Jones Island – Riveted

To Fisherman Bay, Lopez Island

Laura Domela — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 23:25:27 +0000

We left Jones Island this morning and cruised back over to Friday Harbor for some grocery-getting and some lunch.

Airship, middle of the below photo:

The forecast for tomorrow looks a little rough, so we chose to head across to Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island and stay put until Tuesday.

Tonight
E wind 5 to 15 kt…becoming NE 25 to 35 kt after midnight. Wind waves 2 ft or less…building to 4 to 6 ft after midnight. Rain or snow showers likely.
Mon
N wind 25 to 35 kt…easing to 20 to 30 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 4 to 6 ft. A chance of snow showers in the morning…then a slight chance of snow showers in the afternoon.
Mon Night
NE wind 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft.

Gorgeous winter day for a cruise. Fisherman Bay is only 3-4nm from Friday Harbor. We were wishing we had further to go, so we slowed down a bit to make it last a little longer.

The sandbar at the entrance to Fisherman Bay is littered with boat bones:

Entering Fisherman Bay is shallow and winding but not difficult as long as you pay attention to the markers, your chart, your depths, and the plethora of crab traps as you wind your way in.

Safe Harbour and Airship are tucked in and anchored in the bay now, and we’ll probably have dinner together again and then make an early night of it, and with less wine (unlike last night). Tomorrow we’ll get some more Slowboat work done here with Sam and Anna before heading back to Anacortes on Tuesday.

Finally! Tiny Deer!

Laura Domela — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 01:03:17 +0000

We’re back at Jones Island tonight (three Nordic Tugs!): Dan & Eileen on Fortunate (a 32′), and Sam, Anna, David, and Mark on Safe Harbour (Sam’s 37′).

Airship, with rainbow:

We are moored on the north side of Jones, since the wind today and tonight will be SE. This afternoon we dinghied to shore and did a little hike across to the south side.

Not too long after we started our hike, we (FINALLY) saw one of the famous tiny deer of Jones Island! Everyone talks about them, but we’ve never managed to spot any when we’re here…until now!

It was not afraid of us at all (because, no predators on the island). We stood and chatted with it for a while and then moved on.

On the south shore, we saw a single camper over at a campfire, presumably staying in one of the little camping shelters. This is his rowboat (rowboat!!), and it was not looking all that…robust (and had quite a lot of water in it).

It’s a little rough out there and we wondered where he’d come from (maybe Orcas Island?). Hope he keeps warm tonight in that little shelter!

Sam took this great photo of us all with the drone earlier:

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Tomorrow we’ll return briefly to Friday Harbor to drop off David and Mark, do some groceries (maybe check out the recommended sushi spot for lunch), and then probably head for another TBA anchorage.

Tonight everyone’s meeting for and cooking dinner (all eight of us!) over on Safe Harbour. Should be festive!

Sucia Island to Jones Island to San Juan Island

Laura Domela — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 21:01:27 +0000

Sam took that photo of Airship, above, as we were on our way from Sucia Island and headed for Jones Island yesterday. The wind was picking up and we figured it would be best to get inside the islands with a little more protection so we didn’t have to cross over in worse conditions. We left with the wind and current at our backs, and it wasn’t too bad…choppy and maybe 4ft following seas.

We moored at the south side of Jones Island last night, and got some more work done before dinner. It’s still quite cold out (30 degrees Fahrenheit when I took this photo just before sunrise this morning), and there’s snow in the forecast for this afternoon, but we’ll see:

After breakfast on Sam’s boat, we cruised over to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, where we are now. We’ll stay here while the wind does its thing (NE wind 25 to 35 kt. Wind waves 4 to 6 ft.). We’re recording another Slowboat webcast today (an overview of the Inside Passage), and we’ll probably go into town for dinner tonight…then more webcast work tomorrow. Excited to get these finished and posted for you guys to check out!

We’re Back in the Islands!

Laura Domela — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 23:27:46 +0000

We're back in the San Juan Islands and the weather is lovely!

We came up on Sunday with some family in tow and took a quick little two-hour excursion in Airship over to Cypress Island and back in the rain. It was still fun, but we're happy the weather has improved since then. On Monday morning we all took a little cruise on the new Nordic 44 that's at Cap Sante right now and almost ready to head off to its new owners. Nice boat!!

Then on Monday afternoon we headed over to James Island to meet our friend Sam for some cruising. Once we got there, we all decided that it might be a little exposed for the winds, so we moved over to Brigantine Bay at Decatur Island for the night. We rafted onto Sam's Nordic Tug 37 and had a nice time catching up.

