Upcoming Rental on Puget Sound

[garylac]

Greetings all,
We are new to trawler forum. We are at the end of our first year of a three year plan to figure out what the trawler lifestyle is all about. This past year, we have read all we could including a couple of accounts of the great loop and big U experiences, attended trawlerfest in Stuart FL, subscribed and read passagemaker magazine and will cap off year one with a one week rental . (Instructional with a captain) of a Selene 47 in the San Juan Islands in the Puget sound. We would welcome any tips for a 7 day itinerary beginning and ending in anacortes. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may Have.
Gary LaChance

[dhays]

Welcome Gary.

Your plan of a week's charter with an instructional captain sounds perfect. The only fly in the ointment may be that chartering a Selene 47 will set the bar very high when it comes to a boat purchase.

There are so many options for a week in the San Juans that it really hard to give a set itinerary. I would imagine that the company that you are charting from would have some pretty tried and true itineraries for their boats.

One thing to look at is whether you want to spend more time anchoring vs marina visits. There are some very nice marine parks that are very good for anchoring. Friday Harbor or Roche Harbor are always a nice places to visit for marina stays.

[garylac]

We have friends on orcas island that have a mooring we can pick up for two of the nights our plan is in part to have that be one of our destinations , overnight at The Mooring, pick up our friends for a day of cruising returning to the Mooring that night. That would be 2 days of Mooring. In order to maximize our experience we probably would want to do maybe two days of anchoring and two days at Marinas for practice docking. I will look into the areas you suggested thank you for the tips.

[ktdtx]

Yes, talk with the company, the captain and be flexible and do what the weather at the time will dictate.

There will be some differences if your charter is before Labor Day or after with regard to the number of people trying to go to the more popular places. This might have some impact on itinerary selection.

Ken

[dhays]

Originally Posted by garylac

We have friends on orcas island that have a mooring we can pick up for two of the nights our plan is in part to have that be one of our destinations , overnight at The Mooring, pick up our friends for a day of cruising returning to the Mooring that night. That would be 2 days of Mooring. In order to maximize our experience we probably would want to do maybe two days of anchoring and two days at Marinas for practice docking. I will look into the areas you suggested thank you for the tips.

That sounds like a nice plan. For marinas, consider Friday Harbor, Roche Harbor, or Rosario Resort. For anchoring, I like Sucia Island and Steward Island.