Under the Docks at Friday Harbor

Dungeness Crabs in Tank

Jellyfish by Jules

Friday Harbor is a busy place, the largest town in the San Juan Islands. The ferry docks here and there is a very large marina including customs and immigration for boats arriving from Canada. We had supper at the local pub and enjoyed an evening of sing-along with two brothers playing guitar and mandolin. We always buy fresh king salmon from Eric, a fisherman who has a shop on the main dock. He also has fresh Dungeness crab and spotted prawns.

Part of the fun of Friday Harbor is to see the children with their small nets exploring the world beneath their feet, under the docks. On this trip, there are prawns, jellyfish, crab, and myriad kinds of monster seaweed, and at low tide one can see to the bottom.

Olga, Orcas Island

Quiet Olga, a very small community with a general store and a post office. We were here at 9am, but the store didn't open until 10am. So, we walk around a bit and then cast off for Friday Harbor. Olga is a very pleasant place to be, though, even if we didn't manage to get breakfast there. We had breakfast after we were on our way.

Anacortes and Blakely Island

Poppy-like flower, Rosario


Very red dragonfly, Rosario


Annie Curtis, pioneer woman and namesake of Anacortes. Notice the orca across her breast and the ship sailing across her skirt.

Here we are again at Blakely Island, the mostly private island just inside Peavine Pass. Blakely Island was our very first stop in the San Juans many years ago. There are small recreational fishing boats here and when we landed about 1 pm, a man was cleaning a large salmon at the head of the dock. This is the place where our R20 boating group has gathered for the beginning of several cruises. Last year we bought salmon at Friday Harbor and had lots of help grilling it in the picnic shelter here for our sailing friends. The sunset view into the San Juans from here is to die for. However, today it rained before, during, and after our arrival and there is no cruise to meet, so we have spent the afternoon reading and planning ahead.

For the last two nights we were in Anacortes. We checked out their West Marine store, read email at the public library, bought some fresh fruit and vegetables, and walked around town. I ate an excellent lamb burger with chutney at the Brown Lantern brew pub. One can reliably find delicious strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries sold by a farmer on the sidewalk across the street from the Safeway; we bought four pints for breakfasts. We didn't mean to stay here long, but the wind came around from the south and blew pretty hard all day yesterday, so we didn't venture out. This morning the winds were calm.

Anacortes was historically a commercial center with numerous salmon canneries employing many Chinese immigrants and also lumber mills. Nowadays, its major industry is the port and refineries for Alaskan crude oil. The town is proud of its history and there are numerous life-size murals on buildings depicting its pioneer leaders. One is Annie Curtis, after whom the town was named (with a Spanish twist). She came to the area when it was a wilderness in 1870. There is a sculpture at the marina in her honor.

We'll leave Blakely early, before low tide prevents our departure and go to Olga for breakfast. From there we hope to sail to Friday Harbor.

Mt. Rainier to Mt. Baker

Point Hudson Marina with wooden boats


Cattle Point Lighthouse, San Juan Island. Site of Pig War and the American Camp that determined the Canada USA border to be the Haro Strait.


View from the Moran Mansion, Rosario

In Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier dominates the sky. We see it every clear day from Olympia to Port Townsend. When we cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Mt. Baker appears and orients us most of the way up the Strait of Georgia. Somehow it's reassuring to see the snowy summits and watch them grow and then recede as we go north.

Our crossing of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was well-timed and the weather held. Light winds and calm seas most of the 20 plus miles across open water, which can sometimes be trecherous. We reached Cattle Pass, the gate to the San Juan Islands, just after the tide had turned to flood and so our trip to Friday Harbor was also fast. There was no room at the marina there, so we sailed farther to Deer Harbor, a quiet and friendly marina. It's a popular spot for kayakers. Children here love to play in the intertidal areas. It's fun to see them get close to the sea life, and get their bare feet wet scooping up sand from the little beach. Across our dock finger was a sailboat from Vancouver, BC and the young couple aboard was good company for the evening and morning. Henry and I shared a double chocolate ice cream cone before turning in.

Yesterday, we intended to sail to Rosario, the 100-year-old Moran mansion and marina on Orcas Island that we love so much, but the winds died and we had to start the motor. Oh. well. One can't complain, the sunshine was brilliant. We've visited here numerous times on Jules and have wonderful memories of this place. It isn't the same now, since it was sold for $5.5 million last year. The mansion has been turned into a museum, so the pools in the house and on the point are no longer available to the public and one must pay a small amount for access. But, the mansion is even now in better repair, I think. Christopher Peacock still relates the history of this place and plays the fine Steinway piano and the Aolian organ every afternoon in the music room. It's a trip backward in time and the setting is so lovely, we are glad to be back. Everyone on the dock has gone to the town of Eastsound for the afternoon and evening fireworks. I'm sitting in the old mansion on an old chair, looking out the window now that this blog entry is finished.

Kingston, Port Ludlow, Port Townsend

Point No Point Lighthouse


Pope and Talbot Totem, Port Ludlow, Washington. Pope and Talbot are the ones in black suits and hats about midway down the pole.

