Day 6: Exploring San Juan Island
Monday, August 30, 2004

Me and Walendo on the ferry to San Juan Island

Today we went from Whidbey Island to San Juan Island. It was a beautiful, sunny, clear day with just a few whispy clouds, our first of the trip, so that was nice. The ferry leaves from Anacortes, which is on a peninsula off the mainland, 10 miles past the bridge at the north end of Whidbey Island. It took about an hour to get there from our hotel in Freeland, and we were aiming for the 11am ferry, so we left around 9:15 to give ourselves plenty of time. Still, we were among the last 10% of cars in the holding area, so it was good we'd gotten there early. The only problem was that I was starving because we hadn't had time for breakfast and there was no food on the ferry, so I snacked on pretzels to take the edge off, looking forward to a nice lunch in Friday Harbor, the main town on San Juan Island.

The ferry ride took about an hour and it wound its way through several of the other San Juan Islands (Lopez, Shaw, Orcas Islands), all of which were quite pretty and lightly sprinkled with nice houses looking out on the water. The ferry was pretty expensive — $50 for the car, driver and one passenger, although that covers the round trip. You pay for ferries going west and any ferry going east is free. We docked in Friday Harbor, which we'd read is a holdout to the tourist infusion but that couldn't have been further from the truth. The town is about 4 x 4 blocks, all of them lined with little gift shops, touristy clothing stores, restaurants, B&Bs, and so on. We didn't mind terribly, but it wasn't what we were expecting! There was a large marina with tons of boats docked there, so I guess the shops must also cater to the sailing people as well.

Friday Harbor streets, as seen from the ferry dock

We were staying at Friday's Historic Inn, which is just two blocks from the ferry station (of course, just about everything in town is). It's the most expensive place we're staying at this trip, at $150/night, and it bills itself as the best value in town. I couldn't find anything cheaper on the internet, although we could have paid $99 here if we'd been willing to share a bathroom with another room.

Entrance to Friday's Historic Inn

There were a couple of places less expensive that were elsewhere on the island, but they seemed a little too "rustic" for our tastes. (After one bad experience with a thin-walled cabin with thin blankets and dirty towels that was essentially a bunk house, we've steered clear of places that call themselves rustic.) When we checked in, I felt good that the extra money was buying us something. The woman at the desk (Chris) was especially friendly and helpful while also being efficient. They have a nice lobby area where they offer sodas, coffee, and tea any time, and she bakes cookies in the afternoon. It sounded like breakfast was an extended continental type, not just toast and jam packets, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow. The room is nicely decorated and spacious enough, a pleasant place to rest in between activities.

Lobby of Friday's Historic Inn

We were both very hungry, so we just dropped a few things in the room and went off to get some lunch. I'd read in someone's travel journal that the Front Street Café was very good, so we went there. Other than having especially friendly service, we didn't find it to be anything special. Walendo's sandwich was more expensive than usual and yet it was a completely unremarkable turkey sandwich. My omelet was a bit on the dry side, but it came with a hearty beer bread that was pretty good and probably would have really appealed to someone who liked beer. I guess you can't always take Internet recommendations to heart.

We weren't up for doing the tourist shopping thing, so we decided to take a drive around the perimeter of the island. Chris had told us the island (more or less a circle) is 16 miles wide and 9 deep, so nothing takes very long to reach. She said earlier that morning they'd sighted orca whales off the western coast, by Lime Kiln Park, so maybe they'd be back. We headed over that way and went for a short walk along the trail, which leads to an appealing lighthouse. (I'd already seen photos of it, so I gather it's one of the island's landmarks.) I took a couple of obligatory shots but since the light was bright and harsh, I didn't expect much. While I did that, Walendo found a nice spot on Dead Man's Trail, just a little ways from the lighthouse, so I joined him when I was done. We hung out for about an hour, reading and absorbing the beautiful scene, with Canada just across the way. No whale sightings, but enjoyable nonetheless. We decided we'd come back here for the sunset so I could get better shots of the lighthouse and of the scene in general.

Adorable alpacas

We continued our drive around the island, stopping once at the Alpaca farm, which had a country store selling gorgeous but very expensive sweaters and other clothing made from the wool. There were a few groups of them (packs of Alpacas?) hanging out and one group came scurrying over to say hello to us, as if we had food or something. They have just the sweetest faces, they can't help but make you smile. I took a bunch of shots of them and even though they were backlit, some might come out okay.

We drove into Roche Harbor because it had been mentioned in something I'd read that talked about the old historic hotel, but when we got there it seemed to be another marina and small resort but there wasn't any obvious reason to get out and check it out, so we moved on. We wound up just making our way back to Friday Harbor, enjoying the scenery of the island, which was mainly farmland inland and ocean views near the perimeter. The whole circuit would probably take only about a half hour if you did it without stopping.

Scenes from the Friday Harbor dock

We took a quick pitstop at the room and then meandered along the marina, checking out the boats while of course I snapped photos. Again, people were quite friendly to us. There were also a lot of dogs out with people and we saw one go out with his owner on his boat. We liked this crowd. Walendo still hasn't been feeling 100% healthy, so he went back and sat while I wandered through more of the marina, which helped me relax and experiment more with photos. He was apparently making friends with some dogs, so he was happy.

More scenes from the Friday Harbor dock

Lime Kiln Lighthouse

We wanted to get dinner before going back to Lime Kiln Park for sunset, but neither of us was especially hungry. We ate casually at a sort of outdoor seafood bar place right next to the ferry that was perfect. (Friday Crabhouse, I think.) I had a very good salmon clam chowder and a tasty shrimp cocktail with 6 medium shrimp for just $4, which is how much they should cost. Walendo had a light shrimp caesar salad that was also quite good. Right next door was a homemade ice cream place so of course I had to get a cone. Thankfully, they did have chocolate (something I don't take for granted in this region anymore). It was tasty and creamy, but not chocolatey enough. Still, a good end to the meal. It was nice to have an inexpensive but good meal for a change.

Lime Kiln Lighthouse at Sunset

We then headed back out to Lime Kiln Park and I set up on the rocks with a nice view of the lighthouse. The sunset was pretty but there weren't enough clouds to make it especially interesting. I took a bunch of shots and I'll probably be able to turn some into some nice images. After the sun went down and we were watching the sky turn colors, we started to see little blips coming out of the water. I looked through my zoom lens and sure enough, they were dorsal fins curving out and back into the water. The orcas were back! We watched a few of them make their way across the water, followed by a few more. We probably saw about 6 of them. They were too far away and not out of the water enough to take a photo of, but it was nice to see them and know they were there. I love the time just after the sun goes down. The water gets calm, the colors become interesting, the birds flutter across the water as they hunt for fish, and now the whales were coming out. It was a very nice scene.

Once it started to get darker, I packed up and we headed back to the car. We got back to the hotel around 9pm, and now I'm writing up the day's events and uploading my photos. I'm going to have a lot of fun going through my images when we get back and processing them. I think I'll have a few I'll be very happy with.

We'd thought maybe we'd kayak tomorrow but we haven't made any plans, mostly because Walendo wants to go in the sit-on-top kind and it didn't look like any of the places have them. Maybe we'll call tomorrow or maybe we'll just have a relaxing day, reading and enjoying the island.

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