Category Archives: Nature

By Teri Williams

Heading to Friday Harbor on Christmas Day.

Every other year Jay and I find it’s just the two of us on Christmas morning. We actually look forward to these holidays as much as the full-on grandma-and-pa celebrations with all the trimmings and train set running under the tree. This was our year and the Blue Pearl called for us to pull her away from the dock and breath the fresh salty air. Loaded down with a baked Coffelt ham, fixings for Debbie Woodruff’s garlic potatoes, my garden spaghetti squash, long johns and earmuffs, we pulled away from the dock at 3:00 on Christmas Day. Little did we know it would be a cruise to remember.

We see only one other sailboat on the way, plus four powerboats.

A half-hour under way it dawned on me – we are going to lose daylight! Probably a good time to ask Jay what is on his mind for the night. We usually tie up to a dock this time of the year as it’s warmer, you sleep better and wake up where you left her the night before. Windless, blue sky scattered with white clouds and sun on our face, we arrive at the Port of Friday Harbor at 4:08. Not bad, very calm, saw four powerboats and one sailor.

On the foggy, cold morning after Christmas, the Blue Pearl heads north to Roche Harbor. No wind again (Jay says we really have a power boat). No sign of another adventurous sailor, we cross paths with Washington State Ferry headed to Vancouver and the Pintail barge.

We bring up 16 crabs in our pot, three keepers.

Arriving into Roche Harbor at 2:44, we dropped two crab pots and cruised the harbor (Laurie and Eric say it should only take 30 minutes and fresh chicken). Half an hour later we had 16 crabs in one pot, three keepers. Tie to dock at 4:11. Ready for warmth and a hot toddy.

Festive lights decorate the dock in Roche Harbor.

Crab on ice, we head to Roche restaurant, all lit with festive lights and music of the season. It really does feel like Christmas!

A lazy morning turns into a “get your butt in gear, we need to go with the currents and get back to Orcas!” It was very windy with dark clouds as we motored through Spieden Channel. Nobody was out except the Coast Guard and a few fisherman. Throughout the trip, I kept saying to Jay, “wouldn’t it be a wonderful gift to see whales?”

Just then, off the north end of Jones we see what looks to be a porpoise, but turns out to be a mother and baby whale swimming. A few air blows of spray in the air and our hearts were racing. I run to get my iPhone and push the video button. No matter how many times or how many of these beautiful mammals you see it is always very exciting and memorable. So much so, you better memorize it in your soul because if you are like me, all you get on the video is sky and your feet with a lot of vocals that sound like “oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!” We must have been one of the first to see the new baby orca, Calf J50. We followed for a bit, but they were headed north and we would have had to buck the current, so turn around we did.

We must have been among the first to see the new orca calf.
(From Yahoo News, photo by Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research)

It was a memorable Christmas indeed and a successful sailing on the Blue Pearl…. ahh, I mean motoring. No matter, the saying goes, there is nothing better than messing around on a boat, especially when you do it on Christmas, eating crab, dodging ferries and being one with the whales.

Want to learn more about the new baby whale? Here are two articles you might enjoy:

Orcas Issues: Hey Girl, Who’s Yo Mama?
Yahoo News: Newborn killer whale a good sign for imperiled pod

Whenever I leave the office and Jay is not on call for OPALCO, we welcome the opportunity to go sailing. Every trip offers new discoveries, and gives us a chance to relax and appreciate our beautiful surroundings. In this boating log, I share my adventures with you.

By Teri Williams

Shallow Bay- Sucia Island
48 45.79’N 122 55.47’W

According to the Cruising Guide to the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands, Shallow Bay offers the best sunset views of any anchorage on Sucia Island and has the warmest water for swimming.

Well, I cannot attest to the sunset due to thick heavy fog surrounding us the entire time we spent there. I can, however, state the bay supports swimming. There was a wide Catamaran anchored shoreward of us where we watched and listened to four kids play and romp atop her wide deck all afternoon. When the fog thickened in the early evening we could only hear the kids, who were counting “one, two, three, go,” then splashes and gulps of air rang through the thick air, evidence of jumping into the water. This went on for some time. Very nostalgic, only to hear the sounds of this frolicking!

During the day, Jay and I rowed ashore and did a two-hour hike over to the beach at Echo Bay and Fossil Bay. The woods were thick, but trails were more populated than Matia Island. The hike back to Shallow Bay from Fossil Bay looked more in keeping with the forest at Matia. The trail along the Echo Bay side was less dense, fewer trees and salal instead of large ferns.

There are red and green markers at the entrance of Shallow Bay which can easily be seen from a distance. The depth changes quite fast when entering this area.