Rough 20 knot winds from the north-northwest showered Jules and her Captain with plenty of salt water over the bow from 4-foot waves. The First Mate stayed mostly dry under the dodger. The Coast Guard again warned small craft to get off the water and to shelter. Kingston was our welcome port and we tied up gratefully. Other boats came in from the north off the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and from LaConner crossing the Sound. They were wet from following seas and water over their transoms.

Kingston is always pretty with its park and boat basin. It's also a good harbor for laundry, breakfast crepes at a sidewalk cafe, and grocery shopping with free use of their little electric car.

In the morning the seas were calm, but due to become rough again with the afternoon sea breeze flowing onshore to replace warm air over land. The water remained reasonable past Point No Point Lighthouse and the entrance to Hood Canal. Along the way we saw the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier heading into its home port, Everett. Our destination was Port Ludlow, a quiet resort and marina, in a community largely built by Pope and Talbot paper mills. There is a totem there that commemorates that history.

Heading north again, through the Port Townsend Canal, we reached the bay outside Point Hudson Marina just before noon. The boat in our reserved slip had not left, but we didn't mind. The winds were light so we hoisted the main, then unfurled the genoa and had a lovely time sailing for an hour before heading in. Jules had an appointment with the Port Townsend repair shop to replace water lines. Point Hudson Marina is right downtown Port Townsend, a most picturesque and historic port right at the entry of Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound. It is the place to leave and to arrive when crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Sailors docking today said their crossing was smooth and the weather forecast is for the same conditions tomorrow and the next day. So, if nothing else needs to be fixed, we'll be off at the break of day.

Gig Harbor, Bremerton, Seattle

Mark and Henry Having Fun with Sculpture


Jellyfish Passing By, Bell Street Marina, Seattle


Tacoma Narrows Bridge with New Span

To Gig Harbor, a very fast ride under "Galloping Gertie" Tacoma Narrows Bridge. We hit 11.4 knots just north of the two spans, tying up at Arabella's Marina by 11am. We heard a rare VHF Coast Guard radio weather warning and rode out high winds and seas at dock, not on the water, thank goodness. Henry's burger and my oysters at the Tides Tavern were up to snuff.

About 10:30 am Thursday, we headed north through Colvos Passage, usually a sleepy slog to Blake Island. However, the current was running unusually high again and we rode the tidal stream at 8-9 knots all the way north. When we reached the marina at Blake Island, a state park, the docks were full up with huge yachts. They installed power on the docks last fall and so it is a more desirable destination. Gone are the small family boats with kids and fishing poles. The new order is white fiberglass walls on all sides. We met our friends outside the marina and continued on with them to Bremerton for the night.

Bremerton is famous for its naval shipyard. The waterfront has undergone quite a bit of development in recent years but the blue collar essence of the place remains. The new marina is lovely and it has bargain docking rates. However, our friends, Phil and Ann, were assigned a slip close in and ran aground as they tried to dock. We stood off for awhile and then docked several slips farther out. The afternoon and evening were spent catching up with them. Their two adventures--sailing from Palau to Australia, and boating with friends in Alaska (with a medical emergency, to boot) provided most of the entertainment. Stories became more exciting in the telling, and retelling with more details and expression.

Friday morning was an easy, motoring to Seattle. No wind, no current, so no sailing. We spent some time trying to solve a water problem, but it remains a mystery. We met another friend, Mark, yesterday for a long walk on the waterfront north of Bell Harbor and through the Seattle Art Museam outdoor sculpture park. We had Avignon sausages from the Pike Place Market for dinner aboard Jules last night. Here at Bell Harbor Marina is the embarkation point for cruise ships of the Norwegian fleet. The Norwegian Star left yesterday afternoon, and the Norwegian Pearl is here this morning. Today, it's off to Kingston and crepes for breakfast in the morning.

Sailing North from Olympia

State Capitol, Olympia, Washington from Budd Bay at Dawn

View of Monkey Face from Misery Ridge Trail, Smith Rock State Park, Oregon.

From the high desert of Eagle Crest, Oregon, in the last week we've spent some time at Little Whale Cove and the whales are back. On Sunday we packed up the car with the inflatable raft, the Yamaha outboard motor, and a summer's worth of reading and headed to Olympia, Washington where Jules, our 30-foot Newport sailboat, has been resting since last October, weathering drenching winter rains.

About 5am tomorrow morning the tide will turn, and the ebbing current will carry us under the Tacoma Narrows bridge to Gig Harbor. We are at the summer solstice and the tidal change is about 18-19 ft here. The "low low" tide today put the ramp to the docks at an impossibly steep slope.

Since Sunday afternoon we've been cleaning, provisioning, repairing, and arranging. In such a small space everything must have a place. Not too many clothes, not too much food, not too much equipment, but we never have enough gadgets. We hope we have not forgotten something critical. Even though we will be in towns almost every night for awhile, it's difficult to get some things without the convenience of a car. We still have things to do--replace the main sheet, replace the line for the whisker pole, replace a stretch of lifeline, clean the sunbrella canvas dodger,and wonder whether it will rain tomorrow. But we have fresh local strawberries aboard, so we won't complain even if some tasks don't get done before we leave, but later.

"Low low" tide will be about noon in Gig Harbor tomorrow. We should arrive well ahead of that time. We'll tie up at Arabella's marina, take a walk, and have burgers at the Tides Tavern for dinner.