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09 Rosario Strait between Anacortes and the San Juan Islands image not be be used for navigation 1024x630 1

Don’t Go Aground in the Sound Or Come to Grief on a Reef: Guemes Channel and Rosario Strait

Boaters who did not elect to overnight in LaConner might well decide to put into Anacortes. There’s a great public marina at Cap Sante. Anybody bypassing Anacortes will typically use Guemes Channel between Fidalgo and Guemes Islands as an approach to the final crossing prior to the San Juan archipelago. (It should be noted that […]

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07 Southern reaches of the Swinomish Channel image not to be used for navigation 1024x630 1

Don’t Go Aground in the Sound Or Come to Grief on a Reef: Swinomish Channel

A local insurance professional once stated that the southern entrance to the Swinomish Channel is, year after year, the site of a lot of claims resulting from grounding. Experienced mariners know better than to “cut” any of the buoys here. A range in Dugwalla Bay, to the west, is defined by marker boards with red

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05 Safe passage through Skagit Bay is close to the eastern shoreline of Whidbey Island image not be used for navigation 1024x630 1

Don’t Go Aground in the Sound Or Come to Grief on a Reef: Deception Pass

Under the right conditions. San Juan bound boaters choosing the Inside Passage can continue along the eastern shoreline of Whidbey Island and turn toward the islands by transiting Deception Pass. Deception Pass is both dramatic and scenic, but knowledgeable mariners avoid the pass if the current is running more than a very few knots. Tide

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03 A straight approach into Catle Pass between Lopez and San Juan Islands will help avoid the rocks and islets to the southeast Image not to be used for navigation 1024x630 1

Don’t Go Aground in the Sound Or Come to Grief on a Reef: Inside Passages

When the Strait of Juan de Fuca is too rough for a comfortable crossing, or when conditions are marginal and the forecast is not favorable, boaters cruising to the San Juans from central Puget Sound will often “run up the inside route” east of Whidbey Island. The lee side of Whidbey can remain very passable

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01 Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca can be the most direct route betweencentral Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands conditions permitting imagenot to be used for navigation 1024x630 1

Don’t Go Aground in the Sound Or Come to Grief on a Reef: Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca

For boaters departing any port south of Edmonds, (or locations on the Key or Olympic peninsulas), the choice of a route crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Cattle Pass will prove to be the shortest distance. Despite the potential savings in time and fuel, crossing the Strait is not automatically or always the

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Don’t Go Aground in the Sound Or Come to Grief on a Reef: First consideration; getting there

Tens of thousands of times each summer, owners of recreational cruising boats depart from central Puget Sound ports en route to the San Juan Islands. Protected waterways, an extensive network of marine state parks, waterfront villages, resort marinas, and other attractions create one of the finest boating areas on the planet. All that sunny weather

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