San Juan Islands

We’ve spent the last few days exploring San Juan Island in the Salish Sea of Washington. This was not part of our original plan, but was highly recommended by some friends, so we decided to add it to the itinerary. We’re very glad we did.

We arrived by ferry to the port town of Friday Harbor on the island of San Juan in the late afternoon on Tuesday. We spent the evening driving around the island. Unfortunately, the rain put a bit of a damper on our adventurous spirits. We made our way to Lime Kiln State Park, also known as “Whale Watch Park”. The rain let up as we wandered down to the rocky shoreline to look for whales. We spotted many Dall’s porpoises and a few harbor seals. The seals were quite amusing to watch. They seemed to choose the smallest rocks to balance their fat bodies upon. They looked so uncomfortable, constantly trying to shift their bodies into a more comfortable, yet ever-elusive position. They kind of reminded me of myself, trying to find a comfortable position on my sleeping pad every night in our tent. Just kidding.


After watching the sunset at the park, we drove back to Friday Harbor where we splurged on a real bed in a hostel called the “Wayfarer’s Rest”. What a neat little place! It was a cute little house with private rooms and dorm-style rooms, as well as two kitchens, common areas, and chickens in the backyard. We got a private room with a cushy queen-sized bed for $70. Not bad. We utilized the kitchen to fix our dinner and then got a good night sleep with no worries about the rain outdoors.

On Wednesday, we had a leisurely morning at the hostel, fixing breakfast and showering. Then we made our way into town and explored the shops. This area has a similar feel to the coast of New England. It brought to mind Bar Harbor, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. At noon, we met up with a small group of people at Discovery Sea Kayak Tours. We had scheduled a five hour kayak tour with a guide named Jesse, who happened to be from Portsmouth, NH. Fortunately, the skies had cleared up and we had an excellent forecast for the day.

In total, there were six people and three ocean kayaks on the tour. We embarked from Small Pox Bay after a kayaking lesson from Jesse. I had no idea there was any technique involved with kayaking other than simply paddling. Apparently, you are supposed to use your “core” and not just muscle your way through the waves. Good to know.

We paddled along the shore for a few hours, hugging closely to the rocks because there was an incredibly powerful current just a few yards off shore. Think of a powerful river... that was what the current felt like, and it was going the wrong way, as far as we were concerned.


We stopped for lunch at a little beach hidden amongst the rocky cliffs. After eating, Gideon and I swept the beach for beach glass. We gathered a big handful of glass, which now weighs down my fleece jacket pocket. I like the feeling of the rounded glass, so I plan on keeping the collection in my pocket for a while.



After lunch, we paddled past Lime Kiln State Park towards Deadman Bay where we turned around. We hopped on the current and had a quick paddle back to Small Pox Bay. Although we didn’t see any Orcas on our adventure, we still thoroughly enjoyed our day on the sea. We saw many harbor seals, birds, and my favorite, giant purple sea stars whose color was so vibrant they seemed otherworldly.


The evening was spent at the campground at Small Pox Bay, in San Juan State Park. I was prepared for a peaceful night with no worries of bears or other wildlife, being on a small island. But it was not to be. From the moment we arrived and set up camp, we noticed a few foxes running around the campground, as well as many deer feasting on the fruits of pear and apple trees in the sites. The apples were the size of large grapefruits and tasted of Granny Smiths. They made a good appetizer along with some cheese and crackers.

Back to the foxes. Basically, three or so stalked the camp all night. They were bound and determined to have our food and bugged us relentlessly until we went to bed. They would sneak up to within feet of us and stare at us. They would have crawled onto the table and asked for some Hamburger Helper and cabernet had we not continuously run them off yelling, clapping, and eventually banging pots together. Nothing kept them out of our hair for long. They’d reconvene in the woods and come up with a new strategy, sneaking up from behind or from either side. At one point, I found myself standing on the picnic table trying to get my ankles out of biting distance from the critters.

We went to bed soon after dinner and found ourselves wakened by falling apples (one falling on our tent with a thunderous crash at 2am), munching deer, and whining foxes throughout the night. It certainly was not what I was expecting at this picturesque island campground, but it made for a funny, if not terribly restful night at camp.


Now we are off to Victoria, British Columbia for a dose of English culture and class.