Which island are you staying on or are you going to be in Anacortes?
When I lived in Anacortes in the late 1980s I lived in an old boat house that had the sail loft converted into a 1 bedroom house on Similk Bay near Deception Pass. When the tides were big Iād carry a crab trap out, wade in bit and toss it out. Iād tie it off to my deck and let it soak overnight. The next day it would be stuffed with huge barnacle back crabs. I made the mistake of telling a friend at a noisy bar and apparently someone overheard as I woke up the next day to see about 500 commercial buoys in the bay in front of my house. Miss that area a lot. Itās pretty untouchable now.
If you go sea kayaking pay attention to which way the tides are running. If you get a big falling tide on two sides of an island the convergence zone can get very pleasant with large whirlpools and steep short duration confused seas. For example we had to fish more than a handful of unsuspecting kayakers out some fairly nasty conditions on otherwise bluebird clear days where Guemes Channel met Bellingham Channel on the southwest corner of Guemes Island at Yellow Bluff/Kelly Point. Couldnāt help but snicker watching people paddling like crazy who were caught in a whirlpool that wasnāt big enough to take them down but big enough to catch and spin them. If you play the tides right you can ride the falling tide downstream, get out and have lunch, and then ride the flood back.
If you get out on the water tankers and ferries always have the right of way. Rule of tonnage applies. It got so bad with day sailers cutting in front of tankers (that take 8 miles to stop) that the refineries started using the big Foss Tractor Tugs in a phalanx formation about a half mile in front of the tankers like a blocking wedge on a kickoff. They run just slow enough to throw about a 6ā high wake that will swamp boats and roll sea kayaks.
Lots of Microsoft and now Amazon money in the area so donāt assume the 60ā yacht coming toward you has a competent skipper aboardā¦
