Day 2 of Sailing the San Juans
Tuesday, our first full day of sailing with Jon and Jette, was my favorite day of our sensational trip. Part of the credit belongs to Jon and Jette, part to the weather, and part of it belongs to the hike around Sucia Island. But, who am I kidding? Most of the credit belongs to the spectacular sunset. More on that later.
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Early Morning Still Life with Kingfisher
The Kingfishers Loved Perching in This Snag |
At 0645 with a promise of coffee not later than 0700, I was the first person out of the cabin, other than Jette who was slaving away in the galley making pour-over coffee for us guests. Nothing motivates me in the morning more than a cup of coffee (on the pre-trip questionnaire, Jette asked what kind of juice we wanted. My response: coffee juice!) and Jette went to great lengths to make excellent coffee. My kind of people! Bless you, Jette!
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| Inati Bay, Western Gull on Mooring Buoy |
Coffee was absolutely necessary because sleep in the hours before was an epic fail, only three hours. The cabin walls are very thin, I hear everything during my sleep, and we had not yet discovered the fan in our room, which apparently drove the people in the opposite cabin nuts, but which delivered awesome white noise for the remainder of our trip. Sorry, not sorry!
On stumbling out and grabbing a cup of coffee, I lumbered topside up the ladder to see that it was overcast and that the tide was out. Soon enough, everyone roused and we settled in at the table for delicious crab and mushroom omelettes. Apparently, blame it on no sleep, I have no pictures to document our delicious breakfast, a meal that I do not eat normally.
After breakfast, from our moorage, we set out north and west for Sucia Island. As we motored past Lummi Island with lots of guillemots in the water along with a few Double-crested Cormorants, we saw many eagles patrolling the shores. We would see dozens and dozens of Bald Eagles during our trip; they are clearly at home here. In our area, we see them in ones and twos, unless they are with babies, but in the Salish Sea, we would see dozens each day.
As we made our way past Puffin and Matia Islands, silhouetted against Orcas Island, we would see a mother and calf porpoise surfing a hundred or more yards off our bow, but way out of photograph range, and couple Harbor Seals in water, with more hauled out on the shore in the distance. I was surprised to see California Sea Lions hauled out on a channel marker; I only expected to see Steller's Sea Lions this far north. We would hear sea lions barking at all the marinas we visited.
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| California Sea Lions, a Quarter Mile Distant |
If you are versed in kitchen Spanglish as am I, then sucia is instantly recognizable as the word for dirty. Platos sucios are not a good thing in a kitchen. Sucia in island terms apparently applies to the many reefs surrounding the island (dirty waters) that warrant care in approaching it.
We arrived in Shallow Bay around mid-day and just after we anchored, one of the ubiquitous Belted Kingfishers flew directly at us and landed on the boat within my arm reach. I have never been that close to a kingfisher before; in our part of the world, they are cagy and hesitant to approach people. No doubt the boat provided a nice perch from which to hunt, but we shooed it away before it could poop on the boat.
Between lunch and dinner, Jon took us on a walk around Sucia. The island is a Washington State Marine Park complete with hiking trails and mooring facilities for boaters. I always relish the chance to get outside and explore the flora of a region. I was not surprised that Ocean Spray is blooming everywhere, but I was surprised to see 20-foot high shrubs with leaves the size of my hand. In Central Oregon where its pretty blooms decorate otherwise desolate lava flows, Ocean Spray is a modest shrub.
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| Ocean Spray, Holodiscus discolor |
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| Bald Hip Rose, Rosa gymnocarpa |
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| Pink Honeysuckle, Lonicera hispidula |
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| Sunlight Behind Western Red Cedar, Thuja plicata |
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| Broadleaf Sedum/Stonecrop, Sedum spathulifolium |
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Western Starflower, Lysimachia latifolia
Too Late to See the Gorgeous Six-Petal Pink Star Blossoms |
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| Massive Bunches of Indian Pipe, Monotropa uniflora |
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A Gumweed, Grindelia sp.
The San Juans Have Two Lookalike Species |
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| Gumweed and Driftwood |
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| A Massive Ocean Spray |
As we neared the end of our walk, we emerged out of the woods onto the rocky point that forms the southern edge of Shallow Bay. Most of the stone appeared to be limestone, stone that I have not seen since we moved from Virginia where it forms the glacier-scoured bottom of the Shenandoah Valley. All our stone in Central Oregon is volcanic in origin (basalt, andesite, scoria, tuff) rather than sedimentary. The stone here is no doubt old sea floor that has been uplifted.
In this area, I kept a sharp eye out for river otters whose scat littered the trail. I never did see one of the little playful carnivores, but a few curious Harbor Seals followed me along the trail. Pigeon Guillemots also fed in the water just off the trail, diving every now and again for fish.
Ann and I opened a bottle of wine and camped out under the bimini with the other guests. Jette sent up delicious hors d'oeuvres, cute little baked wonton skins filled with a seafood salad, whose contents I do not remember. We all sat around like greedy little piggies eating them while we watched Jette below making the tagliatelle that would form the base for the shrimp for dinner. Both appetizers and shrimp were fantastic.
After dinner, Ann and I went topside to sit atop our cabin in the bow. We could just tell that tonight's sunset was going to be rewarding, even though it was an hour or more distant.
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| Sun Hinting at a Brilliant Sunset |
Not having much sleep the night before, we turned in just after dark. With the anchorage open to the west, the direction of the prevailing winds and the shipping lanes, a decent swell got up in the night with the heaviest between 0400 and 0430. I enjoy moderate swell; it helps me sleep. Jon, apparently, not so much especially with a puppy trying to snuggle up for comfort.
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