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A Light in the Distance
A Bright Beacon
Island Alight
A Guiding Light
by John Lund
Stuart Island’s historic lighthouse and tranquil state parks make it a favorite stopover for San Juan Islands and Gulf Island cruisers
Stuart Island’s historic lighthouse and tranquil state parks act as beacons for Northwest boaters tired of busy water
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I remember well my first visit to Stuart Island’s peaceful Reid Harbor. I had celebrated with the boisterous crowds at nearby Roche Harbor -- a memorable, if not slightly crazed, Fourth of July weekend. What I needed afterward was some peace and quiet.
Reid Harbor State Park and its neighbor, Prevost Harbor State Park, located just three and a half miles across Spieden Channel, proved to be the perfect place to slow down and regroup.
There are no commercial outlets of any kind on Stuart Island, which makes it the polar opposite of San Juan Island. Stuart Island, with its three parks and a few farms and homesteads set here and there, is completely rural.
The lack of commercial enterprise, however, doesn’t mean there isn’t lots to see and do. If your crew likes to walk, the island has miles of pathways to explore, and the five mile return hike to Turn Point Lighthouse is worth the moorage fee by itself. There’s also fishing, clam diggings, crabbing, diving, exploring by dinghy or just plain relaxing within the island’s sunny, well-protected harbors.
Stuart Island’s arrowhead shape points directly at the Canadian Gulf Islands, a scant three miles away. As the Lower 48’s most northwestern point, it’s the favored stopover for San Juan and Gulf Island cruisers traveling between Washington and British Columbia waters.
Reid Harbor
Within the two adjoining state parks (Reid Harbor, 44 acres; Prevost Harbor, 40 acres) there are floats, mooring buoys, campsites, picnic tables, cook stoves, drinking water, restrooms and a marine pumpout station. Both parks have beaches, allowing small boats to put ashore, and they are excellent destinations for trailerboaters who ride the Washington Ferry to Friday Harbor and cross San Juan Island to Roche Harbor launch ramp. Before crossing Spieden Channel, trailerboaters should spend a moment studying tide tables, as this is a tidal current area. All navigators will find NOAA Chart No. 18432 (Boundary Pass) useful.
Entering Reid Harbor, stay to the center of the channel, passing tiny Cemetery Island. Favor the west side of the entrance into the narrow harbor. Once in, you are snug for the night in one of the islands’ most protected harbors. Only continued east winds will ruffle the waters inside.
Even with 15 buoys, two floats where boats raft up and a dock on the north shore, Reid Harbor fills early in the day on weekends and holidays. Mud bottom at a consistent 30 feet gives lots of secure anchorage for late arrivals.
Prevost Harbor
North, across the long, narrow deck of land dividing Stuart’s two anchorages, lies Prevost Harbor. By boat, enter the harbor using only the western channel between Charles Point and Satellite Island, a private island owned by the Y.M.C.A. The eastern channel is strewn with rocks and should be attempted only in a dinghy or paddle craft. Take a fishing rod when exploring by dinghy as the harbor entrance offers good bottom fishing off Charles Point where the bottom drops off sharply.
Prevost’s six buoys and abundant anchorage space is well-protected in the lee of Satellite Island. Jutting out from shore, Prevost’s long dock and float will take a few small boats and dinghies while owners explore the island’s many trails. From the dock, a half-mile-long trail through madronas and evergreens leads you to the north end of Reid Harbor.
Stuart Island is one of my favorite spots for walking. I highly recommend that you go ashore and hike the five mile return trip to Turn Point Lighthouse, Stuart Island’s third state park.
Whether departing from Reid or Prevost, once you are on the trail high above the anchorage, you’ll discover picture-perfect views of fellow boaters below, enjoying the afternoon. I followed the bluff and then took another trail a half-mile to a turn-of-the-century, one-room schoolhouse where Stuart Island children and others from surrounding islands went for decades until 1961, when a school outing turned disastrous. All but one of the school’s children were drowned when a surprise storm capsized the boat.
The old school remained closed until 1977, when it was reopened during the construction of the new, modern school. Completed in 1981, the new single-room school has won several architectural awards for its unique design.
The trail continues west and then turns right to the lighthouse. A few steps past the turn to the left is a path leading to the island’s cemetery, which is a good place to study island history.
Continuing on this trail, you’ll meet another trail, which connects the island’s county dock with the Turn Point Lighthouse. Turn left at this trail. Also nearby are private pastures, rustic barns and a tiny airstrip that services the island.
Dropping down the hill to the lighthouse and its 67 acres of undeveloped park, you’ll catch glimpses of the straits beyond, and finally, stepping through the trees beside the light and the keeper’s house (now vacant due to automation), the incredible 300-degree view unfolds.
From Turn Point’s high rocky cliffs, all the islands you see to the north and west are Canadian. Try to time your visit here for brilliant summer sunsets, when that great flaming ball disappears behind the mountains of Vancouver Island. Remember to take a flashlight, though. I didn’t, and the last stumbling half-mile to the boat took me forever in the dark.
Once an Indian encampment, Turn Point was named for the right-angle turn ships make as they round from Haro Strait to Boundary Pass. One can only wonder at the number of freighters, barges, logbooms, tankers and other vessels that have passed this point since the light was first lit in 1893.
Turn Point Lighthouse gained some notoriety during the days of prohibition when lightkeeper Chris Waters spotted the 45 foot Canadian fishboat Beryl G drifting on the tide in the early morning of September 17, 1924. Investigating by motorboat, Waters and a friend found signs of a ferocious battle on board, complete with bullet holes and blood below and abovedecks.
British Columbia police determined the boat’s owners, William Gillis and his 17-year-old son, noted rumrunners, were killed for their cargo by Seattle hijackers who were eventually caught and hanged. Gillis and his son were the only rumrunners known to have been killed in Canadian waters during this early version of “free trade” between the United States and Canada.
The morning following my hike to Turn Point, the cry of the loon woke me early, and I enjoyed a cup of coffee in the cockpit as I watched the sun turn the horizon into a golden band. Neighbors from the buoy next door greeted me with a hearty “Good morning!” on their way past, jigging rods slung over the bow of their dinghy.
Despite the early hour, I decided to join them. It’s amazing what an undisturbed night’s sleep, an invigorating walk and natural surroundings can do for the psyche. Now fully refreshed, I was eager to get on with my day and thankful for this respite on peaceful Stuart Island.
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This article first appeared in the August 1, 1998 issue of Sea Magazine. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
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