roaming2: San Juan Islands

We are in the San Juan Islands in Washington State. To get here we caught the Washington State Ferry at Anacortes WA. Almost as soon as the ferry left the dock the captain announced that there were Orcas out front. The ferry slowed and eventually stopped for the pod of Orcas the swim by right in front of the ferry. A good omen for the week in the islands!

We first went to an old favorite location to spend two nights - Mar Vista on San Juan Island. The ferry stops at Friday Harbor and we drove to the other side of San Juan Island. Mar Vista accommodations are basic small cabins in what may be called arrested decay. So it is not for everyone. The draw is the location. Mar Vista looks across the Haro Straight to Victoria on Vancouver Island and across the Straight of Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Mountains.

The sunsets are absolutely the best and after sunset the lights of Victoria begin to come on and form a fine line of light along the ocean horizon all night. This trip the moon was very close to full and we were lucky enough to wake up and see the big orange moon sliding toward the horizon. I don't recall having ever seen an almost full moon set. It was beautiful as it became a sliver on the horizon. WOW -- we congratulated each other on our luck to see that. Then we slipped below the horizon and got in a couple hours more Zzzzs.

Photos from San Juan Island:

The 'beach' at Mar Vista looking across at the Olympics. There were always Seals right off the rocks looking at us as we were looking at them.

A ferry coming into Friday Harbor with the walkers and bikers on the front ready to disembark first.

Seals were usually right off the beach rocks.

View of the sunset from our cabin window.

Sunset over Vancouver Island.

Some nice Rays at Sunset. This is right behind the cabins at Mar Vista. The residents gather at the picnic table at sunset bringing snacks and wine to share and all enjoy the sunset. Just a magic time. The group we were down there with the most were from San Francisco and arrived on the Ferry on bicycles and rode across the island to Mar Vista. They were great neighbors.
Just at sunset a large Bald Eagle flew low right past the cabin, so we had seen Orcas, seals, and a Bald Eagle on our first day. Really good signs.

Our little cabin at Mar Vista. If you go there try to get cabin number 8 or at least 7 since those two have the closest proximity to the best sunset views.

A taxi with sea kayak racks and a bumper bike rack Hmm -- maybe the lifestyle here is different.

Mar Vista Cabin number 7 or 8 in the sunset.

At the lavender farm on San Juan Is. They also make many lavender products from their farm. We were able to smell lavender until we had our fill of that wonderful plant.

We were following this little car out to the lavender farm and couldn't figure out what it was. The scooter folks rent these too -- seemed to be a double scooter. We saw them all over the island.

One of the island taxis. Neat old car.

old porsche in Friday Harbor.

We saw a beautiful yacht docked at Friday Harbor. It was the Etheral. Here's the link to that sailing Yacht:

http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=syethereal-1685

We then went to another island where our cousins live. We took an early ferry and saw the sun rise over the North Cascades and the Islands. The island is much less commercial and therefore much quieter than the busier San Juan or Orcas Islands. We have had a really good visit and have eaten fresh dungeness crab every day since this is crabbing season and our cousins have a boat and crab pots. All is how it should be!

Happy Ferry Passengers. We have gotten along so well on this trip it is just wonderful being so compatible!

We were on the inter island ferry that does not do trips to the mainland, only between the San Juan Island group. The local school children use the ferry to attend schools on different islands and of course the locals us it a lot. We found quite a few jigsaw puzzles on the ferry tables on this 'local' ferry. But it was just too early to sit and work on any part of it.