Anchoring at Roche Harbor for the Fourth of July

     How do you have a drama free 4th of July cruise in the San Juan Islands?    

 All great cruises have things in common.

• planning and preparation
• safety, comfort, and ambience
• simple itineraries and activities
• relaxing pace with friends and family

     Our plan was to leave La Conner the morning of the fourth, and then stop for kayaking in Deception Pass. 

Next, walk around Friday Harbor, grab some ice cream and make it to Roche about five o'clock.

Arriving at Roche we were not shocked or surprised that the place was really crowded. 

 Being a believer that you can always find room for one more boat, we took a quick tour of the rafting lines and decided to find a place to squeeze in out in the bay. After anchoring and checking out our swing and the swing of those around us I upped anchor and chose another nearby spot, this time very close to shore, but also with a better view. I set two hooks side by side to keep us off the near by rocks should the wind come up. One anchor would have been fine but I slept better for the extra five minutes' work.
The fireworks, as promised were very well done, the wind conveniently spun us around so that our cockpit faced the show and the smoke blew away from us.   All in all no complaints.

This pic although lacking something, does convey it was sunset.

Our dinghy is the odd one with the cool wood seat and centerboard trunk.

Roche sculpture along foot path by county dock

More sculpture

No rust, must be stainless steel.

Seeing a price tag with a sculpture brings out the art critic and connoisseur; feel free to purchase.

We finished the cruise with a stop over and hike at Stuart followed by a hot dog roast and  windy night anchored at Jones. 

The next day we ran over to hike and sail Sucia where we spent a  rather noisy evening at the dock on Fossil Bay.

 The fourth day, after a quick hike on Matia, and a drive by of the salmon pens at Deepwater Bay (Cypress), we were back at our slip in La Conner.

This was a pleasant, low key enjoyable little trip of about 110 miles.
(I really like my new laptop gps)  read about laptop gps here
BTW, the news Wed. night (three days after arriving back home) was that one of the 85 foot for sale yachts we were all ogling on the fourth burned and sunk at the dock at Roche.  It's really shocking (a little scary too) to see news pictures of a yacht you had just admired, and now sunk with just its charred stern above water next to the dock.

Click below to see a satellite view of Roche Harbor