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Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about 96 miles (83 nmi; 154 km) long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre of the Strait.
It was named in 1787 by the maritime fur trader Charles William Barkley, captain of Imperial Eagle, for Juan de Fuca, the Greek navigator who sailed in a Spanish expedition in 1592 to seek the fabled Strait of Anián. Barkley was the first recorded person to find the strait, unless Juan de Fuca's story was true.
Samuel Bawlf posited in 2003 that "Fuca's story was nothing more than a fabrication designed to extract money from the English government". The story would have been based on Francis Drake's 1579 exploration of the Northwest Passage at its western end. Drake would therefore have been more than likely the first European to ever sight the entry of the strait but would also have been the first to sail through when heading west after rounding Vancouver Island, sailing through the Strait of Georgia and sighting the entry to Puget Sound. Much of Bawlf's provocative thesis was based on the geographical information that started to leak following Drake's return to England and to show up in subsequent maps such as Ortelius's. Fuca's story would have originated from a pilot named Morera, part of Drake's expedition, who miraculously returned on his own before getting arrested by the Spanish.
While the U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System says John Meares named the strait in 1788, most sources say it was Barkley in 1787, for example: the BC Geographical Names Information System; Washington Secretary of State; Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery; and The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795. It is well established that Meares tried to take credit for much of Barkley's work. The strait was explored in detail between 1789 and 1791 by Manuel Quimper, José María Narváez, Juan Carrasco, Gonzalo López de Haro, and Francisco de Eliza.
The United States Geological Survey defines the Strait of Juan de Fuca as a channel. It extends east from the Pacific Ocean between Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, to Haro Strait, San Juan Channel, Rosario Strait, and Puget Sound. The Pacific Ocean boundary is formed by a line between Cape Flattery and Tatoosh Island, Washington, and Carmanah Point (Vancouver Island), British Columbia. Its northern boundary follows the shoreline of Vancouver Island from Carmanah Point to Gonzales Point, then follows a continuous line east to Seabird Point (Discovery Island), British Columbia, Cattle Point (San Juan Island), Washington, Iceberg Point (Lopez Island), Point Colville (Lopez Island), and then to Rosario Head (Fidalgo Island). The eastern boundary runs south from Rosario Head across Deception Pass to Whidbey Island, then along the western coast of Whidbey Island to Point Partridge, then across Admiralty Inlet to Point Wilson (Quimper Peninsula). The northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula forms the southern boundary of the strait. In the eastern entrance to the Strait, the Race Rocks Archipelago is in the high current zone halfway between Port Angeles, Washington, and Victoria, BC.
Like the rest of the Salish Sea and surrounding regions, the climate of the Strait is disputed, with the Köppen system classifying it as Mediterranean, but most regional climatologists preferring oceanic. While the climate is mostly oceanic in nature, the dry summers result in the Mediterranean classification in the Köppen system. Rainfall ranges from over 100 inches (250 cm) (temperate rainforest) conditions at the west end to as little as 16 inches (410 mm) at the east end, near Sequim.
Because it is exposed to the generally westerly winds and waves of the Pacific, seas and weather in Juan de Fuca Strait are, on average, rougher than in the more protected waters inland, thereby resulting in a number of small-craft advisories, gale warnings, and storm warnings.
An international vehicle ferry, the MV Coho, crosses the Strait from Port Angeles, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia, several times each day. It began operating in 1959, replacing an earlier ferry, and remains privately owned; the Coho carried 475,000 passengers and 130,000 vehicles in 2018. A passenger-only ferry on the same route, named the Victoria Express, operated from 1990 to 2011. Victoria is also the terminus of the Victoria Clipper, a passenger-only ferry from Seattle. Sidney, located northeast of Victoria, is served by a seasonal extension the Washington State Ferries system's route serving the San Juan Islands and Anacortes, Washington.
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Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about 96 miles (83 nmi; 154 km) long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre of the Strait.
It was named in 1787 by the maritime fur trader Charles William Barkley, captain of Imperial Eagle, for Juan de Fuca, the Greek navigator who sailed in a Spanish expedition in 1592 to seek the fabled Strait of Anián. Barkley was the first recorded person to find the strait, unless Juan de Fuca's story was true.
Samuel Bawlf posited in 2003 that "Fuca's story was nothing more than a fabrication designed to extract money from the English government". The story would have been based on Francis Drake's 1579 exploration of the Northwest Passage at its western end. Drake would therefore have been more than likely the first European to ever sight the entry of the strait but would also have been the first to sail through when heading west after rounding Vancouver Island, sailing through the Strait of Georgia and sighting the entry to Puget Sound. Much of Bawlf's provocative thesis was based on the geographical information that started to leak following Drake's return to England and to show up in subsequent maps such as Ortelius's. Fuca's story would have originated from a pilot named Morera, part of Drake's expedition, who miraculously returned on his own before getting arrested by the Spanish.
While the U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System says John Meares named the strait in 1788, most sources say it was Barkley in 1787, for example: the BC Geographical Names Information System; Washington Secretary of State; Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery; and The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795. It is well established that Meares tried to take credit for much of Barkley's work. The strait was explored in detail between 1789 and 1791 by Manuel Quimper, José María Narváez, Juan Carrasco, Gonzalo López de Haro, and Francisco de Eliza.
The United States Geological Survey defines the Strait of Juan de Fuca as a channel. It extends east from the Pacific Ocean between Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, to Haro Strait, San Juan Channel, Rosario Strait, and Puget Sound. The Pacific Ocean boundary is formed by a line between Cape Flattery and Tatoosh Island, Washington, and Carmanah Point (Vancouver Island), British Columbia. Its northern boundary follows the shoreline of Vancouver Island from Carmanah Point to Gonzales Point, then follows a continuous line east to Seabird Point (Discovery Island), British Columbia, Cattle Point (San Juan Island), Washington, Iceberg Point (Lopez Island), Point Colville (Lopez Island), and then to Rosario Head (Fidalgo Island). The eastern boundary runs south from Rosario Head across Deception Pass to Whidbey Island, then along the western coast of Whidbey Island to Point Partridge, then across Admiralty Inlet to Point Wilson (Quimper Peninsula). The northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula forms the southern boundary of the strait. In the eastern entrance to the Strait, the Race Rocks Archipelago is in the high current zone halfway between Port Angeles, Washington, and Victoria, BC.
Like the rest of the Salish Sea and surrounding regions, the climate of the Strait is disputed, with the Köppen system classifying it as Mediterranean, but most regional climatologists preferring oceanic. While the climate is mostly oceanic in nature, the dry summers result in the Mediterranean classification in the Köppen system. Rainfall ranges from over 100 inches (250 cm) (temperate rainforest) conditions at the west end to as little as 16 inches (410 mm) at the east end, near Sequim.
Because it is exposed to the generally westerly winds and waves of the Pacific, seas and weather in Juan de Fuca Strait are, on average, rougher than in the more protected waters inland, thereby resulting in a number of small-craft advisories, gale warnings, and storm warnings.
An international vehicle ferry, the MV Coho, crosses the Strait from Port Angeles, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia, several times each day. It began operating in 1959, replacing an earlier ferry, and remains privately owned; the Coho carried 475,000 passengers and 130,000 vehicles in 2018. A passenger-only ferry on the same route, named the Victoria Express, operated from 1990 to 2011. Victoria is also the terminus of the Victoria Clipper, a passenger-only ferry from Seattle. Sidney, located northeast of Victoria, is served by a seasonal extension the Washington State Ferries system's route serving the San Juan Islands and Anacortes, Washington.