5/23/2015

Wild Roses

2015 Boating Season, continued (by Toni)

Sea Glass

The Islands in the San Juan are made up of many Marine Parks with camping, picnicking, water available, pit toilets, hiking, fishing, beach combing, tide pools, and mooring buoys for boats. Most have great anchorage. All have an interesting history. The Islands we have visited are just that. Kept well preserved and beautiful for everyone to enjoy and only reachable by boat. The wild flowers are beautiful, the eagles are a wonder to watch and we are always looking for whales, but so far haven't seen any on this trip.

Eagles on top of Lighthouse

After leaving Sucia, and its beautiful sunsets, we cruised around Patos Island. Patos is the northern outpost of the San Juan Islands with views of Canada. There is a beautiful lighthouse which was established in 1893. Helene Glidden was a child when her father was the lighthouse keeper. Her book, The Light On The Island, is based on her childhood adventures and the early history of the San Juans. I have read her book and many more about the San Juan Islands and the history and legends are fascinating.

After navigating around the Island, we headed to Stuart Island and anchored in Reid Harbor. This Island is the closest to Canada and most boaters stop there before heading across Haro Strait separating the United States from Canada. This is one of several islands which have private residents. So hiking is only on the trails. Trails lead to the Island school, which is still in use, and the Turn Point Light Station. Here we replenished our water in the boat so we could take showers.

Wild Honeysuckle

Canadian Geese

Russ getting water

Stuart Island

This morning we are in Roche Harbor Marina on San Juan Island. Today is fueling, laundry, groceries, and preparing for our cruise to Canada. Our boat looks very small compared to most boats here.

Roche Harbor has quite a history. Its historic hotel, which in the 1850's housed the Hudson Trading Post and which later hosted President Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft, beautiful gardens,  a restaurant, church, and mausoleum tell a story of the McMillin family and their lime quarries. Every evening the marina has a flag-lowering ceremony which holds special meaning when Canadians and Americans join together in friendship to honor their countries.

''Traveler'' is the small boat!!

My hope would be for you to some day take the ferry from Seattle over to the San Juan Islands and enjoy the beautiful scenery, history, birds and whale watching it provides. I know you would love it as much as we do.

We look forward to our cruise through Canada and will send a blog soon.

Happy Cruising from Russ and Toni

2015 Boating season

2015 Boating Season:

It seems we start talking about our next cruise right after we put the boat on the trailer from our last cruise. We had talked about cruising the entire Inside Passage to Alaska for quite some time, then as cruising season got close, we back pedaled and thought we would just trailer to Prince Rupert, Canada and spend a few months in SE Alaska as we did two years ago. Still closer to cruising season, we discussed cruising slowly to Desolation Sound in Canada, as we did three years ago... so many destinations so little time. We decided we would attend the C-Brat gathering in Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, on the upcoming weekend to kick off our boating season and then plan our next big move.

Friday Harbor

Cathy & Toni

We launched the boat in Bellingham on May 12th and spent the first night in Squalicum Harbor marina, a few hundred feet from the truck and trailer. Our daughter Cathy and fiance Josh came down from Ferndale to visit for a bit, it's always nice to be with family. The next day, after breakfast, we motored down to Anacortes to attend one day of the Trawlerfest Boat Show. It's always fun to crawl around on different boats to see what has changed and dream of a larger boat sometime in the future.

The next day we cruised to Blind Bay on Shaw Island to meet our friends the Andersons for happy hour. When we arrived they were already anchored, so we rafted up next to them and caught up on each others lives since our last visit while enjoying a few cocktails and snacks. At sunset we untied and motored to the back of the bay for a quiet night at anchor. We always sleep better when swaying and gently rocking at anchor.

Traveler in Shallow Bay

Pat & Patty Anderson on Daydream

The next day, Friday, we cruised over to Friday Harbor and met up with new and old C-Brat friends. There were approximately 40 boats attending and we were all on the same or adjacent dock. It's always nice to meet new people and renew old friendships. Most of the boats were C-Dory's ranging from 16' to 27' in length.

On Saturday West Marine hosted our group with coffee, donuts, and 10% off purchases at their store on the hill. That afternoon we had a huge potluck at the end of our dock with lots and lots of food. Afterward a large group followed Pat Anderson around the dock as he christened six boats with new names. Our Daughter Cathy spent the day with us while Josh was taking a naturalist course that will be helpful in his side job as Captain on whale watching boats.

Sunset at Shallow Bay

Sunday, goodbyes were said and we cruised up to Shallow Bay on Sucia Island, possibly our favorite place in the San Juan Islands. We first came here about 20 years ago with my mother and Ed Thompson on a rented 42' Grand Banks. That trip put cruising in our blood and it has never left. Several other C-Brat friends were anchored here as well and that afternoon we were all invited to happy hour on Sam Landsman's 37' Nordic Tug. Sam is a gracious host and we all had a good time. Back at the boat we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Matia Island

The next day, Monday, we followed our friends the Anderson's to Matia Cove on Matia Island. We hiked the loop trail to the other side and back and walked the beach to search for sea glass. Another evening of shared cocktails and dinner was a perfect end to the day. The weather has been very nice for cruising.

On Tuesday we bid fair well to the Andersons as they returned home and we cruised back to Shallow Bay on Sucia. We took the dinghy to Little Sucia Island and walked the beach looking for sea glass. We started our annual Cribbage tournament while watching the Eagles, River Otters, and other island wildlife around us. Another beautiful sunset left us reading our books while drifting around our anchor.

Little Sucia Island

We plan to continue cruising around the islands here for a few more days then go to Rosche Harbor on San Juan Island for fuel and a few supplies before heading up to Victoria, B.C. and points north, that's our big plan, as of today. We hope to add to our blog and post as we have internet service every week or two. You are all in our thoughts.

Starfish

Fossil

Sunset from Traveler