Explorations of Jackie & Joe: Sailing, kayaking & camping San Juans

Thursday-Sunday May 16-19, 2013

I was so excited for our 6th wedding anniversary mini-vacation to begin: sailing, kayaking & camping on a remote San Juan Island in the Puget Sound accessible only by boat! Sucia here we come!

We took Friday off since it would take over 5 hours to sail on one of Joe’s coworkers, Darren’s boat to get to Sucia Island. Thursday night we drove up to Anacortes to spend the night at Darren’s before an early morning on the water.

We went down to the Anacortes Cap Sante Marina.

Jorge planned to ferry over to Orcas Island, spend the night and then kayak over to Sucia Island to join us for our remote vacation. This left 4 of our us with 3 kayaks: 2 singles and our big old tandem. How are we getting our kayaks to the remote Sucia Island when we are riding on the sailboat there you ask? This is how!

We grabbed dinner and drinks at the Brown Lantern in Anacortes. Darren’s house overlooks the Anacortes and the waters to the north. Joe and I slept on the futon in the large glass room overlooking the water. Since we were camping on the island, I got up early that morning to shower. As usual I felt Joe nudge me that it was time to get up. I got fully ready and then went to go wake Joe up. It was still pitch black out with many stars in the sky. It turns up I got up to take a 4am shower! At least I got to view the stars until I fell back to sleep for a bit.

Andy met us at the marina. Joe sat in our kayak that we towed behind the sailboat. He paddled along keeping it from hitting the other boats or docks in the marina. Once we were out we had him board the sailboat and get ready to begin our journey among the San Juan Islands.

Learning to sail from Darren (far right)

Near Saddlebag Island there is a buoy where this large seal lays out. Now that’s a big seal.

Our tandem kayak towing behind the sailboat was tracking back and forth the whole time.

Joe running the crank

Andy navigating the sailboat

We were getting a little cold and wet above the cabin.

About 2 hours into our 5 hour sail, Andy was coming out of the cabin and noticed lots of oil coming from the back-up engine room! Darren couldn’t find where it was coming from. There was no telling how much oil was enough left so we could not run the engine safely. Jorge had already started his paddle over to Sucia Island from Orcas Island. It was time to make the conservative judgement call and head back to port and meet up together on Orcas Island.

We came back around the large seal on the buoy again.

Bald eagle spotted in the trees on Guemes Island.

We got back to the marina and coasted the boat into the slip with the sails down and a whole of luck guiding the boat down the docks. We loaded the 3 kayaks atop Darren’s suburban and head back to his place to pick up a few more camping essentials since he’s plans of sleeping on the sailboat had been foiled. We got to the Anacortes ferry terminal an hour before and still didn’t make the ferry! We waited in the parking lot for hours to go to Orcas. It was a good thing we had a cooler full of beers and the makings for sandwiches.

We finally made it to Orcas Island around sunset. We got ourselves a campsite at West Beach Resort which has direct water access. They also have cabins with firepits and patios right on the beach. The hot tub was full and partying in full swing. Sunset at West Beach Resort

Jorge decided to stay the night on Sucia Island since the best current conditions weren’t until morning. In the morning, we got a surprisingly text from Jorge. He had gotten food poisoning over night and was paddling back while the water looked smooth! While we waited on Jorge, we went to an estate sale at the Ocras Island Pottery, a cooperative of about 24 potters. Joe happily picked up a souvenir container to keep salt in on the kitchen counter.

We drove over to the north side of Eastsound to await Jorge’s arrival.

Once we figured out the spot in the distance had to be Jorge, Andy decided he wanted to paddle out to him. The man had a bad case of this could be the last time he gets to paddle before moving back to Columbus.

It took Andy 30 minutes to even get ready to paddle. Jorge made it back by then.

Discussing Jorge’s tracking pattern and paddle choice.

Jorge sure looks happy to be back on an island with hot food!

While Jorge, Darren, Joe & I head into Eastsound for a bite to eat at the grocery store, Andy paddled from the north shore of Eastsound to West Beach Resort where we would all go paddle together.

Time to paddle!

Beautiful mossy Cliffside

Admiring the houses on the shoreline

Our view from the kayak

Seal!

Purple starfish!

We also saw some bald eagles but the point and shoot camera in the waterproof container doesn’t take the greatest pictures as you can see from the others posted from on the paddle part of the trip. The sun is starting to peak through and I see some blue skies!

We were close to the southwestern corner of Orcas Island and Jorge said we were able equal distance from the resort we were staying at and Eastsound. We decided to trust him and continue paddling instead of turning around to go back to the resort. As we hit the southern tip, the currents became stronger and we became tired quick. We took a quick pitstop at O’Connell Island. There a smart local kid out on a boat with his dad informed us that Deer Harbor was the closest marina. We were way too far to even make it to the Orcas ferry terminal, much less Eastsound. We decided to paddle over to the Deer Harbor Marina and get a cab back to the resort to get the suburban to take our kayaks back to camp.

Deer Harbor Marina

Back at camp we ate triscuits and some awesome cheese Darren brought and roasted hot dogs for dinner over the campfire. Jorge ate 9 hot dogs! I think he got his stomach back in full condition!

Jorge brought some great tequila from Mexico. It was so good.

In the morning we packed up camp and tried to get on an early ferry ride back to Anacortes. Yet again we were only a few cars short of making the first ferry. Here’s to another few hours of waiting around for the next one. We ate ice cream from Lopez Island.

There was a bunny under the Orcas Island Ferry Terminal sign just like every other time we’ve been here