This morning it was rainy rainy rainy at our moorage in Blind Bay. It had not been a super calm night, so we ended up sleeping until about 10am to make up for the other non-sleeping hours…the ones when we were out on the bow in the dark with headlamps, trying to reposition our mooring lines so the buoy quit bumping up against the bow (aka, our headboard). Anyway.
After breakfast we took the dinghy over to Blind Island to explore a little.
Blind Island is part of the Cascadia Marine Trail and a Washington State Marine Park. There are four campsites on the island (along with a ton of goose poop, and this tiny spine part):
The campsites are all gorgeous though, with beautiful views toward Shaw Island and Harney Channel. Each one has a fire ring and a picnic table, and plenty of soft grassy mossy stuff for tent-pitching.
Next we headed over toward the Shaw Island ferry landing to check out the highly rated Shaw General Store, but when I looked up the hours and it said open on Saturdays, I didn't realize that they close up completely from October until sometime in the spring. Oh well. Here it is (next to the post office):
We spent a few minutes checking out the community bulletin board across the street. (Tiffani! Property's cheap on Shaw!)
The little marina next to the ferry landing:
Mirror self portrait in the garden art:
We weren't sure we wanted to stay another night there in Blind Bay, since there was not much to do, and it was a little rough. The wind is supposed to die down by tonight, but we also wanted to explore a bit more, so we headed toward either (1) Friday Harbor on San Juan (2) Fisherman Bay on Lopez, or (3) Griffin Bay at the south end of San Juan. We opted for somewhere we hadn't been before and are now anchored in Griffin Bay. We have to head home early though so I don't think we'll have time to really explore all that's here to see, so we'll need to come back. Always good to get more anchoring practice, though!
Here are some shots from the cruise over here:
It turned out to be such a beautiful day:
Mist in the hills above where we're anchored:
We're sipping a martini and snacking on some pickled herring, and I'm going to make dinner pretty soon here (zucchini noodles tossed with kale and basil pesto, with fresh garlic sauteed prawns).
And here's a quick shot I just got of the moon rising (not much detail in the moon…sorry 'bout that):
Also, tonight is our 45th night on the boat since we bought it at the end of September!!
Oh yeah, and here's today's track:
A better question might have been, “What has you want to move around so often?” which you answered beautifully. It was a good question for those of us who live rather stationary lives. I for one have been living vicariously through your images and stories. My husband gets terrible motion sickness so would never entertain this lifestyle. I’ll have to settle for living on the coast and kayaking in calm waters.
Friends/clients sailed around for 2 1/2 years. They took a sabbatical from their work, learned how to sail, bought a boat and never looked back. The wife told me she used to get violently ill for the first three days at sea. After three days she was fine. If they were on land or anchored for more than a week she would go through the violent effects of sea sickness all over again so then never set anchor for more than 5 days anywhere for 2 1/2 years.