Adventures of the San Juan Island Kid
Destination Sucia – Northwest WA
Written by: Peter Luciano
I never really appreciated where I lived until recently. Anacortes is known as the gateway to the San Juan Islands and I’ve been sailing here all my life. I’m now enrolled in college at the University of Portland and living in the city opened my eyes to understand how beautiful my hometown is. I realize now that I’ve been sailing with my family for fourteen years in the best island chain in the world.
I was 14 years old and I was counting down the minutes for school to end. I was sitting in class just watching the clock hoping the arms would move faster. After school my parents were picking me up to go on another boat trip for the weekend! The bell rang and I dashed out the school doors to the car in the parking lot. We drove up the road to pick my little brother at the elementary school and he was just as excited as I was. Finally the weekend is here and time for another sailing adventure!
Packing the boat with food and equipment always seemed like an eternity. In the end it always seemed we barely ate half of the food we brought. Finally, everything was ready to go and we fired up the engines. We have a 32’ Catalina sailboat, which we all loved to sail except my little brother Mark. He was cursed with the desire for speed and quite frankly, a sailboat isn’t exactly a speedboat. He loved to explore the islands we went to, but disliked the way we got there. He would go below and either play games on his game-boy or sleep when we would sail the boat. This day in particular was a perfect day to put up the sails.
Dad would always put me at the wheel when it was time to put up the sails. I turned directly into the wind and as the sails went up, the boat began to tip on its side. Mom never really enjoyed when the boat was leaning over, but she was always a good sport. Everything down below that wasn’t tied down would by flying all over the place and created a mess nobody seemed to clean until we got to our destination. Today we were heading northwest and the wind was at our east at about twenty knots. Dad and I adjusted the sails just right until we were cruising through the water. We were having a great time on deck as Mark was sleeping and Mom was comforting our terrified dog. Luckily as we sailed north the wind slightly changed directions to the southeast putting us at a beam-reach (the fastest point of sail). We were cruising through the water and the boat wasn’t leaning over so much so everyone was happy.
We were just passing Matia Island and sailed the whole way! We were a little late getting to Sucia and we were pretty worried about finding a spot. As we were on the west side of the island, we noticed a familiar green boat passing us. It was the boat we previously owned named Perseverance! Dad was so excited he got up on the deck yelling, “I use to own that boat!” However the man driving it was utterly confused and seemed to just ignore us. After that ordeal we peered into Shallow Bay and noticed there was one mooring buoy left! I took the wheel again as Dad went to the front of the boat to hook us up. Just as we pulled into the bay there was an astonishing sunset. I grew up disliking them however not for the sunset itself, but Mom would always try to take our picture with the sunset in the background. It felt like an eternity standing there and the pictures would always come out bad. All my brother and I wanted to do was leap in the dingy and go to shore and explore with the dog! However it was getting dark, so we took the dog to shore for him to do his business, when we noticed something really cool in the water.
As we got back in the dingy it was pitch black with only the stars above us. As we started our engine and headed back, we noticed the ocean started glowing green! We had no idea what this stuff was and whenever the water was stirred up, it would glow this greenish blue color! We came back yelling telling our parents this amazing discovery! They laughed and told us it was only bioluminescence. We stayed up late on the deck throwing whatever we could find in the water to make it glow until Mom finally yelled it was time for bed. I could hardly sleep knowing the next day would be full of adventure.
I’ve always slept like a rock on our boat. The waves would rock you to sleep and I wouldn’t wake up until my parents were already making breakfast. We all got up and ate quickly because we wanted to get to shore and explore the island. We all loaded into the dingy and it was always a fight between my brother and I on who was going to drive thirty seconds to shore. Eventually we made it and the adventure began. We were going to hike on the north side to Ewing Cove. On the way we came across many campers still asleep, until our dog woke them up. He would run into their tents and lick their faces and they would always wake up upset and confused. We tried to grab the dog and slip away before they got up. Our hikes would be full of quotes like “are we there yet” and end with “I’m hungry” by both my brother and I. We seemed to complain a lot on the hikes, but in reality we loved to explore. This was because we would always reach an awesome place like Ewing Cove.
