PNW Cruisers

[BandB]

Wifey B: For all those of you who boat in Puget Sound, among all the islands, in the straits, do you ever venture outside into the ocean? I'm defining that as proceeding west past Cape Flattery.

It seems from other threads that many of you don't. Nothing wrong with that. Sure is a much bigger area inside to boat in than we ever had on the lake. The thing was though we had dams and banks blocking us. No way to go further. Now I know some on the TN River never go through a lock, just stay on their lake. I'm like the chicken I guess that I must see what is on the other side. Now that's good or bad, cause chickens crossing roads can get run over. If you venture out, how far down the coast? Do you just venture out when you must, like to relocate the boat to SF or to Portland? Or do you go all the way down to Ensenada and beyond?

 

[dhays]

I have not and not sure I ever will. Even after boating in this region for 50 years I still find places that I have never been before.

Now, it is possible that I might want to explore the West side of Vancouver, but it is more likely that I would head up the inside passage to Alaska before doing that.

 

[refugio]

I've been on the outside of Vancouver Island, and I've been to Alaska via the "Inside Passage" which has a couple of exposed segments, but - for me - there's nothing really attractive down south. I've been on friends' boats at Catalina Island, Cabo, PV. I'm not a sun worshipper and it's OK - but a long weekend would be my limit. So I wouldn't go out of my way to get there . And getting a boat back is a major PITA.

 

[Crusty Chief]

As long as the weather is acceptable, it's a nice trip but not a whole to see heading south. Heading north, especially up the west side of Vancouver is a trip I'd like to do again.

Since we homeport in Portland, we have to travel around or through Cape Flattery both coming and going.

We're on day 65 today, getting close to the Broughtons with roughly 120 more before we get back to Portland.

 

[psneeld]

Thus the reason some NWP boaters eventually switch to the East Coast...not because it is better...because it is way easier and safer to go from high latitudes to warmer ones without long ocean runs.

I would love to have a second boat in Puget Sound to go north in the Summer...and be back East to go south in the Wiinter.....not that going to Baja would not be great...just I would only snowbird on the West coast with a much larger boat.

 

[JDCAVE]

Unless you want to catch tuna, why would we? We intend to cruise the WCVI and the WC Haida Gwaii, but will continue with the central coast for now. I would like to go up the Columbia some day, but have no interest in spending days at a time at sea. We have a dog that needs to go to shore every day.


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

 

[BandB]

Thus the reason some NWP boaters eventually switch to the East Coast...not because it is better...because it is way easier and safer to go from high latitudes to warmer ones without long ocean runs.

I would love to have a second boat in Puget Sound to go north in the Summer...and be back East to go south in the Wiinter.....not that going to Baja would not be great...just I would only snowbird on the West coast with a much larger boat.

Wifey B: Yes, we definitely found the West Coast very different. The East Coast is like wall to wall towns up and down plus ICW if you don't want outside. West, you have distances between places and no ICW. We also got a feeling of the greater frequency of rough seas on the upper part especially.

Now all that we realized. Also, realized in the PNW and even in the Delta there are large areas to enjoy without ever going out. However, the part we didn't realize is how many don't go outside. I guess there are some in the Chesapeake who never venture outside that world but I don't think as common. A lot become snowbirds. Sea gulls and snowbirds. We had seagulls on the lake, inland. The story goes they were flying over one winter long long ago and it got bad so they stopped. Apparently they figured out not so bad and a lot less flying to get there. So they just came back each year.

So, here's what I really didn't have perspective on. Those who don't go outside. We were in the middle of it and realized not so much traffic but with boats all around we didn't know where they went when we weren't there. Plus a lot of our time was in Gray's Harbor too and there you have bazillions of charter fishing boats going outside daily. Plus the other boats there must go outside cause there's no where to boat if you don't.

I knew the distances made it a challenge to run between Neah Bay and Gray's Harbor. About the only stop on that path is La Push. I didn't realize so many are dissuaded by the sea conditions. Guess I just think of PNW boats being the type designed to handle rough seas up to a point. Guess I just thought more were like VicTrawler who might not do it every year but every few years. The people we met in Gray's Harbor area also do go south to Portland regularly. Guess when we docked at Makah and Port Angeles we got more who did too. Just didn't think that a lot in Seattle wouldn't.

