding. And so on, around Vancouver Island or all the way to Alaska.
Wherever you are in these waters, you can have a memorable cruise. Speed is not important, nor is the distance you cover. The farther you go, the more time it takes and the more it costs. If you have the time and the money (and the boat and the experience), go the distance. If you don't have the time and/or the money, enjoy the waters close aboard.
Best months. The prime cruising months begin in April and end by October, with July-August being the most popular. People use their boats year-round in Puget Sound. On winter weekends the popular ports can be surprisingly busy. Cabin heat is a must in the winter and almost a must the rest of the year. Even for summer-only cruising, we would want cabin heat on our boat.
North of Puget Sound, pleasure boating is best done between early May and late September. Really dependable weather normally doesn't arrive until July.
We usually take our long summer cruise beginning in early June and ending in early August. As we work north we see fewer and fewer boats. On the return trip in late July the situation is different. Boats everywhere.
Be careful with winter cruising north of Puget Sound. (Be careful in Puget Sound, too.) In the winter, storms lash the British Columbia coast. When you see what winter storms do to trees on exposed parts of the B.C. coast, you'll be happy to wait for summer.
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• An Overview of Destinations
• About Customs, Chart & Publications, Equipment, Clothing
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