A recent trip report:
Well we had a good time that’s for sure. Campground on the gravel bar was in good shape, and the flat spot we picked
for the tent was high enough that the “super high tide” in the middle of the night didn’t reach us. The bathrooms, although quite a walk up the trail, were in good clean order and sometime, between the evening of the 25th and late-morning of the 26th, even more of the trail had been well cleared of grass and what-not. All the trails at Andy’s Marine Park were quite well-kept and recently cleared.
for the tent was high enough that the “super high tide” in the middle of the night didn’t reach us. The bathrooms, although quite a walk up the trail, were in good clean order and sometime, between the evening of the 25th and late-morning of the 26th, even more of the trail had been well cleared of grass and what-not. All the trails at Andy’s Marine Park were quite well-kept and recently cleared. About the trip:
We set off from Zittel’s at about 12:50 PM on Sunday and worked our way across Nisqually Reach with a Northeast heading towards Balch’s Passage. As we neared the Northwest Corner of Anderson Island, any substantial wind died and we were left with the Hobie drives and electric power assist.
Once we rounded the northeastern side of Anderson island, past Yoman Point, the wind started to pick back up and was
even quite gusty at times. Although we wanted to enter Oro Bay to check out the Ocean City Ferry, the wind was HOWLING directly out of the bay, so it would have been quite the tacking ordeal to make our way in. We decided to just press on and round the southern tip of the island (it was quite lonely out on the waters at this point, approximately 5:30 in the evening).
even quite gusty at times. Although we wanted to enter Oro Bay to check out the Ocean City Ferry, the wind was HOWLING directly out of the bay, so it would have been quite the tacking ordeal to make our way in. We decided to just press on and round the southern tip of the island (it was quite lonely out on the waters at this point, approximately 5:30 in the evening). Heading up the west side of the island we made good time with being close hauled, only requiring a few tacks to pull away from the island. and ended up landing at approximately 7:00pm. We had a lovely evening with calm weather, and slept well after an exhausting day.
The next day, Monday, we took a lazy morning to wait out some of the scattered showers and used the time to walk back across the southern part of the island to see the Ocean City Ferry as viewable from the road. We then made our way back to camp only to discover the tide was almost near its lowest still.
Not wanting to wait 4 hours for it to come in, we ended up breaking down the boat into a “barely-carryable” hull and its quick-takeoff components, then met the rising tide at the moment we were fully loaded and reassembled. The sail back was excellent wind conditions and the upwind tacking was agreeable when needed. We had a memorable adventure and look forward to the next sail camping trip in the sound. We are excited to join WWTA and greatly appreciate the accessibility resources it protects for small watercraft looking for big adventure!