Word of mouth is a good thing, right? A fellow sailor told us of a pretty anchorage between Double Island and Orcas Island, so we planned our first visit. The nautical chart aboard our sailboat shows two adjacent islands connecting at low tide. Locals refer to them as Big Double Island and Little Double Island (aka Alegria Island). Sailing north into West Sound at the eastern end of Wasp Passage, we skirted the west shore and dropped anchor south of the shallow pass between the Double Island group and Orcas Island. Pretty anchorage, yes, but scant protection if a strong south wind should blow and shove us onto a lee shore. Soon wakes from ferry and boat traffic transiting Wasp Passage rolled us from side to side, confirming our suspicions why we had the anchorage almost to ourselves.

S/V Kelpie – Double Island (left) and Orcas Island (right)

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