Guess the area is many things to different people. Gateway to Alaska to some. Just a huge lake filled with islands everywhere for some. Then a few who go south occasionally.

We did love it there and will definitely go back. Sort of like the Bahamas, we didn't get to all the islands so more to see.

 

[dhays]

Thus the reason some NWP boaters eventually switch to the East Coast...not because it is better...because it is way easier and safer to go from high latitudes to warmer ones without long ocean runs.

I don't know anyone who has moved to the East coast from the PNW because of the ICW.

It seems to me that if someone has the leisure to be a snowbird, then they can be patient to catch the weather windows going both directions. More importantly, the winters aren't that bad here to make folks need to run South.

 

[twistedtree]

I think it's more about where the best destinations are. If you head out to Cape Flattery, there is no reason to turn south unless you are really going somewhere, and there is only something to stop for every few days. Or you can head north and explore the west side of Vancouver Island, but that's one of about a hundred or more different cruises one could take in the area.

On the other hand on the east coast, pretty much everywhere is a cruise and a destination, inside or outside. So no reason not to venture out other than not wanting to.

I think the PNW itself is very much like the whole east coast, and similar in size from Seattle to Juneau. Leaving Seattle and heading south is kind of like heading out on the east coast and crossing to Europe.

 

[BandB]

I think the PNW itself is very much like the whole east coast, and similar in size from Seattle to Juneau. Leaving Seattle and heading south is kind of like heading out on the east coast and crossing to Europe.

Wifey B: And just what part of the East Coast is the route from Vancouver to Juneau like? I served on the East Coast. I knew the East Coast. The East Coast was a friend of mine. Senator West Coast, you're no East Coast.

Seriously, I loved the PNW and Alaska but your analogy just doesn't work. In that theory is Juneau Massachusetts or is it Miami?

 

[refugio]

I also don't know anyone who has moved to the East Coast for any kind of boating. I have a friend who took a boat through the Panama Canal and up the coast, but I only joined him when he hit Maine. I like Maine, have relatives there, and love the boating there. I suppose I'd love to boat the Cape area (I've been to Nantucket many times but never on a boat), and perhaps the Chesapeake. And we're watching Bloodline - the first season had a Hinckley picnic boat and the keys looked interesting but then there's the swamps, alligators, drug runners...maybe skip that. I have a friend who had a 43' Egg Harbor sportfisher in Seattle and a 48' version in Florida. It was even on the TV show Bones for a couple of episodes. I've cruised with him up here and he invited me to Florida a couple of times but I'm not really into fishing - and then he sold the Florida boat.

But we have a ton of snowbirds in my YC - they have regular get togethers in Palm Springs through the winter and then come back and boat up here for 4 to 6 months.

Edit: I posted these images below in a thread last summer and said "it's hard for someone in the PNW to imagine why anyone would want to take a boat from here:"

"to here:"

 

[twistedtree]

Wifey B: And just what part of the East Coast is the route from Vancouver to Juneau like? I served on the East Coast. I knew the East Coast. The East Coast was a friend of mine. Senator West Coast, you're no East Coast.

Seriously, I loved the PNW and Alaska but your analogy just doesn't work. In that theory is Juneau Massachusetts or is it Miami?

I'm thinking in terms of places to cruise, anchorages, and protected routes. If you want to go town hopping it's very different, so I see what you mean and in that sense it's not a good analogy.

 

[BandB]

I'm thinking in terms of places to cruise, anchorages, and protected routes. If you want to go town hopping it's very different, so I see what you mean and in that sense it's not a good analogy.

Wifey B: And climate....

 

[Panope]

Went to Barkley Sound last Summer. Would like to do a counter-clockwise trip around Vancouver Island in the future.

No immediate plans to go South of Flattery, although a trip up the Columbia and Snake rivers would be cool. I hear they might be removing the dams/locks on the Snake so if a boat trip to Idaho is in your sights, you better do it now.

Steve

 

[twistedtree]

Wifey B: And climate....

Agreed. PNW is much preferable

 

[BandB]

Agreed. PNW is much preferable

Wifey B: I'll take bikini weather to shivery weather.

 

[Nomad Willy]

WifeyB,
I'm more into having an experience than comfort.

 

[BandB]

WifeyB,
I'm more into having an experience than comfort.

Wifey B: And you don't believe both are possible? I've experienced the PNW. Have you experienced the Bahamas or Caribbean?

