On the Road-San Juan Islands, WA

SAN JUAN ISLAND


Off the NW Coast of WA is a group of islands, some too tiny for habitation, and all of them beautiful. It must have always been the perfect summer getaway for Seattle residents but when we visited we saw that there were many tourists from lots of places. We had heard and read how beautiful these islands are and we did not want to miss this. When I called for reservations there wer none or way beyond our budget so we decided on a day excursion. You can take your car with you but this may require reservations for the week-end and does require that you arrive 2 hours ahead to put your car in the line for boadrding. David and I decided that we would walk on the ferry as passengers and make our destination FRIDAY HARBOR which is the busiest town and very walkable on the island called itself Sna Juan.

The ferry ride across is picturesque(you see some really tiny islands as well as some larger inhabited ones) and cheap and they seem to always have a naturalist on board to give a talk to those who will listen. We went to hear a man talk about Orca whales--and we happened to see 3 not far from our ferry-as he spoke. To me, the most interesting thing that he said was how different whale pods can pass each other and pay no attention to each other, even though they live in big social groups and keep in sonar contact with their own group all of the time. The J pods around the Puget Sound are happy outgoing and eat only salmon--80% Chinook and 20% Chum. When there is not enough slamon, they starve rather than eat any other fish. The pod that they call the transients eat different kinds of sea mammals and eat no fish. DNA tests show that hey have not interbred in thousands of years; and the mammal eaters have a stronger jaw.

We disembarked on Friday Island and walked around. We started to the nearest beach and then I felt that we should go back to the harborside and get some lunch. High on a bluff overlooking the harbor, we sat at a table at the edge of the bluff. The restaurant is actually called THE BLUFF. The weather was perfect, the food and service extraordinary. As we began to eat, a good bluegrass band began playing form the park below and serenading us through lunch. We liked them so much that we went to hear the rest of the concert after lunch.