Saturday, June 13, 2009

What a Day

Two weeks ago The Mr. and I pushed off from Blaine Harbor to spend a day on the Salish Sea with Drooler and his family Chasm, Dee and Cake for the first time. The sun was out, everyone smelled like sunscreen, the kids were snug in their life jackets, the icebox was packed and we were off for a day of fun in the sun! Our first stop was Sucia Island for a potty break and a short walk to stretch our legs. I must admit that most of all the purpose of the stop was to show off Sucia to the newcomers, as it is one of our favorite places! (Are you tired of me saying that yet?!) At Sucia, I spotted my first Climbing Honeysuckle, but didn't get good photos of it. I am trying to get a good photo of each of the flowers listed in my new book, just for fun.






Six baby geese with their momma and poppa.

Beautiful red colored Sea Anemones (I think) were attached to the sides of the dock at Sucia. When you poked them, the feathery part disappeared. We took a video, so make sure you watch it at the end of this post!

The first Fairy Slipper or Calypso orchid I found on Sucia. I like this shot because the guys are standing outside the composting toilets in the background lol. It adds atmosphere don't you think?!

Leaving Sucia.

No, this is not another place to sit on the boat. This is the swim platform. Please do not ask.

Look at that wall of water to his left.

Climbing up the steps to walk out onto the bow with his dad.

The busy state park dock at Jones island(it's the only dock there.) Hmm, just a thought: if you are a 40 foot boat complete with crane and dinghy, might it not be a courteous thing to use the mooring bouys in the bay instead of mooring at the dock? About half way through our visit to the bay, some boaters at the dock lowered their dinghy into the water, and climbed into it, motering past us while leaving their boat at the dock. We were so frustrated! Sadly we did not get to set foot on Jones island, I guess we need to get a blow up dinghy to keep on the boat? We had a really good time in the bay anyways and moored at a buoy for the first time, it was neat! We had a cold lunch and relaxed in the sun. Next time we will go back during the middle of the week and see if that is better. Anyways, please excuse the rant!



Tied up at the Roche Harbor breakwater dock. The regular guest area that we use was completely full as there was a Nordic Tugs rendezvous. It was so cool to walk down the dock and see so many of the same boat, they are so nice! We even saw one from Edmonton Alberta.

Big boats are pretty to look at, but I prefer our 21 1/2 footer because we can island hop as much as we want! I doubt this guy has ever visited three harbors and two state park islands in one day!

The "We brew Starbucks Coffee" was seen from afar at the Good Brew Coffee shop. Iced coffee tastes so good on a hot day. Actually, we all ordered iced americanos with vanilla and cream.


The gardens in front of the Hotel de Haro are so beautiful!

I love seeing this dark lilac variation.

While walking down the dock on our way back to the boat, we came across a shrimp farmer. I'm sure that is not what they are really called, but they had just finished harvesting and boiling their catch of shrimp for the day and offered us a sample. It was kind of weird to stand there and eat a shrimp while all his other little shrimpy friends were swimming around in a tank less than a foot away from us. Oh well, it was good!

We bought two pounds and ended up eating a few fresh, and the rest of them at home with lots of butter and freshly minced garlic. Mmmm.





Harbor seal families. The pups are adorable. Click on this one!

Drooler has good sea legs and was very comfortable on the boat. He is so big now, maybe we need to shorten his nickname to Droo? All these nicknames are probably getting hard to remember, but I still believe nicknames are better than real names, so that's just how it is. Chasm, Dee, Droo and Cake. What a family! Newcomers to the blog will be so confused, but I guess that's part of the fun, the old-timers will understand the code and know who everyone is and why they are called what they are.

Cake having a grand ol' time. She just loved watching the wake and water spraying up behind the boat. She would kick and squeal and laugh.

Minnows under the dock at Stuart Island.

We hiked about a mile on Stuart island. I got beautiful photographs of four different types of mushrooms, but I'll spare you from those. I also spotted my first Salal plants, but again didn't get a good shot of those. I didn't know they were edible, they sure look strange.

Not sure what these are, can anyone help me out? They aren't in my book.

Nor are these succulents.

After our hike at Stuart island, we were very hungry for dinner so we made our way to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island for dinner at the Hungry Clam. While walking from our boat, I noticed something to my left that looked very familiar. Why did it look familiar? I had just started reading this blog a couple of weeks earlier. It's a small world. Captain Rodriguez's blog is very interesting if you are a local boater and it was neat to run into his boat!

I've seen this yellow cab parked near the Doctor's Office coffee shop several times but this was the first time I was able to get a clear shot. I love old cars!

I never tire of taking photos of Mt. Baker.



This is so sweet. Tired kids with strong, loving parents to hold them tight on the ride home.

Dee holds a sleeping Baby Cake under that blanket. The seats at the stern are the most fun to sit in, and if it is a bumpy ride, it is the smoothest place to sit.


Semiahmoo

Our view of Drayton Harbor from Blaine as we are driving home.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, some great pics and a nice day for island hopping. I guess you have that tug boat's number if you ever need it... I hope that boat is still running when we retire and can come out there in the summer.
    Dad

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  2. What a fun post! And, beautiful pics!! I'm so jealous of the FRESH seafood... I feel very suspicious of "fresh" seafood in this town, I can't help it. I'm sure it's fine, but it doesn't seem quite right to call it fresh when it had to travel several hours to get here. :-)

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  3. Droo is a good more grown-up nick name for Drooler... although, I'd spell it Drew probably.

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  4. Really beautiful pictures! What a great day you all must have had! Thanks for a restful break in my day:)

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  5. Great pictures!! Thanks for the great adventure and documenting all the funness (great word, isn't it =p )of the day. You caught the kids' excitement so well. Droo is still talking about it, and loved looking at the post "You put gungeen -sunscreen- on me ... look, Mama, Cake! water! our boat! more water! Unca Mr.! TWO Unca Misters!!"

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  6. Wow! looks like such a fun trip! The picture of Cake and Droo are soo cute. She looks so much like Droo in most of them.

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  7. Agreed...awesome pics! Esp of the kids and J&H's family. Looks like a blast! That sunset picture on the water brings back great memories of our cruise in HI..nothing like being on the open water at sunset. What cool places you get to explore on that boat!

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  8. Beautiful pics. Can't wait until we can visit and go for a ride! And as dad says, when we retire!!! I'm sure it will be before that, I'll work on him! ;-)
    mom

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