Misplaced Islands

As much as I enjoyed the March 3 article about the San Juan Islands (“Peaceful, Easy Wheelin’ ”), I was a bit surprised: The San Juans are not in Puget Sound. Puget Sound ends, for all matters nautical, around Port Townsend, Wash. The strait of Juan de Fuca is a northern boundary. The San Juans are bounded by Haro Strait to the west and Rosario Strait to the east and are perhaps best described as being at the southern end of the Strait of Georgia. As for the San Juans, we are moving back to them, Lopez in particular, after a four-year experiment in “Sufferin’ California.” I hope that San Juan story doesn’t encourage any more of you to head north.

JOE RYCHETNIK

Palm Springs

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Editor’s Note: According to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, Puget Sound is that body of water “extending 90 miles south from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Olympia [Wash.] . . .” Being north of that point, the San Juans “would probably be considered part of the Strait of Juan de Fuca,” writes Dave Norman, a geologist with the Washington Department of Natural Resources.