We continue past forbidding 160 foot high forested bluffs with steep cliffs and no beaches, then on past Lawson Bluff. In less than 2.5 miles from Echo Bay, we've arrived at Jo's favorite spot on Sucia, crabshell-shaped Shallow Bay.
We slip between the two daybeacons and we're in this marvelous west-facing bay. The sunsets are spectacular out across Boundary Pass. Swimming is warm—comparatively—and hiking and beachcombing are great. This is a good place to gunkhole in the skiff, sail the dinghy.
Eight mooring buoys are in Shallow Bay, most of them in reasonably deep water, although occasionally those nearest the shore may seem a bit shallow, especially when you can look down and see the bottom. Check the fathometer before tying to one, especially on low or minus tides.
Shallow Bay is amazing. It may have the best protection of any of the bays in the Sucia group, and is exposed only from southwest to northwest, which is not the prevailing wind direction. Because of the tight entrance, there's little fetch for waves. Anchoring is possible in just about any part of the bay.
Shallow Bay has three easy beach accesses. One is near China Rock (Dragon Head) where there are camping areas, picnic shelters, water, restrooms and trails. As far as we're concerned, this delightful sandy beach is for kids to play and swim.
A second access is the gravelly cove at the Echo-Shallow bays' isthmus. At low tide it's possible to walk between these two beaches along sculptured sandstone shores, past China Rock.
The third access is at the south side, where ghostly, silvered, dead trees stand beyond a marsh. At first glance, it looks like an inland moorage with hundreds of white masts. The marsh is a favorite with amateur biologists. Two campsites are here and trails lead to other parts of the island.
Enormous China Rock looms against the northeastern shore, an eroded sandstone giant. Shadows engulf the huge rock as it spreads back into the woods. A dragon-like sandstone sculpture guards the rock as it might the entrance of an ancient Chinese temple. One theory for the name is that smuggled Asian laborers were hidden in the holes in the rock to escape detection from the customs and immigration authorities in the mid-1800s.
Fox Cove is south of Shallow Bay and its two sides are steep cliffs over 100 feet high. The head of the cove is a sandy and muddy beach. The tide runs far out, but despite empty clam shells we didn't find any clams when we dug. Four mooring buoys are well offshore, and shallow draft boats can anchor inside the buoys, but skippers should keep an eye on low tides and the depth sounder.
We gunkholed about in Fox Cove in our skiff, watching nearby seals swimming and splashing loudly. Perplexed, we first thought it might be a way to get attention, perhaps a mating ritual. Our commercial fishing friends suggested the thrashing seals might be using their basic instinct for herding fish into their lairs for food. Either way, it's noisy and interesting to watch.
The south head of the cove is the same grassy isthmus which bounds the north side of Fossil Bay, formed by sediment left from the receding glacier, similar to the isthmus between Echo and Shallow bays.
Little Sucia Island is the west boundary of Fox Cove. It is beautiful, and wooded, isolated and primitive, with driftwood covered shores, and no man-made trails. It is a wildlife refuge with eagles and no public access from January 1 to August 15 of each year. When allowed to visit the island, there are good beaches to land a small boat. Camping or fires are not allowed.
Between Sucia and Little Sucia is a navigable 100 yard wide pass, 2 fathoms deep at low tide.
Charted shoals and kelp extend from both sides of the pass. Except at slack water, currents run through the pass at a fairly good rate. A rocky shoal extends about 500 yards off the west shore of Little Sucia and occasionally traps boaters who cut too close.
Continuing around the island, we can either go through the pass from Fox Cove or around the west end of Little Sucia. We cruise along Ev Henry Finger, passing the high bluffs at the southwest end, then tuck back into Fossil Bay.
It's a beautiful hike out to Ev Henry Finger to the memorial for the man who was the driving force in making Sucia accessible to the public. The trail varies in degrees of difficulty, but if we made it, anyone can. Just watch your footing. Dramatic views of Orcas Island and sometimes of surf crashing on rocks below are rewards for the hike.
We've now completed our the circumnavigation of delightful Sucia. We consider all of the bays around Sucia as wonderful gunkholes and good anchorages (being aware of tides, currents and depths) and encourage mariners to discover their own favorite spots.
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