Out in the islands

I apologize for not posting for a few days, but we've been out cruising in the islands.  I could say that we just didn't have the ability to post because we were in remote places, but in truth the cell signals have been at least as good as Anacortes.  And sometimes much better.  But gee, it's been hard to sit inside and look at a computer with such lovely scenery all around.

We left Anacortes on Tuesday at about 11:15 and headed over to Spencer Spit on Lopez Island. Here, let's look at the map.

Spencer Spit is that little point on Lopez Island that is just down from the upper right hand corner, pointing toward the lower part of Blakely Island.  It took us a couple of hours to get there from Anacortes.

We dropped our anchor in about 14 feet of water there.  This is part of the Washington State Parks system and has several campsites on shore.  It's part of the Cascadia Marine Trail. Which is a trail system that was developed for non-motorized, beachable watercraft users to travel and camp throughout the islands.  Pretty cool deal.  We loved the views there and walking on the island.

There's a lagoon in the center of the triangular spit.  It's kind of more like a marsh area.

Simon being a beach bum.

We were enjoying our stay there, but it got a tad rolly the next day from the traffic out in the channel.  So we pulled up the anchor and motored up to Blind Bay on Shaw Island.  If you look at the map again you'll see Shaw Island has a big notch on it's north shore.  That's Blind Bay.  And right in the middle of the opening of the bay is Blind Island, which doesn't really show up on the map.  Blind Island is also part of the Cascadia Marine Trail and a Washington State Park.  It has several campsites

as well as a vault toilet.  It also has mooring buoys, which is where we camped.

What a pretty boat.

These buoys are $12/night.  We would have preferred to anchor here, but it was a little deeper and we haven't installed our windlass yet.  Translated:  The anchor weighs 35lbs and the chain weighs 1.1lbs/ft.  This was 37 feet deep = 75.7lbs to be hauled up by hand.  Not doing that was worth the $12.  This little island is sweet!  You can walk up to the top and look up and down Harney Channel.  Orcas Island is on the other side of the channel and a ferry runs back and forth between the two islands all day it seems.  But we didn't suffer from any roll off of those wakes.  Probably because this ferry doesn't get up much speed between the two points.  

All this beauty and fresh air awakened my cooking mojo!  I made us a parmesan crusted cod dinner with green salad and bread for dinner

As you know, our space on the boat is limited.  That means everything on board should be able to do at least two things.  The more uses a thing has, the better chance it has of staying on board (I remind Dave of this daily).  Case in point, I needed to crush the crackers to mix with the grated cheese for the fish.  Obviously a rolling pin takes up a lot of space for a single purpose tool.  Hence we improvise.

Two uses for one bottle of wine.

The mornings have been foggy here lately.  

This is looking from out boat out into Harney Channel.

Not a problem as I needed to run a payroll for a client Thursday morning anyway.  We were ready to leave at noon and the fog had burned off.  We left Blind Bay as we had entered it and headed east in Harney Channel as we wanted to check out an anchorage on the southeast side of Shaw Island called Indian Cove.  So we traveled down the east side of Shaw to Upright Channel and pulled into Indian Cove.  We found it to be a tad shallow closer to shore and there's a few rocky spots, but otherwise it looks like a good spot for us some time when we come back this way.  We picked our way through the crab trap floats and back out into Upright Channel and pointed our bow across San Juan Channel to Friday Harbor.  And that's where we are now.  We treated ourselves to a couple of nights in the marina.  Here we can refill the water tanks, empty the holding tank and buy more hamburger for Simon.  He's been on a mild burger and rice diet since he had the lower intestinal "event" a couple of weeks ago and is thriving on it.  Of course I spend a lot of time cooking rice and burger, but I'm glad to do it to see him perky again.  

So, Friday Harbor...

This is a happenin' place!  We have never been here during the high season before.  We called from Blind Bay for a reservation for two nights and they could only guarantee us one night in a slip and then they told us they may have to move us.  Wha????  They told us to check in again in the morning and they would see what was available.  Fortunately they are able to leave us in this spot for one more night.  Whew.  And a lovely spot it is.  We have a nice couple in a motor yacht next to us.  They were headed out in their dinghy for a cocktail cruise and we asked them where we could buy ice.  The next thing we knew they had brought us back a bag of ice and wouldn't take any money for it.  

If you haven't been to Friday Harbor, it's the largest town in the islands and the county seat of San Juan County, which is comprised of most of the islands.  On our little map Friday Harbor is the black dot on San Juan Island.  You can take a Washington State Ferry from Anacortes out to Friday Harbor and then have your car to drive around the island.  It's a beautiful drive that we did last spring.  Again, the interior of the island is agricultural.  There are a couple of wineries along the way.  But this time we're here on our own boat and it's a great spot for that as well. It's got good restaurants, art and all kinds of services for boaters.  There's Kings Market just a few blocks up the main drag which is a well stocked grocery store.  And prices were better than I expected.  They even had a very patient assistant in the wine department explaining to a woman that there is no locally produced Pinot Noir, she should buy an Oregon one. Multiple times.  sigh

We docked, got plugged in and settled and then went up the dock with Si.  Poor guy couldn't make it all the way up the dock as it's at least a quarter mile.  But no worries, he's apparently not the only one who couldn't wait as they have doggy clean up bags along the way on the docks.  We found a place to eat between the marina and the ferry dock where Simon could sit with us.

Si chillin at the Blue Water Bar & Grill after a cool drink.

He had his own water dish under the table.

And a perfect breeze.

Kobe beef sliders and Irish Nachos! And Mack and Jack.

Of course.

Did I mention these folks start Happy Hour at 2 o'clock?

We had a relaxing evening back on the boat and then a very restful, quiet night's sleep.  This morning I took Si for a walk up in the lovely little park at the top of the marina.

We had a nice stroll around the ferry parking area where a whole crowd of folks were waiting for the 7:30 ferry.  We even found another little park called Sunken Park.  The coffee shops were all full of ferry waiting folks.  This town reminds me a bit of Ashland.  With boats.  

Well those water tanks aren't going to fill themselves, so I guess I better get after it.  

Maybe I'll take Simon for a walk first....