Sucia again

May 24, 2009

Having Lindsey aboard means that we are going to retrace some steps since she loves the same places in the San Juans that we do.  

This morning we looked around Friday Harbor a bit and had some coffee and rolls in a WiFi coffee shop.  Then we cast off and headed back up San Juan Channel toward Sucia Island.  We had a strong flood current behind us and our average speed for two hours was more than 9 knots.  That meant that the current was flowing in our favor at more than 2 knots per hour.  At Sucia we decided to anchor in Echo Bay as it is the Memorial Day weekend (a beautiful one at that) and there are boats everywhere.  A week ago there were three boats in Echo Bay.  Tonight Liz has counted 75!  By tomorrow afternoon there will probably only be a handful once again.  Although May and June have long days and the possibility of good weather, the boating season in the northwest really doesn't begin until around the 4th of July.

So far on this voyage we have been tied to a buoy or a dock every night.  But don't get the idea that that pattern will continue much longer.  As we move north, the buoys in public parks will peter out and then the docks will disappear.  By the time that we get to the Cortes Island mentioned in the title of this blog we will be anchoring every night.  Cortes Island is found at the northern extremity of the Straight of Georgia adjacent to Desolation Sound, which is a Canadian marine park, and it is not named after the Cortez who conquered Mexico.  Rather it is named after someone on one of the Spanish expeditions to the Northwest..  Some of our readers, the cultured ones, will have already  figured out that the title of the blog is a play on words to a famous John Steinbeck book.   If you can't figure it out, ask a cultured friend.   But the play on words aside, Cortes Island is one of our favorite islands and we'll tell all about it when we get there - which may not be for quite a long time because it is far away and because we have some obligations that may delay us.

Once our anchor was down and set we put the outboard motor onto the dinghy and went ashore for a hike out to Johnson Point - about 2 miles each way.  There are more than 25 miles of trails on Sucia Island and even though there can be up to 500 people on the island on a sunny summer weekend, we hardly ever see anyone on the trails.  The people cluster on the beaches at the head of the anchorages.  So we feel that we have the island to ourselves.  The end of the trail to Johnson point is a sloping exposed bluff with views out to Matia Island and 12,000 foot Mount Baker to the east - a perpetually snow capped semi-active volcano.  There is a marker at the point that recounts that the island was first explored in the late 1890's by US surveyors.   Their markings on the rocks are still visible.

Camus and Orcas Island from Johnson Point on Sucia

Carl and Jude at Johnson Point

Lindsey's wrist is in a brace and we'll just have to see how fast it heals up and she can return to work.  Last night she came walking off the ferry in Friday Harbor burdened down with her clothes and bedding.  We sympathized with all the weight she had to carry one handed until she unpacked her back pack and pulled out hard back copy of War and Peace!  Unabridged.

            LIz with dreads

She has been living at home so that she can save as much money as possible as fast as possible.  Once she has her nest egg replenished she plans to go off traveling again.  But with a bad wrist she is not going to be scooping too much ice cream.