Reply To: San Juan islands

#20586
Nick Heath

Randy’s comments are great, Sarka. My experience is old, mostly gained from sailing, power boating or cycling here, rather than paddling.  My thoughts are that this area is lovely, but one must be always be well aware of strong currents and it is worth consulting a current atlas for their strength/direction. Lots of paddlers have come unstuck here.

I’ve stayed at several of the campsites and they are good, but often busy.  Some have overflow areas if you are not pre-booked. There are lots recreational boaters in all types of craft. In addition there are 2 ‘marine highways’ for the heavy transports. Shore facilities and ferries are mostly excellent. In some areas development (cottages, subdivisions, resorts, marinas) has run amok and there is generally more regulation about where a paddler can stop and what one can do, but the State Parks are well-managed, on the whole. Crossing the land border is simpler and likely faster than using a marine border crossing, but I haven’t used either type since the pandemic started.