Anchoring Woes and Paying it Forward

    How not to anchor!    

  My regular anchoring hole at Fisherman Bay is off to the side at the second turn of the entrance channel. I like to anchor there because it is a short dinghy run out to the public beach access for Lopez Village and is in a semi-wind shadow due to the small bluff on shore.      

    I am truly embarrassed to tell my part in this mini-story because I know better and still did everything wrong.

 We arrived late in the afternoon after exploring Watmough Bay and the southern tip of Lopez.

 It was close to low tide and the depth sounder where I lowered the anchor was reading eight feet. I let out all my chain rode (30') and cleated off in the first foot or two of nylon. Then I momentarily slipped Kraken into reverse for a few seconds until she began to pull some. The bow swung around and I am sure the anchor set because we came to an abrupt stop. We settled in, cooked stir-fry for dinner and watched movies. 

     During the night the tide came in and was back out in the morning.

 We took the dinghy to the village. It was a minus tide and we had a terrible time pulling/dragging

 the Livingston up over all the newly exposed slippery seaweed but we got it all the way to the driftwood and tied her to a big rock. We had a late lunch and stayed in Lopez village longer than planned. When we arrived back at the dinghy, water was lapping at the driftwood and she was half floating but still tied to the rock. 

     There was no struggle this time we simply shoved off and headed for Kraken except Kraken was not where I left her. Before panic could set in I spotted her several hundred feet further into Fisherman Bay, neatly tied to an old wood float. As we dinghied the last few feet I connected all the dots and realized how lucky I was. I had printed the week's tide tables, but never looked at them. If I had, I would have known there were king tides and minus tides all that week. I would have known there was nearly a fourteen-foot tide range that day. kraken had simply floated her anchor and away she went. 

     After getting everything shipshape, I cast off from our new temporary home and motored over to a lady on a nearby anchored boat and asked if she had caught Kraken. She said yes she had. I thanked her profusely, and as I did, I thought to myself,  was I just dumb and lucky, or was I  spending credits I had paid forward?

Click below to see a satellite view of Fisherman Bay Spit Preserve

Did you know you can land your Dinghy at Lopez Village?

    How do you get to shore at Lopez Village? 

What you need to know is that there is a short stretch of public beach directly opposite the village.  And, there is a public stairway running from the beach to the village.

That's the good part, the bad part is that anchoring the mother ship directly offshore subjects you to all the wake action of boats going to and from Fisherman Bay.

The solution is to anchor inside Fisherman Bay or take a slip at one of the marinas and run back outside in the dinghy.

 The property on each side of this beach is private, but the stairs are public. There is one other access place that I will locate in a minute. What this means is that you may anchor your boat and then come ashore by dinghy right in the middle of Lopez Village. You won't have to walk from one of the resorts, almost a mile away in Fisherman Bay.

 

 The beach beyond this stairway in the background is private, but you may land your dinghy here and find yourself in the center of Lopez Village. It's only a hundred feet to the restrooms and free showers. The grocery store is a five-minute walk.

This is a Google images snapshot of popular Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island. The red dot is located where the public stairs and beach are located. 

You don't need to walk over a mile from Fisherman Bay to get groceries.

The village is adjacent to the stairs, so you can get ice cream and fudge with minimal effort. The grocery store is about a one-block walk. Btw, only fifty yards from the stairs is the public restroom with free hot showers. Suggested donation is $2, the water is really hot, and there is no timer that shuts off in the middle of your rinse, now how welcome is that?

If you have a navigation chart, you will find the stairs are almost directly opposite the red dolphin nav. aid in marking the submerged spit at the bay entrance. (This means you will drive your boat within a couple of hundred feet of the stairs, you can't miss them.)

The other beach access is south of the red dot (toward Fisherman Bay), about 1-2 blocks, it's a low-bank gravel parking lot with about fifty feet of frontage. There are no signs. The stretch between the two accesses is not a public beach. Be sure to drag your dinghy all the way up and tie it to the stairs.  At the highest tides, the beach is pretty much gone. 

Click below for a satellite view of  the Lopez Village beach access stairway