Sailing the San Juans Day 1-4

Day 1:  Arrival in Seattle

As the saying goes, “Timing is everything”.  After a completely perfect flight, direct from Boston to Seattle, including a 45-minute early arrival, we had about a 20-minute wait for our luggage.  What we didn’t know at the time was that about the time we were getting impatient, an airport worker was climbing into the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines plane to take it for a joy ride over Seattle.  2 fighters were scrambled from nearby Air Force bases and, eventually, the plane thief wound up fatally crashing the plane on a sparsely populated island.  So, just as we got our luggage, SEA-TAC was shut down for several hours.  Close call! 

 Our hotel was very nearby, and since we were exhausted, we went straight off to bed.

Day 2:  North to Bellingham

After breakfast, I headed to the airport to pick up the rental, back to the hotel to get Jeri and the luggage, and then back to the airport to collect the first wave, Dave and Molly.  Toby and Marty got to the airport only to find out their original flight was cancelled, but they were able to get on another flight about 2 hours later.  

Our Nissan minivan was a bit tight for 6 adults with luggage for 10.  Disembarking was reminiscent of a clown car.  The 2-hour drive to Bellingham turned into a 3 ½ hour epic due to multiple accidents (thanks to crazy Washington drivers).  We finally arrived early evening and fortunately found a great Italian restaurant (D’Anna’s) to have dinner.  

Tomorrow, our sailing adventure begins.

Day 3: Boarding Northwind

This morning we had some housekeeping to do; checkout, shop for boat booze and ginger (for seasickness, return the car to the airport, back to the hotel to pick up everyone and our luggage, and find our boat.  The hotel was great giving us rides both from the airport and to the dock.  

Finally arrived at Northwind and got to meet Jon, Jette, and Taylor (check out the doggie boat shoes!). The boat was exquisite, a 2009 Jenneau 55’ that was meticulously maintained by our crew.  The original owner was, no lie, John Travolta, and Jette and Jon purchased it from Burt Jabins Marina in Annapolis, the same marina that stored our boat when it was there.  While John and Jette finished getting the boat ready for us, we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant at the marina.  Dave took a run to the other side of the marina before lunch to get a crabbing license for tomorrow’s attempt at hunting for dinner.

We finally got to board Northwind and were shortly underway on a heading for Echo Bay on Sucia Island. I have to say, sailing with a captain is a lot more relaxing than bareboating- I was able to do as much as I liked, without the responsibilities.  Kind of like what I imagine having grandchildren would be like. We anchored (I didn’t have to do anything!!!), and sat up on deck with cocktails and delicious crab-stuffed mushrooms. This was a good omen for food to come. Jette certainly did not disappoint. Dinner was a fantastic potato crusted halibut with orzo salad, asparagus, and kale salad with blood oranges.  Jette is an amazing chef and so sensitive to all of our myriad dietary requests.  We are definitely gaining weight this trip.  We will have to up our cycling mileage when we get home.

Day 4:  San Juan Island

This morning, after a fantastic breakfast, we took a short hike around the island to try to work off a few calories. 

The wind picked up to about 12kts and we were sailing nicely on a beam reach to our afternoon anchorage in Garrison Bay off of San Juan Island.  Along the route, we saw many beautiful homes,

including the home of the Cinnabon man that included a 9-hole golf course.

                                 

We also saw a fair amount of wildlife including seals, Guillemots (birds we saw in the Arctic), ospreys, herons, and geese.

After anchoring (again, I had nothing to do with this, yeah) it was time to hunt for crabs.  They are serious about crabbing here, a lot like lobstering in New England.  We got a one day license that allowed 5 crabs (males over 6.25 inches) and Jon had one for a total of 10.  If you even touch any crabbing equipment without a license, you can be subject to fine or imprisonment.  Consequently, Dave and Jon were the only ones that could work.  I went along to document the event.  The process involved putting the traps together, baiting the traps with a delicious mix of raw chicken salmon, and halibut, and then dropping them overboard.

 

 We planned to return after dinner to collect or catch.  

Before dinner, we took the inflatable over to the island for a hike.  The island has a population of about 7,000 (including a female WWF wrestler). The dock brought us to the English Fort, a national monument that has a fascinating history.  In 1860, the border between Canada (Britain at that time) and the US was under dispute in this area.  The British and US (under Pickett soon to be of Pickett’s charge) both had garrisons on San Juan Island.  A pig from the British side was eating the garden of a local American who shot it. Incensed, the British requested $800 compensation (about $8million today), and the ensuing dispute called the “Pig War” lasted until 1872.  Fortunately, not a shot was fired and the dispute was eventually mediated by Kaiser Wilhelm I.  Canadians are still unhappy about the outcome which gave the US the territory.  The British encampment is still present as a national monument.  We took a short hike here up to a viewpoint overlooking the island.  Smoke from fires in British Columbia and Oregon, sadly, somewhat obscured the view. 

Back to Northwind to drop off the crew, then on to the crab pots to check our progress.  There were plenty of crabs in the traps, but only 3 that passed muster for sex and size.

Dave and Jon were going to go back out after dinner to pull the traps and hopefully find more crabs for dinner tomorrow.

When we got back to the both, we found Jette in the galley which now looked like a trattoria.  Hand-made pasta for dinner!

Amazing sauce from fresh tomatoes and herbs from their garden topped with huge shrimp.  Dessert was a pecan cheesecake.  There is no hope for our waistlines.

The traps yielded another 4 crabs.  Marty has graciously bowed out from crabs for tomorrow-he’s hoping for a thick, juicy sirloin.