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Wednesday, August 15: Obstruction Pass, Rosario Strait and Bellingham

After a quiet night sheltered from the north wind, we were eager to be off on Wednesday. This was to be a long day, but little did we know that the 20-mile trip would become 27 miles!

We left Olga earlier than planned, and instead of taking the longer route through Peavine Pass, we followed a boat through Obstruction Pass. That put us into Rosario Strait farther north and earlier than planned.

The closer we got to Cypress Island, the stronger was the Rosario current. As we were swept down the strait, we turned toward Towhead Island and watched our speed drop to a knot...and much of that speed was sideways as we were ferried across the strait toward the rocky shore of Cypress Island. Still, we were making progress until JoJoma had motor problems.

We nearly made the head of the island a couple of times only to be flushed down the strait as JoJoma's motor faltered. Eventually, we decided to head away from Cypress Island, toward the eastern side of Orcas Island where the current was less strong. From there, we turned back toward the pass between Cypress and Towhead islands and eventually popped through into Bellingham Channel.

With sails up we enjoyed some spirited sailing as wind blasted down on us through the channel. As we passed the south end of Lummi Island, we reefed Whisper's sail to give us a more comfortable motion. Once in Bellingham Bay, we shook out the reef and sailed for a while, but as the wind slowly become lighter, we realized we wouldn't get to port until dark. We motorsailed the rest of the way to the marina where we tied up in visitor moorage for the night.

In an eight-hour passage we covered 26.9 nautical miles.

JoJoma pulled out and headed south down the highway as darkness fell. The next day, we had a slow morning as we cleaned up and pulled Whisper out of the water.

Wednesday photos