Anchoring Woes and Paying it Forward

 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?

       Right along the bank in the center of the Village by the fudge shop 

is a short stretch of public beach.

(update 2024, the fudge shop is gone) 

 The property on each side of this beach is private, but the stairs are public  There are two little access places 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 Lopez Village. You wont have to walk from one of the resorts almost a mile away in Fisherman Bay.

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 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. Its only a hundred feet to the restrooms and free showers. The grocery store is five minutes.

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 a donations-only hot and cold shower. Suggested donation is $2, the water is really hot, and there is no timer, now how welcome and cool is that?

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

The other beach access is south of the red dot (toward Fisherman Bay) about 1-2 blocks, its a low bank gravel parking lot with about fifty feet of frontage there are no signs. The stretch between the two accesses is not 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