Eagle Harbor, A Popular Spot On Cypress Island – San Juan Islands

We Picked Cypress Island as Our First Stop in the San Juan Islands –

Jim and I are ready to begin our summer’s cruising adventure in the Pacific Northwest, we left Anacortes after three days of launching, provisioning, and organizing. On our first day out, we pointed Kismet’s bow toward Cypress Island, in the San Juan Islands. We have cruised the San Juan’s many times over the years, in three different boats. We have many favorite anchorages and marinas to revisit. However, as you have probably read many times on our blog; we like to mix the old favorites with new spots, often recommended by boaters we talk to while out cruising. These cruisers know where all the excellent places are.

While in Anacortes, we talked to a couple docked next to us and they shared several of their favorite spots. On their recommendation, we picked Eagle Harbor, on Cypress Island, as our first stop in the San Juan Islands. It was an excellent recommendation.

What is our criteria for a pleasant location to spend a few days?

There are many Washington State Marine Parks in the San Juan Islands. Many have room for several boats, small docks, mooring balls, hiking trails, diverse landscapes, no, or low-cost, moorage, and rustic campsites. Entire families come in small boats along with gear to camp onshore at night. A few islands even have water available to cart back to your boat, if you have suitable containers. On our last trip, we added three 5-gallon freshwater jugs to our onboard equipment. During this trip, we have been loving the new-to-us parks we visited that provide a spigot to refill our freshwater reservoir. While in salt water, it can make the difference between having a shower on the boat that day or not. I would have to say that a combination of those elements is very attractive to us.

Sometimes we are very content to just anchor offshore and watch the surrounding activity. However, when we can have a dock to tie to (especially in rough weather) with the ability to get off and on our boat easily whenever we want to hike and see wildlife, that is awesome.

Cypress Island is located roughly eight miles from Anacortes. Eagle Harbor did not have a dock or fresh water available for boaters. However, it was a beautiful spot, with a view of Mt. Baker. It has a rocky beach to land your dinghy on and hiking trails through dense woods either along the shoreline or up the hill to several small island lakes. We caught a mooring ball there and stayed for three days.

We beached our dinghy on the rocky beach so we could take a hike along the harbor and up the hill to Reed Lake, a small island lake.

So many Foxgloves (Digitalis) brighten our hikes through the woods.

Most of our hikes on these islands are on a well-traveled path through lush, dense foliage, and massive moss-covered gnarly trees.

On our first night out on the boat, we celebrated our 2020 cruise in the Pacific Northwest, with champagne, hors d’oeuvres, and a game of Mah Jongg.