Blake Island Circumnavigation Swim


Here's a swim I've been wanting to do for so long. Blake Island is a state park, home to Tillacum Village cultural center (and a lot of raccoons and delicious butter clams). It is just one mile to the north of Vashon and I can see a peekaboo of it from my bedroom window.

Islander Lise Ellner had done the swim previously and we lucked out that swimmer Mary Robinson and her husband Chuck share a boat that could taxi us all over. We also had David kayaking (he came across on it through the ferry lanes, wow!), and Dana on a zodiac, so we were in great care with crew for just a 4.25 mile swim.

On the way there we were greeted by Dall's porpoises, and the sun became occluded by clouds, but tides were fairly kind to us and after the first mile the seven of us were very spread out on our clockwise course (back to just outside the marina on the spit). I really do not enjoy swimming open water alone; this is after years of doing it, too. Mary, Lise and Rebecca have no problem going solo, but it's not my jam! So on this voyage, I was happy to have David and Dana popping past to check on lonesome me! Sarah is impossibly fast to track with, but lord knows I tried.
Swimmers top: Martha, Amy, Sarah, Rebecca, Lise; bottom row me and Mary.

Dana - thank you for Zodiac spot checks!

Kelp forest in Colvos Passage off Blake Island. Photo by David.

David, trusty kayak support!
Chuck, our captain of the day!

Me and Lisa, chilling out

A lovely circumnavigation adventure swim.


Nearly to Blake here.

Start and end point; you can see we cut the coast a little when we started.

And we're off!

Chuck, Amy and Mary. 

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