Eagle Harbor is a marine park under the jurisdiction of the DNR. A few years ago they installed a number of mooring buoys on screw anchors and they discourage anchoring because it digs up the eelgrass. Unlike the state marine parks, there is (so far) no charge for using the buoys. No rafting on a buoy is allowed. The depths in the bay range from 40' to however shallow you want it.
Eagle Harbor is open to the south so is subject to winds and waves from that direction. Also wakes from passing boats and ships can enter the bay and rock you around a bit. We like the rocking but some people don't. There are no facilities at the bay, and no dock but there are a couple of excellent places to beach a dinghy. The bottom is good anchoring in mud since that's what everyone had to do before the buoys. But if it's blowing from the south-southwest you'll want a good set because the wind and waves will come right up Bellingham Channel and into the bay. We always use a buoy. During the summer the bay is almost always full.
If you are in the mood for a marina with power and such when you get to the area our favorite is Westsound on Orcas. We as a rule don't like crowds, other boaters, or other boats within sight. Can't do much about the last two but Westsound is a nice, funky marina with a nice staff, good guest dock, an eclectic collection of resident boats, and you can arrange a rental car to be dropped off and picked up at the marina if you want to go shopping or explore the island.
We have no use at all for Deer Harbor, Rosario, or Roche Harbor and never go to any of them except to clear customs at Roche. Friday Harbor is an interesting place as you know and we go their on occasion with Carey and have a good time. Garrison Bay around the corner from Roche is a pretty protected anchorage.
Blind Bay on Shaw is a good, protected anchorage although you can get wakes from the ferries and other boats traveling down Harney Channel. One of our favorite destinations is Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island but that's a long run from Anacortes.
Our most common destination in the islands is our "own" island where we have property. The bay there is very protected other than from the northwest and even then it's not bad. But it's totally surrounded by private land with no public access.
The small bay itself is not private, of course, and has good anchoring in firm-ish mud. But unless one is a property owner or a guest of one a person can't go ashore anywhere and there are no facilities for boaters. It is pretty much right across Rosario Strait from Anacortes but on the inside of Decatur Island. So to to get to Anacortes you have to either run out through Lopez Pass and across Rosario or up around through Thatcher Pass and across.
The aerial photo shows our island (Center) in the foreground, Decatur behind it with Thatcher Pass in the upper left. Rosario Strait is the broad passage on the other side of Decatur. Anacortes is not far outside the right side of the frame on the other side of Rosario Strait. People who anchor in our bay do so in the middle of the photo close to our island or the Decatur side. There are a lot of private mooring buoys off the shore on both sides so you have to stay clear of them. This is pretty much our favorite place to go in the islands.
There is a wildlife preserve in a tiny bay near the tip of Decatur. It is directly across the narrow chanel from the lower right "corner" of Center Island in the photo. There is room in there for two or three boats max to anchor and stern tie and you can go ashore on the big gravel and drift log berm that separates the tiny bay from Rosario Strait on the outside. Been in there numerous times with the dinghy, never with the GB although there is room in there for boats that size.