We got to Ewing Cove and on this particular day there was an extremely low tide. In the cove are a tiny group of islands called the Cluster Islands. Today you could walk to one because the tide was so low. My brother raced to it and reached it first and because he did this, he claimed he got the privilege to name it. He called it Marky Island and we’ve called it that ever since. Low tide was always really fun because we would flip over rocks that were normally under water and search for crabs and other sea-life. My brother and I would collect as many crabs as we could and put them in a castle we made out of other rocks. However, this never seemed to work because they would just crawl under the rocks we built the castle with. We would also find starfish all over the rocks and my mom would spend hours taking pictures of them. We would spend hours on the beach playing games and making our own personal discoveries along the shore.
We hiked back to Shallow Bay about mid-afternoon and as soon as we reached the boat, my brother and I were packing our fishing gear. We went just outside the bay and around the corner to fish off the reef. Today the current wasn’t very strong and our parents could still see us from within the bay. We dropped a line in about forty feet of water and were catching small rockfish all afternoon. I didn’t have any hardcore gear since we were only catching small fish, but I really wish I did this time. I was jigging up and down off the bottom and suddenly the whole pole began to bend as if it was about to snap! My first reaction was I snagged the bottom, but it began to tug and pull the boat against the current! I was in shock at first and didn’t know what to do, than a jolt of excitement hit me! I fought this fish for thirty minutes before I could see it and I had no idea what it could possibly be. My brother and I were screaming and the other boaters were watching us cheering as we reeled in this monster. As the fish began to surface we had no idea what to do. We had a five-foot pissed off lingcod next to our inflatable dingy without a net or anything to get it in the boat. It was nearly as long as our tiny boat and we were clueless on what to do. The entire cove was going wild thinking we caught the monster, but it got away. It was alongside the boat for a few seconds, then used all of its might to shoot back down and snapped my line. With the tiny fishing pole I had, I’m surprised I even got it to the surface! We were so disappointed, and drove back to the boat in sadness. I had no proof on the giant lingcod we almost caught, and as I ate dinner all I could think about was I could be eating fish tonight.
As the evening drew near, all my brother and I could think about was the bioluminescence we encountered the night before. We came up with a couple more ideas to have fun with it tonight. For starters we realized the toilet on our boat pumps saltwater through it from the ocean. In the dark we pumped the toilet and everything would glow! It looked like someone’s radioactive pee was swirling around the bowl! We also begged Dad to let us take the dingy out at night because the outboard motor would probably leave a long glowing streak behind us. He finally let us and we were right! We were flying around the bay lighting up the water until one of the other boaters yelled at us for causing a ruckus while he was trying to sleep. We snickered and drove back to our boat thinking that was enough for one night. We were so tired and climbed in bed and passed out before we could even say goodnight.
Waking up the next morning was just like the last. Mom made a killer breakfast and we were ready to tackle the day. We took our time leaving because we had to wait for high tide to come to pass through the shallow entrance. It was a calm sunny day, so there was no sailing and we had to motor all the way home. The ride back to Anacortes wasn’t very eventful, but I remember it very clearly. I remember going to the bow of the boat by myself for nearly the whole ride home. I looked at the islands all around me; the birds passing by, the great blue ocean, and just said to myself, “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world.”
I could talk all day about the adventures I’ve had on Sucia Island. Each time we go there is a new experience and it never gets old. I’ve been to nearly every island in the San Juan’s a dozen times and not many places can compete with Sucia. From the beautiful island covered with wildlife to the greatest sunsets you’ll ever see, Sucia is one of the best places to visit in the amazing island chain I call home.
Written by: Peter Luciano – San Juan Island Kid – Skilled Seaman!
Boating Tips From the Island Kid!
- Before you set sail, always check the weather and tides. Taking advantage of the currents will get you to your destination much quicker.
- On the south side of Sucia’s Fox Cove there is another great beach to play on.
- Best fishing spots around Sucia:
- Off Lawson Bluff just around the corner of Shallow Bay
- Off the southeast points of the Finger Islands outside Echo Bay.
- As you pull into Echo Bay, there will usually be dozens of sea lions on the southeast points of the finger islands. Make barking noises and they’ll bark back!
- There are eight campgrounds on Sucia. The two popular ones are between Shallow and Echo Bay then between Fossil Bay and Fox Cove.
- Hike to the west side of the island to witness a great sunset!
- Boaters and campers tend to gather on the beaches of Echo Bay at night and mingle around a fire. Join in and exchange stories!
- On a warm day you’ll notices the water temperature is somewhat warm in the coves and many people will be swimming!
- You’ll notice giant banana slugs everywhere on the island, watch where you step!
HAPPY BOATING IN THE PACIFIC NW!
Stay Tuned for More from the Island Kid……