 

[Nomad Willy]

Wifey,
No but I'm not interested.
The weather forecast for Sunday .. THIS Sunday is for 95 degrees! And it's only the first few days of June.
It would be insane for me to go south.
I should'a stayed in Alaska.
Quite sure Alaska is still there though.

 

[CPseudonym]

That's funny Eric

 

[dhays]

WifeyB,
I'm more into having an experience than comfort.

I am more into having a comfortable experience. I had enough "experiences" sailing. Now I wish to confine myself to the comfortable variety.

However, HHH is not my idea of comfort. I can always put on a sweater or light jacket when the weather is cool. When it is hot, there is only so much you can do. Last weekend we really enjoyed sitting out in the aft cockpit in our jackets drinking coffee and enjoying the outdoors (when it wasn't blowing 20 knots with sideways rain that is). Where it is hot and humid, the weather would drive me inside where there is AC.

OTOH, bikini weather could have some other benefits that I might enjoy. I do enjoy good scenery.

 

[Old deckhand]

We love the outside and carefully pick the weather. Sitka is located with instant access to the outside waters or the inside passages. This is the reason we live here. Oh, and the fishing is not bad here.

 

[cardude01]

I also don't know anyone who has moved to the East Coast for any kind of boating. I have a friend who took a boat through the Panama Canal and up the coast, but I only joined him when he hit Maine. I like Maine, have relatives there, and love the boating there. I suppose I'd love to boat the Cape area (I've been to Nantucket many times but never on a boat), and perhaps the Chesapeake. And we're watching Bloodline - the first season had a Hinckley picnic boat and the keys looked interesting but then there's the swamps, alligators, drug runners...maybe skip that. I have a friend who had a 43' Egg Harbor sportfisher in Seattle and a 48' version in Florida. It was even on the TV show Bones for a couple of episodes. I've cruised with him up here and he invited me to Florida a couple of times but I'm not really into fishing - and then he sold the Florida boat.

But we have a ton of snowbirds in my YC - they have regular get togethers in Palm Springs through the winter and then come back and boat up here for 4 to 6 months.

Edit: I posted these images below in a thread last summer and said "it's hard for someone in the PNW to imagine why anyone would want to take a boat from here:"
View attachment 52693
"to here:"
View attachment 52694

Muddy water is good for the skin!



I like water I can jump into and not get hypothermia. Here's a shot of Mud Island near Rockport TX. We swam, but the oyster shells were a little hard on the feet.

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[BandB]

Wifey,
No but I'm not interested.
The weather forecast for Sunday .. THIS Sunday is for 95 degrees! And it's only the first few days of June.
It would be insane for me to go south.
I should'a stayed in Alaska.
Quite sure Alaska is still there though.

Wifey B: The forecast for Fort Lauderdale today and Sunday is 88 degrees. Nassau the same. Nice cool breeze off the ocean. Now, I'm not home. Where I am the high today is 76 degrees and where we'll be Sunday it will be 72 degrees.

Fort Lauderdale as of five minutes ago...

 

[Nomad Willy]

We love the outside and carefully pick the weather. Sitka is located with instant access to the outside waters or the inside passages. This is the reason we live here. Oh, and the fishing is not bad here.

ODH,
Only took you three complete sentences to mention fishing. You're a typical Alaskan. I'm not in that I rarely fish or hunt but there's much else to like about Alaska. We may even come back. Juneau or Sitka prolly. If we do. Not much social infastructure on POW.

 

[Old deckhand]

Eric,

We have enjoyed the west side of POW. Even bought a lot in Port St Nick many years ago and thought we would build a cabin. After owning it for 20 years we never did build and sold it.

Ken

 

[Robster_in_edmonds]

We love boating in the PNW. so many beautiful spots, lots to choose from whether you want busy or quiet. But if I could create the perfect cruising area, it would mix these factors:
Warm water to swim in, like Florida or Caribbean- swimming up her is cold.
Lobsters to catch for dinner - we love crabbing, but they're a lot of work to clean!
Funky small towns that are different from each other - it seems like every tourist-oriented store carries the same merchandise.
Lots of good, protected, quiet anchorages. We have "Useless Bay" near by and it is named for a reason.
Good Cell phone/internet access. Streaming a good movie after dinner on board can be fun.

But if an area had all that it would be crowded. So we'll take the PNW as-is.