We plan some annual cruises such as the one-day "Ice Cream" cruise to Coupeville where we invite members and friends that don't have a boat. In 2012 we only had 3 boats but had a good time.

We also have a one-week long State Parks cruise led by Doug Bishop. For those with the time, this is a great Fall cruise when the children are back in school and the parks have plenty of vacancies.

On July 10, 2009, three DPSPS vessels departed on an eight day cruise mostly staying in state and DNR parks. The vessels included Nellie with Bob and Karen Nelson, Saratoga Sue, (SS), with Steppe and Mary Williford and Tug’n Together, (TT), with Doug Bishop, the cruise leader.  

After cruising through Deception Pass at slack and across the strait, we anchored on the south side of Spencer Spit on Lopez Island for our first night. The next morning, we departed and cruised to Echo Bay in the Sucia Islands. Because it was Saturday, all moorings were taken, so we anchored out. It was a windy night there and I’m proud to say that all of our anchors held us in place, but this was not the case for others there.

Sunday, we cruised to Prevost Harbor at Steward Island where Nellie tried out the rope docking system there while SS and TT stayed on the moorings, this time for two nights. While there, we took a picnic hike to the Turn Point lighthouse and got to see the new museum and gift shop. The care keeper talked to us for a long time about a lot of things and we enjoyed lunch on one of the new picnic tables.

On Tuesday, Saratoga Sue took off north on a planned trip deep into Canada and Nellie and TT continued on our cruise. As we past Jones Island, our next destination, we found the bay too crowed to stay, so we cruised on to Blind Bay at Shaw Island. Neither of us had been there before, Nellie took up a mooring and TT anchored in the SW end of the bay. We went to shore at the dock by the ferry dock and found a nice funky store on shore. We were told it was fine to go walking around and it was suggested we go to Indian cove on the south side of Shaw to the finest sand beach in the San Juan’s. I still do not understand why only this beach has the true sand in all of the islands. It was a great hike.

After five days of not being tied to a dock, we decided to head to Blakely Island for a night stay, water and battery charging. We departed Blind Bay in fog and instrument cruised most of the way to Blakely. After we arrived, we cruise over to Olga for lunch. The next day, we cruised to Pelican Beach on Cypress Island and got onto some moorings there. Bob and I took the hike up to Eagle Bluff where we successfully summated to 800 foot peak. The view was well worth the effort. For the final night, we picked up moorings in scenic Eagle Harbor on Cypress Island.

Submitted by ASEO 1/Lt Doug Bishop, AP