Saturday, July 21: Saddlebag Island to Eagle Harbor, Cypress Island


We’ve been looking forward to today.  We had prearranged with Allison and Michael that they would drive to Anacortes and we would pick them up for an overnight cruise to celebrate Kristine’s birthday, which technically occurs next week.  We pulled the crab trap and were horrified to find too few keepers for dinner, so we rebaited it and dropped it back in the drink, figuring we’d circle back around once Allison and Michael were aboard and try again.

Anacortes is only about 30 minutes away, so we went into the marina to tie up and run some errands.  They showed up at lunchtime and we ate, then cast off.  First stop, Saddlebag.  Much better luck; THAT’S what I’m talking about:


Thanks for pulling them up, Michael!



Today’s destination is a place we’ve never stopped at, but cruised by last year and it looked like a beautiful place.  Cypress Island isn’t considered part of the San Juans by most people because it’s on the east side of the Rosario Strait, but it’s a pretty big island that’s entirely forested.  We went into Eagle Harbor, on the northeast side, and found a perfect place to anchor.  The seabed is pretty thick with eelgrass and played tricks with our depth finder as we were looking for a place to stop:  it kept reading about 8 feet, too shallow, and yet there were other boats anchored very successfully nearby.  We finally stopped and lowered a line over the edge and discovered that it was actually a little over 20 feet deep, just perfect.  Down went the hook.







The sun was out, so we spent the rest of the day cooking our crab, catching up with the family news, and enjoying a birthday feast and celebration.  Happy birthday Kristine!





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