Ok, I know this has been a long time coming. There are several reasons for the delay, most of which is the fact that I am so very good at procrastinating. The other is I wanted to wait till I got the photos from the trip uploaded for all to see.
So now that I have the pictures up, I might as well get the details from the trip posted. I’m gonna pile the trip into two sections, instead of going back and posting each day seperatly.
Me and Tawn had planned to take a 2 week vaction in August on our boat up to the San Juan Islands. We invited her parents, Tom and Beth to join us for the first week of the trip. They flew in on Friday night August 28th.
I’ll start this tale from Saturday morning, July 29th {Shilshole Marina to Port Townsend}
We got up and got the boat ready to go, most of which was already done the day before. The tide was with us, but there was not alot of wind. We got into Port Townsend around 5pm that afternoon. Got a slip at BoatHaven and took a walk around town and had a pizza for dinner.
Sunday, July 30th {Port Townsend to Garrison Bay, San Juan Island}:
Woke up to a slightly overcast day, but once this burned off and we headed north from Port Townsend the sun came out and the wind picked up and we had a great sail up to San Juan Island.
This picture clearly shows just how stressful sailing on Palarran is on a nice sunny day:
Seriously, Tawn you need to relax!! :)
About 2 hours after this picture was taken the wind really picked up and we had to put a reef in the mainsail. As soon as that was done it started to rain, but before we could all get into our foulies, the rain let up and the wind almost completly died and we found ourselfs in the middle of a pod of Killer Whales (Orcas). It was awesome, there had to have been 20-30 of them just swimming all around the boat. Most were aways off, but there were a few that got really close to the boat. Unfortunatly, not ONE of the pictures we took of them turned out? We just could not get the timing right.
After the whale show, we motored the past Lime Kiln Point on San Juan Island and into Mosquito Pass which took us in to Garrison Bay.
This was probably my favorite anchorage the whole time we were in the San Juans. Maybe because it was our first or the sail over and the whale show just before was awesome, i’m not sure. But I really liked it in Garrision Bay.
Monday, July 31st 2006
We hung out in Garrison Bay all day on Sunday and the first half of the day on Monday. We dinghied over to Roche Harbor for a hike around town and the hills outside of town and grabbed a burger for lunch. At the marina in Roche Harbor we saw the best buisness sign of all times on the boat that pumps out the holding tanks of the boats in the marina, i’ll let you judge for yourself if you think it ‘s funny or not:
After lunch and the Pheacal Phreak sighting, we pulled up the anchor and headed further north to Reid Harbor on Stuart Island, where we ran into our best friends, Scott, Angie and their kids on Ghost. We rafted up to them and took a hike around the island and then had a great BBQ on the deck of their boat that night.
Tuesday, August 1st {Reid Harbor, Stuart Island to Deer Harbor, Orcas Island}:
Me, Tawn, Scotty and Zach all got up early and went fishing the next day, but did not catch anything. After breakfast we dropped off the raftup and grabbed mooring ball for a little bit. Scott and Angie were headed to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island and we were going to go to Deer Harbor on Orcas island. We planned on meeting up again on the weekend in Fishermans Bay on Lopez Island. We said our goodbyes and headed our seperate ways.
We had a GREAT sail on the way to Deer Harbor. The wind was blowing about 15knots out of the north. Pictures never really show it but here are a couple to try:
Tawn takes the helm with Spieden Island in the background. Stuart Island is just on the otherside of the this island and is where we started from earlier in the day:
I love this next picture, it’s a little out of focus but I think it is cool as hell. This was taken a few minutes after the previous two. It gives little better idea the wind that day:
Sailing into Deer Harbor was freaking AWESOME, it is, to date one of my most memorable sailing experiences. The wind was blowing about 17 knots around a little island right at the entrance to Deer Harbor. The island was basically blocking the entrance so the opening was only about 100 yards wide, we were pinched up right on the wind. I could not fall off anymore or I would have ran aground on Orcas Island. We were heeled WAY over, more so than in the picture above. There was a 30 foot sloop about 35 yards behind me on the same tack trying for the same opening. We both had HUGE grins on our faces. The boat was flying. As soon as we got to lee of the island the wind dropped, as it was blocked by the small island. We dropped the sails and the boat behind continued on past. We exchanged waves and nods. We continued in to the harbor and dropped the anchor on the 2nd try.
The rest of the day was great, but nothing compared to the sail in….I’ll never forget it.
Wednesday, August 2nd {Deer Harbor, Orcas Island to Blind Bay, Shaw Island}:
After hoisting the anchor we motored out of Deer Harbor and out through Pole Pass….This was a tight fit, deep but man was it tight. Not a lot of wind today, so we motored to Blind Bay. Blind Bay was only about 8 miles from Deer Harbor so we got there pretty early in the day. I grabbed the crab pots and jumped in the dinghy after we got the anchor set and picked a good spot to get some crabs for dinner.
Tawn and her parents took the dinghy to shore to check out the town. I just hung out on the boat and laid in the hammock. For dinner we decided to cook a Low Country Boil on shore with the crab we had caught, or hoped to catch. We did end up getting two good sized crabs for dinner. Me and Tawn went to shore on Blind Island and setup for dinner. As I was cooking, Tawn went back to the boat and got Tom and Beth. The water was boiling when they got back.
I have to admit, the boil turned out better than I could have hoped for. Dinner was awesome:
And the sunset was pretty awesome too:
Thursday, August 3rd {Blind Bay, Shaw Island to Fishermans Bay, Lopez Island}:
Took a dinghy ride all the way to Skull Island for a hike. You have to go to an island called Skull Island.
Just after leaving Blind Bay we were sailing down wind and the boom lift got wrapped around the port spreader. The only way we could get it unwrapped was for Tawn to climb the mast and swing out in the bosuns chair.
Despite the fact that there was very little wind we were having a good time sailing and sailed up wind almost all the way to Parks Bay, where we met up with Scott and Angie on Ghost and Rich and Echo on Lorien. We only hung out for about an hour and we all headed over to Fishermans Bay so we could go in on a rising tide:
The entrance to Fishermans bay was a bit tricky but we all three got in just fine without hitting the bottom at all. Once in, Ghost dropped the hook and we all rafted to them. Great dinner was had and Beth made the best tin of brownies EVER! No forks or plates were needed, we just ate out of the pan.
Friday, August 4th {Fishermans Bay, Lopez Island}:
After breakfast we broke up off the raft first and headed to our slip at Fishermans Bay Marina and got ready for the party. Spent the whole day visiting with old friends, and making new ones. There was a lot of rum and beer being consumed…I did more than my fairshare. Alot more!
Saturday, August 5th {Fishermans Bay Marina, Lopez Island}:
Another great and sunny day in the San Juans. I was nursing a hangover, but Tom and Beth borrowed Angies’s kayak and went for a row around the bay:
More partying and boozing and visiting. I did alot of sleeping and recovering from the night before. But was back in stride by the time the sun was setting. The party was great, here is a picture of the gang:
Here is a picture of Tom and Beth enjoying the band:
And so concludes Week one of our two week trip to the San Juan Islands.