NautaBytes

PROLOGUE:  This was the last part of my trip to the San Juan Islands in August 2015... yeah I know... almost a year later, but it is still good! This was supposed to be the most laid back part of my Vacation... but it turns out that Mother Nature had different plans for me.  It started out just fine.  I was back at Echo Bay at Sucia, one of my favorite places.  I arrived on Wednesday and Kayaked to Ewing cove and back. it is pretty picturesque from the water. Scenic Sandstone... The same from shore... kinda looks like a wave Me... hanging ten in the sandstone wave! I went for a bit of a climb... Ewing Cove.... wish I coulda gotten a mooring ball there.... Blue Heron perched on the cliff... As I was coming back from the cove, I took a detour to gawk a little at this guy..... this is the M/V Excellence.  I couldn't find out much about it other than it is privately owned out of Seattle.  It is about 130 f...

Dulcinea tucked into a slip on the H dock at Friday Harbor   After seeing my sister off on the ferry in Friday Harbor bound for Anacortes, it was time to move on to the second half of my trip.   I was looking forward to it as I was headed for a couple of Islands I had not yet been to, namely Jones and Patos islands.   After stopping by the pump-out dock to, well.... Pump out the holding tank, I bid adieu to Friday Harbor.  It is really one of my favorite places to visit when I am out, and little did I know that I would be back in a week under very stressful and ominous conditions.... But that is a story for another post!   I finally got underway around noon. It was a beautiful day, and my first stop, Jones Island was not very far - only about five and a half nautical miles.  The wind was mostly non-existent as I headed out into the San Juan Channel and winded my way past the western coast of  Shaw Island, past Cliff Island, then in between...

After the exhilarating high of being in that pod of Orca Whales for an hour and forty-five minutes, my sister and I had to make way to the first scheduled anchorage in the San Juans - Reid Harbor on Stuart Island.     I had never been to this island before, and although I had read about it, and saw a DVD about the island, It still didn't compare to the real thing.   It was getting fairly late in the day when we arrived and we motored down the long harbor about half way when we found a pretty good place to  drop the hook.  In hind site, you have to go just about all the way in before you get to the Marine State Park.  The harbor is pretty long!   I didn't realize that a lot of the island consists of private land, and there are many people that live on the island year round.  This is true living off the grid, as they have to provide everything... water, sewage, power, food and so on.  There is no groce...