I'm just back from a long weekend in the San Juan Islands and I feel like a kid on the last day of summer vacation. I'd love to explore the Islands for another month or so, rather than going back to work bright and early tomorrow.
Trent and I set off on Thursday to celebrate my good friend Jessi's birthday - she and her guy Chris are sailors with a boat moored in Anacortes, much faster access to the San Juans than Shilshole (where we are moored). After a slow motor against the current, we arrived at the vacation rental home on Orcas Island at about 5 p.m. and ferried four folding bikes, several heavy bags of groceries, our clothes & toiletries and of course, ourselves. Chris determined that the easiest way to get everything back and forth without wearing out anyone's back and arms would be to rig a long line at the boat and another at shore to tow back and forth. It worked perfectly once we got a long enough line attached.
The house was perfect, just a short walk away from the beach with a mooring ball for visitors to tie up against, kayaks (to use at your own risk), plenty of space for the 10 adults and one baby at the celebration, a striking view of Mt. Baker and wildlife galore - deer, bats, frogs, wild turkeys and numerous robins and other birds that break into continuous song starting at about 5 a.m.
On Friday, we set off for one of my favorite islands - Sucia, the crown jewel of the state marine park system (at least according to their website). The wind was fairly light, so Trent and I explored the water line near Fossil Bay while the rest of our party hiked some of the 10 miles of trails. Though initially hesitant due to my limited kayaking experience, I'm now convinced that we need inflatable kayaks to bring aboard Rock Lobster. You get such a different perspective from a sailing boat, with no need to worry about grounding, but with far easier steering than our dinghy. We got close to an otter, before he dove off his rock.
Saturday we went into the town of Eastsound on four folding bikes, two road bikes, a recumbent tandem bicycle and a car. The plan: the Saturday Farmer's Market, where everything is local to Orcas and Island Hoppin' Brewery. Produce-wise, the UDistrict Farmer's Market is far superior to Orcas this time of year, but there are some mighty tasty lunch options. We had breaded & fried oysters followed by ice cream sandwiches (chocolate cookies with chocolate ice cream for me and chocolate cookies with salted caramel ice cream for Trent). We took a quick trip to buy provisions for our night of cooking dinner before continuing to the brewery. I thought the A Street Wheat beer was quite quaffable, while Trent preferred the Rip Tide Porter. Afterwards, we parted ways and continued biking to the lake at Moran State Park. We sat at a picnic table in the sun playing Bananagrams and hoping that the tiles would not fall through the cracks. Afterwards, we returned to Eastsound for gelato at Enzo's. Sadly, we consumed no cinnamon rolls throughout the entire long weekend.
On Sunday, our last complete day, we did a short hike up to Mt. Constitution. From the lookout, we sighted Sucia, where we had so recently sailed. With our appetites stoked from the hike, we visited Rosario and dined at the Cascade Bay Grill, an unassuming building with a small grocery store and coffee stand attached, with a great view of the marina, and a killer bourbon pecan bread pudding.
6 a.m. wake up this morning, leaving the mooring ball at 8:15. Much faster motoring due to favorable current got us to Anacortes by 12:30 and we were home again, home again, jiggety jig by 2ish. Now I'm inspired to plot and plan the stops for our longer sail to the San Juans and Gulf Islands in August. Any recommendations for island stops along the way are greatly appreciated!
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