Shallow Bay has seven mooring buoys, with some anchorage room as well, but the basin is smaller than it appears on the chart. Know your tides and allow for plenty of swing room. The guide states southeasterly winds can come across the marsh on the southeast end of the bay, but there’s no problem with swells from boat traffic out in Boundary Bay. We bounced around some during the night with what felt like swells, but never really heard the wind. Next time I believe we will choose to anchor so we are not hammering the buoy all night!

All the shoreline around Shallow Bay is State Park land. The cluster of Sucia Islands was purchased in 1960 by the Puget Sound Interclub Association and then donated to the State for protection as a Washington State Marine Park.

Whenever I leave the office and Jay is not on call for OPALCO, we welcome the opportunity to go sailing. Every trip offers new discoveries, and gives us a chance to relax and appreciate our beautiful surroundings. In this boating log, I share my adventures with you.

By Teri Williams

Fossil Bay, Sucia Island
48 44.68’ N, 122 53.65’ W

Fossil Bay gets its name from the fossils found in the surrounding bluffs and could easily be the most popular bay due to the number of individual buoys (15), can-line buoys (2), two floats (100’ in length) and plenty of room to anchor.

Little Herndon Island used to serve as the guest book for Sucia, but the practice of writing your boat’s name on the cliffs is now prohibited. You can still see remnants of names, some believe due to the State coming out to sandblast the writing, which in some places just memorialized it.

Plenty of beach, campsites, fire pits, BBQ and an enclosed picnic area sit at the head of the bay. All of the shoreline and surrounding land is State Park land. Sucia was purchased by the Puget Sound Interclub Association and placed in trust of the State of Washington 4-29-60 – “For Yachtsman Forever.”

Head directly into Fossil Bay from the southwest, keeping in the middle and away from reefs off of the tip of Wiggins Head. Mud Bay behind Herndon Island dries at low tide.

Whenever I leave the office and Jay is not on call for OPALCO, we welcome the opportunity to go sailing. Every trip offers new discoveries, and gives us a chance to relax and appreciate our beautiful surroundings. In this boating log, I share my adventures with you.

By Teri Williams

Matia Island
48 45.03’N, 122 50.99’ W

Matia Island is less than two miles east of Sucia Islands, just north of Orcas Island. Although equally beautiful as Sucia, it attracts fewer people. Matia is jointly administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Washington State Department of Parks and Recreation, and is designated as a refuge for seabirds, eagles and seals. Along with Turn Island (located southeast of Friday Harbor, where I saw my first small pod of whales for my birthday sail adventure), this is the only National Wildlife Refuge in the San Juan Islands that is open to the public.

On Matia, activity is limited to the five acres of State Park land, where there are a few campsites, picnic tables, a composting toilet facility, and a must-do mile trail where you hear nothing, literally, stand near many old growth who show signs of a fire long ago and notches from spring boards. The ferns are some of the largest I have ever seen.

You will find three beaches, two accessible. Sand, small gravel and large beach logs give welcome to getting your toes along the shoreline and explore. Sorry: no pets allowed on Matia Island.

The remaining 140 acres of Matia are the exclusive preserve of puffins, oystercatchers, seals and otters. We witnessed many blue herons close by, perching in the dead limbs of trees along the top of the sandstone/rock banks lining Rolf Cove.

In Rolf Cove, you will find a public small dock, which allows four tie-ups. We tied to the northwest end and shared the dock with three other 20-35’ boats. Rumor has it that there is an old settler’s ruins “Hermit of Matia,” who rowed weekly to Orcas to socialize. Jay and I did not spot anything that looked like ruins of a settler, just some ivy and fruit trees that suggest past inhabitants.

The current runs strong through Rolf Cove, and the south entrance is the better of its two entrances. Anchorage can be tricky, but we witnessed many come in for a short walk, to fish, or to just enjoy a relaxing float in a very quiet cove for the afternoon. Many of the overnighters left and went touring around the island in their skiffs with motors. Jay and I thought about it, but we row our skiff and did not want to spend the rest of this sunny relaxing day fighting a current that was taking us south. There are signs around the Island reminding you to stay 200 yards away. Puffin Island lies to the East and is surrounded by off-shore reefs and wildlife taking in the heat from the sun.

Getting ashore is limited to the State Park Float. The beach along this shoreline is sandy and gets afternoon sun, which heats up the sand and beach logs for sitting and taking in the scene, unbelievable September weather in the San Juan Islands.

Sunset featured deep colors that silhouetted the Sucia Islands group.

NOTE: My Cruising Guide to the Puget Sound mentions fire pits. We saw some homemade makeshift pits, but fires are not allowed on the island