Broughtons or Bust: The Short Cut

Swinomish Channel

We departed Coupeville late morning on May 20^th, rounding Strawberry Point on Whidbey Island and headed north for the Swinomish Channel. The Swinomish is a partly natural channel and partly dredged channel eleven miles long that connects Skagit Bay to the south and Padilla Bay to the north.

Rainbow Bridge and La Conner

This protected channel is used by pleasure boats as a shortcut to Anacortes and the San Juan Islands. To maintain navigable depths through these mud flats, the channel must be dredged every three years.

Although not exposed like the open sea, it can still be rather unnerving since the channel is very narrow, especially when meeting traffic from the other direction! Boaters must pay close attention to the channel markers and range markers, staying within the boundaries and be mindful of wind and current that can sweep a boat off course.

Nearing Anacortes and Saddlebag Island

Completed in 1937, the Army Corps of Engineers used dredging and diking to create this navigable channel. A sharp bend around a high outcropping must be initiated just before reaching Rainbow Bridge and the adorable village of La Conner located on the east side of the channel; the Swinomish Indian Reservation lies to the west. The channel route is very scenic with lots of Eagles, Herons, and other wildlife; Java kept peering through the hawse to survey the scene. We soon reached the northern end of the channel, passing under the SR20 Bridge and through the last of the mud flats approaching Anacortes, our old familiar cruising grounds and jumping-off point for the San Juan Islands.

Anchorage at Saddlebag Island

We decided to spend the first night at anchor rather than at the marina so we motored to nearby Saddlebag Island and dropped the hook. It was time to get out the kayaks for a first of the season.