One of our most favorite big ass weekend paddling trips that we try to sneak in at least once a year is a 60 mile/ 100km round trip push from Anacortes to tiny Patos island.
At the very northern most tip of the San Juan archipelago and the end of the USA lies the ultimate remote rugged Salish Seas island of all to retreat upon.
And so with the stars, moon, tides and weather goddesses aligning in rare harmony for these notoriously disharmonious seas, we eagerly set out on one of the nicest weekends of the summer.
Leaving Anacortes on a Friday evening with strong full moon flood tides to ride we easily made it from mid Guemes Channel to the north end of Cypress island in under two hours.
Paddling 8 miles the first night we rendezvous at Pelican Beach to camp with a fellow pirate paddling friend who has launched from Bellingham.
Rising early Saturday morning *aka 4am!* to catch the last couple of hours of helpful strong flood currents to travel north,
our efforts are greatly rewarded....
Spoiled with flat calm pre-dawn seas, vibrant sunrise colors and wildlife sightings such as this young buck sleeping on a tiny ledge of a beach on Orcas island.
In near perfect conditions we arrived 20 miles later at Patos island still in the early morning, allowing plenty of time for beach naps and much to our excitement....
...lighthouse tours!
*Having visited this tiny gem of an isle many times and read all of the rich local history books including the colorful tales in The Light on the Island
going up to the top of the light tower was an extra special treat!
Sunday morning we enjoyed a 28 mile downwind paddle home using strong ebb currents to give us a helpful boost while navigating the Strait of Georgia and into Bellingham Channel.
Launched Sat morning from Guemes Channel into absolutely dead calm waters. No wind in the morning until about 20 miles in, when just after leaving the shorelines of Orcas island while crossing over to Sucia, we were hit by a rapidly-approaching-from-the-north dark wall of wind across the channel as the marine forecast predicting NW 10-20 finally caught up to us, with gusts escalating into blasts as strong as 20-30+mph... 
Even at this muscle-burning stage of the days long paddle, we were both still thinking "It's all good" as we knew we were just a few miles from our final destination. Then as we began rounding the NW side of Sucia and caught sight of the Massive Solid White Wall of Waves just ahead, reality hit. So we zigged & zagged as best we could through a tiny island passageway as we attempted to avoid 'the wall', but still ended up having to paddle through 6 foot swells, w/ 4- 6 ft breaking waves -a surprise rude awakening thanks to a tide rip off a reef on Sucia combined w/ the strong, funneling headwinds creating insane wave walls to get past in the final stretch, the last 2 miles from Sucia to Patos... 
Once on Patos, we happily we set up camp, went for a nice walk, made dinner (all while still dizzy from the wave beatings), hiked back out to watch the sunset at the lighthouse, saw some incredible Canadian Coast Guard helicopter action and trekked back to our tent in the dark, to go to bed by 8:30pm-only to be kept awake most the night by wicked gales blowin' throughout the night, crashing waves pounding so loud the ground shook each time they broke on shore, 100 yards from the tent... 
Rose early Sunday to much calmer seas (thank goodness!), with the ebbing currents, we thoroughly enjoyed near perfect conditions to surf and downwind sail most of the way home on Sunday! Passed by lots of up close wildlife encounters which I didn't capture with the cameras- including a huge stella sea lion, baby seals & numerous pairs & pods of porpoises...
