Sea Kayaking from Illahee State Park to Blakely Rocks (Sun, 10-6-2013), 15 miles roundtrip. Time spent 1000-1440
It was the first beautiful weekend (Fri, Sat, & Sun) in 4 weeks. We had a very nice and warm season July through early October for the outdoor activities. On the weekend of 14 Oct, the weather turned rainy in the low land and snowy in the mountains as low as 4000 ft elevation. It appeared that nice and cool weather of the autumn in Pacific Northwest was skipped this year. The September average rainfall in the Bremerton area was less than 2 inches but it rained over 6 inches in the low land in September. It was certainly a lot rainier and colder than before.
I was hoping for a nice dayhike on Sunday but decided to paddle instead. I have been spending the Saturdays with my family: picking mushrooms with my wife, taking care of our daughter, going grocery shopping with my wife, walking with my wife, etc. I don't mind doing those at all since I had a fantastic dayhiking summer season this year.
The event was a last minute trip that Paul Dutky and I discussed. Bob, Bruce, and Al joined us. Bob and I carpooled. We paddled from the Illahee State Park, Bremerton. Bruce joined us about half way (3.6 miles from the Park) paddling from xxxx, Bainbridge Island. We crossed the channels 3 times. As we started from the Park, we crossed over to South of the Point White Dock, Bainbridge Island, crossed (Bremerton Ferry Lane) to the Manchester Island, then crossed (Bremerton Ferry Lane) back to the Ford Ward park, Bainbridge Island. Wind was 10-15 knots on the face. Water was choppy with very little white caps going around the Bainbridge Island to the Blakely Rocks. It was probably close to class 3. We took a lunch break at the Blakely Rocks enjoying the 360 views of the Blakely Harbor to the SW, Bainbridge Island Ferry to the North, and Seattle to the East in the distance. Surprisingly, after the tide turned at 1230pm, wind died down and water was a lot calmer. It took was 1 hr 40 minutes to paddle back with non-stop !
In overall, it was nice to paddle to the Blakely Rocks for the first time on a very nice day.
Tide info for Brownsville, Bremerton, & Seattle Area: High Tide 0642am 11.5 ft, Low 1230pm 4.2 ft, High 0610pm 11.7 ft. Sunrise 0716am. Sunset 0638pm.
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