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| Deer Harbor pool |
This is the first year that we took the kids to the San Juan Islands and it was also the first year that we took them on an extended trip on the boat. I'm glad that we didn't go to too many spots, it gave us a chance to enjoy ourselves at the spots we did choose. We weren't going to leave until Saturday morning, but my parents got delayed on their trip and all of sudden I find myself packing like a madwoman so that we can get done and leave with them Friday morning. Our friends also decided to leave a day early as well, so it was all of us down there at the marina Thursday getting things ready to go, and we spent the night on the boat so we could leave early in the morning.
We left very early Friday morning, the kids were still asleep. I had got up early to run and shower so I was all ready to go!
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| Sunrise |
Shortly after leaving we hit a wall of fog and attempted to go through but it was no use. Mom and dad had left with Bob and Nancy about an hour earlier so they were warning us that the fog was bad. Bob and Nancy had radar so they were following them through it. Our friends, Bob and Rachel were not far behind and they had radar too, so we circled around and followed them through the fog which went on for hours.
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| Chad drove through it all! |
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| The sun came out for awhile but then we had some more fog to go though and the straights were pretty rough. Abby had to take Dramamine for her seasickness and slept through most of it. |
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| Getting some fresh air now that we're out of the straights. |
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| First stop, Spencer Spit. We anchored out hooked to mom and dad. It was a ROUGH night! |
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| Pretty view and sunset though! |
Next night we headed over to Deer Harbor which is completely different than from the last time I was there. We had a lot of fun and stayed 2 nights there!
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| We went for a hike to lookout point. |
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| Tristan had to go pee. |
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| The boys loved to watch the seaplanes take off. |
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| Our perpetual drying and airing out of Tristan's pee-soaked sleeping bag. |
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| Mom with her grandkids on the way to the giftshop. |
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| Off to meet Bob and Nancy on the way to Canada. |
After Deer Harbor, we head over to Rosario for 3 nights. I would have been happy to stay everynight there - marina pool with drinks and food next door, free showers, hottub at the mansion, great field for the kids to play in, seaplane taking off/landing all day long. Only downside - bees. I'm now equipped with a bug-zapper for next year!
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| Bob and Rachel |
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| We also went to the organ show! |
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| The indoor pool! |
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| Having fun at the marina pool. |
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| The kids play with the underwater camera. |
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| Feed the deers! |
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| Football with Charlie and Blake. |
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| and Badminton. |
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| Exploring the Rosario hotel grounds. |
After Rosario we tried to go to Friday Harbor but there was fog in the channel so we made a short hop over to Blakely Island. Blakely Island is a private island, which I knew, but what I didn't realize was that meant even the roads are private and nobody can even leave the marina grounds - it felt a bit caged. But, they did have an awesome store/deli where we got ice-cream before dinner and then fresh doughnuts and coffee then next morning. Their showers and laundry services were reasonable as well.
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| We walked out and rang the bell - it was loud! |
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| Hanging out on the grass watching the sunset. |
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| The kids had fun fishing. |
The next day we contemplated trying to go to Friday Harbor again but we decided on Port Townsend instead thinking that it would make the next day (our final) a lot easier to get home. There is some fog but it should lift completely by the time we're in the straights (right?). No. We get partway across the straights and realize that the fog is actually coming in (which is bizarre for mid-afternoon). We cannot see Port Townsend and we can no longer see where we were previously. After consulting a currents chart with my near-dead phone, we decide to brave Deception Pass at slack tide. We can see Deception pass from where we are and start heading that way but we have some time to burn so we put the sails up and go slow. Approximately 30 minutes before slack, a massive fog bank completely engulfs Deception pass and we can't even see the bridge any longer. We turn around (for who knows how many times now). Eventually, we find ourselves farther away from home than where we started that morning at Anacortes. We pulled in after hours but our friends Bob and Rachel were there and had told us there were plenty of spots. They also told us that they had a great day in Anacortes with great weather (we should've just gone there to begin with). The only good thing was that while in the straights, we saw whales a few times, so apparently, it was our whale-watching tour day!
The next day we made it home uneventful, with no fog, and because of the currents, in record time!
