Ewing Cove

May 21 - 22, 2009

Sucia Island has something for everyone.  The island is made up of a series of long fingers with anchorages in between.  The best anchorage, according to us, is Ewing Cove, a 1/4 mile long indentation that is only 3 or 4 boat lengths wide.  On either side of the cove are rocky sandstone walls topped with large trees - Douglas Fir and the red-barked Madrona, a deciduous species.  Ewing is the most isolated of all the bays and coves on Sucia and you have walk about a mile along a trail that skirts the high bluffs to get to the island proper.  In the morning of the 21st we hiked to Echo Bay, which is the largest anchorage on the island.  In the summer it can hold 150 boats but today there were only three as we are well before the boating season.

Ewing Cove Rock Formations 

The weather has really taken a turn for the better and there are blue skies and temperatures in the high 60's, quite unusual for this early in the year.  We are still on the lookout for wildflowers and in a later post we'll put up our pictures.  It's amazing how you can notice things if you put your mind to it.  Normally we would walk right past the flowers but because we have decided to devote this cruise to SCIENCE we are seeing things that we would have missed before.  The number of different wildflower species is enormous and if you stop for a moment and get down on your hands and knees you'll find all manner of delicate and beautiful flowers in the height of bloom.

Another thing that we are noticing is the birds.  There is one in particular called the pigeon guillimot which is abundant in Ewing Cove.  This is a little pigeon size diving bird with red feet that dangle awkwardly behind when it is flying and a bright red inside- of -mouth.  The birds apparently fly better underwater than through the air and we get a kick of how they plop into the water when they are trying to land.  But they come up with a fish in their black beaks almost every time they dive.  They mate for life and they nest in the sandstone walls that border Ewing Cove.

Friday the 22nd of May is a special day for us because it is Lindsey's 23rd birthday.  When we woke up we sent her an E-Mail of congratulations and then began to enjoy the amazingly beautiful day.  Clear blue skies, not a cloud in sight, lots of dew overnight on the boat and a fresh breeze from the North where our good weather comes from.  We motored over to nearby Matia Island and caught a buoy.  Then we went ashore in the dinghy for what is the best 1 mile long hike in the San Juan Islands.  The trail winds through old growth Douglas Fir that somehow escaped the loggers 130 years ago when the Northwest was scalped.  It has not been so lucky as to escape the bloggers.  Matia also has a number of quiet little bays and coves that are too small for anchorage so they are empty - but beautiful.

View of Mount Baker from Matia hike
 

When the hike was over we decided to move on to Stuart Island which contains a small State Marine Park, but mainly is an island where people live.   However, Stuart is not served by the ferries so there are very few residents - probably less than 200 and the island is about 10 miles long and 2 miles wide.  So no one is rubbing shoulders with anyone else.  There was some wind and we sailed briefly but in the end we decided to high tail it with the engine as Stuart was about 2 hours away.  We took a buoy in Prevost Harbor, one of the two anchorages on Stuart and  settled in for the Memorial Day weekend.