Who isn’t inspired by those always chasing the farthest horizon, the uncharted territory, the most wild and remote nooks? It’s a part of the dream for tons of us, and a reality for many. On the other hand, if I was limited to exploring only the San Juan Islands for the rest of my days, stopping in places I’ve already been, I’d call it a pretty happy life and rewarding in different ways. Of course, the actual experience is hardly binary—circumnavigators cruise locally as well, or sometimes the island just beyond the familiar represents adventure aplenty. Led by several stories in this issue, I’m thinking about returning to favorite cruising environs and all the happiness it has afforded me.
For me, it started with Bainbridge Island’s Eagle Harbor and the quaint town of Winslow. Running a nearby sailing club at the time, I found my way there over and over again—both with club programs and with friends and family. There’s an ever-present calm when you round the red Wing Point Reef can and turn into the shelter of the bay lined with docks and dotted with others on the hook; unless you’re sharing the narrow channel with a ferry. The Harbor Pub’s chowder was bankably great in any season. It was the perfect way for me—even then, hardly a cruiser—to communicate with others how incredible it is to jaunt around by boat, ducking into places that are so close-by but feel a world away. To this day, I’ve never entered Eagle Harbor feeling anything other than serene delight.
As my cruising experience and ambitions have grown, I’ve come to know what is probably an average zone of exploration around the San Juan and Gulf islands. In that time, I’ve relished the chance to push beyond the same old ports and waterways. The wonder and excitement of new territory is palpable. But as I reflect on those magical discoveries, the places that have drawn me back for multiple visits already hold great fondness. No doubt, some of it is geographic. Cruising on sailboats, as I typically do, there are only so many options accessible in a day’s travel. Still, there were always other choices…
Returning somewhere like Stuart Island’s Prevost Harbor almost feels like an annual basecamp. Only once was it my destination unto itself. On numerous trips since then it has been the place I choose to collect myself before a jump into the Gulf Islands, and it delivers perennially. The familiarity reduces stress—the entrance that’s not to be under-thought, the spot where the rocky shelf starts to be problematic on the south side, and the currents that keep the fleet spinning in an unpredictable jumble. It also tells me where a hazy summer sunset will linger longest.
Then there’s Medicine Beach at the north end of Bedwell Harbor, distinct from Prevost because it’s only viable in certain conditions. But when it’s good, it’s so, so good. I’ve been there enough to know that if the kelp or the rocky shelf mean poor anchor hold on the first try, another attempt will probably do the job. Or, Saturna Island’s remarkable Winter Cove, a place I seem to become only more fond of each time I stop there. Winter Cove gives me so much of what I want out of cruising—surroundings lovely and diverse, oodles of room to not feel crowded, shoreside fun right in the cove and other places accessible by dinghy, blackberries if the season is right, and some of the best sunsets I’ve seen anywhere on the planet.
In a way, this rumination is less a window into my urge for comfort and more a testament to these extraordinary cruising grounds that we PNW boat folk are so fortunate to have close at hand. I can’t recall a place I’ve been to a second time that’s ever let me down, and not because of low expectations! So, as you put together your itineraries for the coming sunny season, don’t forgo a few of your all-time faves without due consideration.
Joe Cline
Joe Cline has been the Managing Editor of 48° North since 2014. From his career to his volunteer leadership in the marine industry, from racing sailboats large and small to his discovery of Pacific Northwest cruising —Joe is as sail-smitten as they come. Joe and his wife, Kaylin, have welcomed a couple of beautiful kiddos in the last few years, and he is enjoying fatherhood while still finding time to make a little music and even occasionally go sailing.
