Cruising the Pacific Northwest

Another cruising guide series I have ignored for a number of years is the Dreamspeaker series. I glanced though one once and didn't care for it. But last week I was in Capains Nautical Supply in Seattle, THE best store in the Puget Sound area for books, charts, charting supplies, clocks, binoculars, you name it, for professional and recreational operatos alike, and I looked more careful,y at the Deamspeaker guides.

They are actually quite unique books and offer a perspective on anchorages and harbors that is different from the typical guidebook. So I bought a copy of the guide that covers the area we are planning on for our Fall cruise to use in our planning, along with the other guides we already have including the one mentioned above by Sea-Duction, which is excellent.

So a Dreamspeaker guide is worth having, I think, as one plans a cruise in this area. They cover the cruising grounds in BC. I did not see one for the San Juan Islands or Puget Sound in the US.

The best "Cruising Guide" is a buddy boat to tag along with. When you are ready to go, post your arrival and departure dates and teh location of your boat at the start and finish. There are sure to be members of this group who will be going roughly where you want to go during your stay, who would be happy to introduce you to "the best place on earth".
My personal favorite for a 3 week trip is to go as quickly as my 8 knot boat will go to a very private anchorage in DS, sit there until the prawns run out, using the dinghy to tour around, go to lakes for fresh water swimming, hiking, collecting oysters, kayaking, then move to another very private anchorage and do it all again. I can usually average 3 or more nights in each anchorage. Docks are only for refilling the water tanks and off loading garbage. My wife like to swim in the warm water of DS, so we don't go through any of the rapids, as they all lead to water that is too cold for swimming. Also, the cold water attracts fog or low cloud, and who needs that?
Since first boating in the DS area in 1971, we have been going back as often as we can, and are not close to being bored by any of the beautiful anchorages. We usually add a "favorite" or two every year.

koliver said:

The best "Cruising Guide" is a buddy boat to tag along with.

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The problem with a buddy boat is that there is another boat tagging along with you.

Every boater wants something different from their boating. I guess a lot of boaters enjoy going out with other boats--- we've done it a couple of times and it was okay. But I'm around other people all over the place all bloody year and my wife is always being pulled hither and yon by her friends.

It's not that we don't like what we do during the year but the wonderful thing about going out on the boat is that we can get away from it all. That's why we do most of our boating in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. Summer we reserve for boat projects and when we go out we usually go to an anchorage where the general public never goes because the shore access is all private.

We prefer planning a trip and then exploring an area on our own, be it here or in Europe. Adds to the sense of adventure, I guess, even though about the only way to truly get away from everybody these days is schlep your tent out into the middle of Antarctica.

Boating with other boaters who are familiar with an area is certainly a great way to get introduced to a new area with minimum risk. But one certainly doesn't have to do that to have a terrific time boating in this area and on up the coast to SE Alaska. Most of the boaters we know go it alone. Perhaps for the same reasons we do, I don't know.

So a boater who in Australia likes to get away from it all on their own can do the same thing here if they want to even if they've never been here before. There are tons of information about the area in guidebooks in all shapes, sizes, and styles. And Active Captain, if one subscribes to that and has a charting program that supports it, has a huge amount of current information on anchorages and harbors in this region.

We find that half the fun of a trip--- any trip--- is in the planning. And today between all the books, maps, charts, and Al Gore's internet, there are almost too many resources available. The challenge is to pick the ones you like.