Boat Access only camping

[mainer78]

Anyone know of some really cool places that are boat in only camping areas?  I would love to take the kids and the wife for a few nights on the sound or the canal, and tent on shore, cook crab, clams, oysters, and salmon....

[lostbackpacker]

Tons of places up the san juan islands.  some access is kayak only

[daddysprad]

It's along ways for you, but Priest Lake Idaho is a great location.

[arees]

I just got back from nine days sailing and camping in the San Juans with my father, brother and son.  We did it with a 19ft sailboat and camped on the islands each night.  It was a great time.

We put in at Washington Park which is past the ferry terminal at Anacortes.  There is pay parking for trailers there while you are out.  We put in on a Sunday and there were only two other long term parking spots left.  If you use that park you might want to make plans to arrive when there is plenty of trailer parking.  I'm not sure when that would be, but there were enough for us.

Because we were late setting out we just went over to James Island the first night.  It worked out because my son is James and we had fun making up stories about his island.  There is a dock on the West side, but it was full by the time we got there.  There are mooring buoys on the East side.  Because of our small boat we could just beach it with an off shore anchor and pulley system to haul it off the beach for the night.  Dock space, mooring buoys and camping spots are all $12 per night for however many you use.

There was no water on the island and fires can only use driftwood.  There were toilets.

Next we sailed to Jones Island.  Again the dock was full so we just used the beach.  There were mooring buoys but our 19 foot boat doesn't have a dingy.  Jones Island has water and composting toilets.  There are trails to hike on the island.  We sailed over to West Sound on Orcas Island for a day to drop a crab pot and visit Skull Island in Massacre Bay.  With a nine year old boy it is hard to pass up a real Skull Island.  The crabbing was good.  Fishing is more problematic from a sailboat.  We did keep running into red tide warnings.

We did find two guys adrift in a broken down motor boat that we towed into Jones.  Other people there had the tools to get their motor working again.

The end of the trip was spent on Sucia Island.  It is a bigger island with more people camping there, more bays and more boats.  We were always able to get dock space there.  Again there was water and toilets on the island.  Crabbing was good there as well.  There was a burn ban on Sucia due to lack of rain.

While the islands are popular we never felt crowded.  There were plenty of camping spots and sufficient separation that you weren't sitting around someone else's campfire.

Each of the islands had camp sites dedicated to non-motorized boats of you go that way.  There were groups of kayakers at each of the islands.  Supplies are available on the populated islands if you forget something so you are not really stuck on a deserted island in the middle of no where.

There are other camping areas around the islands as well, but with only nine days we couldn't see them all.  I would certainly recommend the trip.

[gaddy]

you just brought up some of my favorite memories from my youth. we used to hit the san juans. don't remember which island but we would anchor & use the dingy to get to shore. im sure its changed a lot & I would read the regs but way back when we would set pots in the am, fish, swim, watch orcas, comb beaches & in the eves we would cook salmon over an open fire with the crab boiling in a pot on the coals.
spuds in foil & what ever else we harvested all cooked on the fire. life cant be better than that.
if you can make it happen your kids will remember it their entire lives. if it would work out that I could do it again, I would.

[ICEMAN]

you just brought up some of my favorite memories from my youth. we used to hit the san juans. don't remember which island but we would anchor & use the dingy to get to shore. im sure its changed a lot & I would read the regs but way back when we would set pots in the am, fish, swim, watch orcas, comb beaches & in the eves we would cook salmon over an open fire with the crab boiling in a pot on the coals.
spuds in foil & what ever else we harvested all cooked on the fire. life cant be better than that.
if you can make it happen your kids will remember it their entire lives. if it would work out that I could do it again, I would.

No doubt. We used to do the Sucia's in our 27' bayliner w dingy. Even having to occasionally slip tie next to a third boat was even fun. Good people. Nothing more fun than runnning out in the dingy to pull up crab for dinner, hiking the islands, man...good times.

[huntnphool]

Turn Island just outside of Friday Harbor is nice, we have camped there a lot.

[ICEMAN]

Mainer, how about a trip to god's country? Check out heading up lake Chelan, camping at Prince Creek? Deep cold fresh water, Sawtooth wilderness breathing down your back? Definitely a gorgeous trip. Bring a big boat with an enclosed bow.

[erk444]

There is Hope Island state park in the south puget sound, and Blake Island state park that's just north of Vashon Island. Havent camped at either, but have spent some time on them. Some of the sites may be for human or wind powered boats though, so you'll have to check into that. Been wanting to take my daughter on a canoe camp out, and Hope Island looks good cause theres a launch pretty close to it and you don't have to cross a lot of water. Have fun, and post pics!

[mainer78]

Thanks for the tips.  Is there an online resourse i can check these places out.

[jackelope]

Thanks for the tips.  Is there an online resourse i can check these places out.

Google is your friend.

[seth30]

How big is your boat?  I know that hope island buoys are a little ways from shore and you may need a dingy to get ashore. 

[mainer78]

My boat is only 18' long, so i would use my anchor buddy to anchor up near shore.

[jdb]

Turn Island just outside of Friday Harbor is nice, we have camped there a lot.

phool I camped on turn once when I was about 15. Very cool

[huntnphool]

Turn Island just outside of Friday Harbor is nice, we have camped there a lot.

phool I camped on turn once when I was about 15. Very cool

I love that little island.