A dusting of snow on Orcas Island:

Rafted at Decatur Island:

Our route: Anacortes to James to Decatur (with a little detour before mooring to finish up a phone call while in cell range):

In the morning, we dinghied into shore and hiked up to the top of Decatur Island (well, almost the top).

Headed back down:

After our hike and some breakfast on Airship, we headed over to the south side of Jones Island State Park and we each grabbed a mooring ball in the South Cove.

Our route, Decatur Island to Jones Island (about 12 nautical miles):

Airship in South Cove:

Safe Harbour (Sam's NT 37):

Sam launched his (fast) dinghy and we headed across to explore Yellow Island (about a mile from Jones Island). Yellow Island is an 11-acre nature preserve in the San Juan Islands, accessible only by small craft.

"In 1979, Joe and Sally Hall chose to sell Yellow Island to the Conservancy because they wanted it to be preserved as it was when Sally's parents, Lew and Elizabeth "Tib" Dodd, homesteaded in 1947.

For 30 years the Conservancy has honored the Dodd and Hall family legacy, preserving, restoring and expanding what the Dodds began.

When Lewis and Elizabeth Dodd bought the island in 1947, they were determined to live in peaceful coexistence with nature. An avid reader of Thoreau, Lewis Dodd strongly believed in self-sufficiency. After living in a tent for two years, he and Tib moved into a house, a small rustic cabin they built with beach-combed timber and rock. This distinctive landmark remains basically unaltered to this day.

As the Dodds cultivated a small garden, planted a few fruit trees and grape vines and raised chickens and pigeons for meat, they left the island’s wealth of animals and plants largely undisturbed. Their years on the island were testimony to a lifestyle in harmony with nature." [From nature.org. More here.]

Lew Dodd memorial plaque:

Shadow selfie:

Looking across at Jones Island…the dark spot on shore is South Cove, where our boats were moored:

We hiked all over the island (which doesn't take all that long, because…11 acres):

Caretaker's cabin:

He's here all year:

Weathered signage:

We took the dinghy back to Jones Island and then we all just hung out and visited and I cooked us dinner: pappardelle carbonara, with a fennel and blood orange salad. Fun evening!

This morning we went ashore on Jones Island and hiked across to the North Cove. The tide was high, so we "logged" the dinghy, rather than beaching it:

Lots of wood on the beach this morning:

View from North Cove, mountains (way) in the distance:

Back at South Cove:

After our short hike (and some breakfast), Sam headed back to Anacortes, and we headed for Patos Island. Unfortunately, there was a boat just ahead of us on our way to Active Cove on Patos, and they got there first (and there's STILL only one mooring buoy!), so we headed over to Sucia instead. We're moored in Shallow Cove, with a pretty good view to the north. The chance of Northern Lights is really high tonight and tomorrow night, so maybe we'll have some aurora photos to post next! For now, here's the sunset from our spot:

We've got crab traps out, so maybe we'll have some New Year's Dungeness!

Here's today's route from Jones Island to Patos Island to Sucia Island (about 14.5 nautical miles total):

A Wildlife Dry Spell

Laura Domela — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 00:27:11 +0000

I was SO looking forward to seeing whales today on our long cruise back to Anacortes. I had a blog post all worked out…I was going to talk about how finding whales in the Salish Sea was easier than finding a herd of tame deer on a tiny little island. (There were photos all over the internet of humpback whales in Haro Strait yesterday!) But alas…no whales for us.

We had a lovely cruise though from Jones Island around the back side of San Juan Island and then on to Anacortes. (I drove the boat while Kevin worked, mostly.) We got back to our slip, hosed off the boat, and then went to grab dinner at Adrift (so good!) and now we're back at the boat. Tomorrow morning we start Day 1 of a 3-day preparation seminar for our trip up the Inside Passage to Alaska…the trip that starts on May 16! So soon!!!

Here's our whale-less route from today (41 nautical miles):

Still No Deer on the Island of the Tiny Tame Deer

Laura Domela — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 15:34:08 +0000

We have now hiked every trail on Jones Island — no deer. I thought I saw one when we were coming around the northeast tip of the island, but it was only a leprechaun.

However devoid of deer, this half of the island still has lots of moss, mushrooms, and beautiful scenery.

Here's the map from today's hike (you can see the two other loops that we did yesterday, too):

And two bald eagles just flew over the boat making loud eagle sounds, so that was cool.

Last night before we went to bed we went outside on the back deck to look at the stars, and noticed this gorgeous glow in sky from the Vancouver city lights. A rocking boat is not the best stable platform to capture such a thing in a photograph, but I got two pretty cool shots. The colors are different due to a slight change in shutter speed…the actual color was somewhere in between these two photos: