Watmough Bay – Riveted

Watmough Bay, Lopez Island

Laura Domela — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 14:19:24 +0000

We had a beautiful calm, silvery cruise from Turn Island out around the bottom of Lopez Island and over to Watmough Bay.

View from our new moorage:

Once we were settled (takes about 2 minutes) Kevin decided to take the dinghy and the Torqeedo out for some exploring, while I kicked back and read a book. Ahhh, Saturday!

Today it's gray and raining a little bit, but still calm and our cruise back to Anacortes this afternoon should be calm and uneventful.

Watmough Bay to Rosario Resort

Laura Domela — Fri, 15 May 2015 00:29:54 +0000

Yesterday at Watmough Bay Kevin and I took the dinghy into shore and did a little hike to stretch our legs.

Sideways tree:

Airship on its mooring ball:

Kevin grilled some delicious tenderloins for dinner, and I made a side of zucchini and cous cous and a spinach salad. It was mostly calm in Watmough last night except for the occasional mild ship wake coming into the bay.

This morning we got up and I made us some little black forest ham, egg, spinach, and gruyere frittata cups, with a side of berries:

After breakfast we cruised over to Rosario Resort on Orcas Island for our last night with Kevin's mom. We thought a little spa time would be a nice way to end a few days cruising around the islands with us.

The day morphed from gray drizzle and fog to sunny blue sky gorgeousness:

We got our slip at the Rosario marina and then walked up to the mansion to explore a bit. After that, we spent some quality time in the hot tub and the indoor saltwater pool.

We really lucked out with the weather this week!

We returned to Airship and had a little snack on the top deck and almost fell asleep in the sun. GORGEOUS OUT TODAY I tell ya!

We worked all day in between all of this, and then worked some more this evening. Kevin and I also installed a dimmer for the LED lights in the stateroom, but we had a little roadblock during the install of the dimmer on the salon/galley lights so we'll save that for another day.

Dinner tonight will be barbecued brisket and pulled pork (some of it made into tacos) with a side salad and a couple slices of zucchini. Tomorrow: back to Anacortes. Saturday we have a few last minute things to do/get before Alaska, and then at 5pm we meet up with our flotilla buddies for a happy hour potluck. And then, bright and early Sunday morning we take off for Southeast Alaska. I think we're ready!

Here's today's track: Watmough Bay to Rosario Resort, Orcas Island: 14.48 nautical miles

K-Dubs and HBs

Laura Domela — Wed, 13 May 2015 21:10:44 +0000

We left Roche Harbor this morning and headed out to find some whales. It was a good day for 'em! Just as we were coming around Henry Island at the north end of San Juan Island we heard one of the whale watching boats nearby talking about K-dubs (radio code for killer whales) on the radio. We could see this boat (and the orcas) with the new Fuji binoculars (wow, was THAT ever a useful addition to Airship's accessories…will show you in another post), so we headed over toward the growing group of whale watching boats.

After watching the orcas from a distance for a while, we heard another nearby boat talking about some HBs (secret code for humpbacks) a little to the north, so we headed up there (with all the other boats).

It's quite a bit more fun when you just happen to come across whales as you're going about your cruise, but this was still pretty cool. The boats mostly stay a good distance from the whales (I know it doesn't look like it in this long lens/compressed distance shot above), but it definitely has a different feel when there are 10 boats covered in people watching with you.

It WAS pretty adorable when the new boat that showed up right before we left saw the humpback's tail for the first time and the whole boat cheered and screamed in glee.

There were two humpbacks traveling together, but only one would show its tail as it surfaced.

We continued down the west side of San Juan Island but didn't see anything else besides porpoises and seals.

We are now at Watmough Bay at the south end of Lopez Island. Here's our track from today (37.98 nautical miles):

English Camp: The Pig War

Laura Domela — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 17:19:00 +0000

We anchored overnight last night in Garrison Bay, on San Juan Island, near English Camp.

It was late in the day, but we had enough light to take the dinghy to shore and explore English Camp, comb the beach a bit, and take a hike out to Bell Point and back.

In 1859, when Great Britain and the United States agreed to a joint occupation of San Juan Island until the water boundary between the two nations could be settled, it was decided that camps would be located on opposite ends of the island. English Camp was/is located up here on the north end of San Juan Island, and American Camp was/is located at the south tip, near Cattle Point.

Rather than try to paraphrase all that I've now read/researched on the Pig War, I'll direct you to the this account by Jeffrey A. Thomas, found here at Military History Online:

The origins of "The Pig War" were rooted in the treaty of 1846, which settled the claims of the United States and Great Britain in the lands west of the Rocky Mountains. The treaty established the 49th parallel as the boundary between the United States and Canada, until it reached to "the middle of the channel separating the continent from Vancouver's Island." The intention behind this was to leave all of Vancouver Island as British territory. Unfortunately the treaty [didn't] state what was meant by "the main channel". The British believed it referred to Haro Straight, to the East of San Juan Island, the Americans believed it to be Rosario Straight, on the West.

This of course left San Juan Island in limbo. The Hudson's Bay Company had claimed ownership of the island in 1845. In 1850 a salmon curing station was built followed in 1853 by a sheep ranch. In that same year Washington Territory was created and San Juan Island was made a part of Whatcom County. By 1859 about twenty nine Americans were living on San Juan Island, on land claims the British regarded as illegal. Tempers tended to be short.

On the morning of June 15, 1859 an American settler named Lyman Cutlar shot and killed a pig belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, as it was rooting in his garden. When Cutlar refused to pay for the pig Charles Griffin, the farm's manager demanded his arrest. The other Americans on San Juan sent a petition to Brigadier General William S. Harney the anti-British commander of the Department of Oregon. Harney was regarded by many as something of a hothead. Harney responded by sending troops from the Ninth Infantry under the command of George Pickett to San Juan Island. Pickett arrived there on July 27th.

In the meantime James Douglas, Governor of the Crown Colony of British Columbia dispatched a naval force to protect British interest, although he was angry over the situation he ordered Captain Geoffrey Hornby to avoid armed conflict if possible. Hornby wisely decided not to take too much action until his superior, Rear Admiral Robert L. Baynes arrived. When Baynes arrived on the scene he was shocked to find that the two countries were about to go to war over a pig.

Through the summer of 1859 both countries continued to move more forces into the area. By August 31, 461 Americans supported by 14 cannon dug into earthen redoubts were squared off against five British ships carrying 167 cannon and some two thousand troops. When news of the confrontation reached Washington a shocked President Buchanan sent General Winfield Scott to defuse the situation. Scott and Douglas corresponded, and agreed to withdraw most of their forces. At about the same time, in mid-September London and Washington agreed to a joint military occupation of San Juan Island until the matter could be settled by arbitration.

For the next twelve years both nations kept garrisons at opposite ends of the island. (Both are now National Historical Parks.) In 1871 the United States and Great Britain submitted the matter to the German Kaiser for arbitration. The Kaiser sent the matter to a three man commission, which ruled in favor of the Americans on October 21, 1872. A month later the British withdrew, and by 1874 the last American troops had left San Juan Island.

The only casualty of The Pig War was the pig.

Anyway, not much else to report. We're going to motor around the bend to Roche Harbor for a little provisioning and then head out to Stuart Island. The wind is supposed to pick up quite a bit overnight and Reid Harbor at Stuart Island is a nice, protected anchorage with good hiking, so we'll probably spend most of the weekend there.

A couple of bald eagles on the way into the harbor yesterday:

Yesterday's route from Watmough Bay to Garrison Bay (26.6 nautical miles):

Flying Around Watmough Bay

Laura Domela — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 14:22:17 +0000

Here's a short quadcopter video Kevin made yesterday while we were moored in Watmough Bay on Lopez Island:

Pretty spot, isn't it?

Good Morning from Watmough Bay

Laura Domela — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 18:01:21 +0000

It was a little bumpy overnight last night, and the wind/current/tide/wave combination made it so occasionally as we swung, the plastic mooring ball would bump the hull of the bow (aka the bedroom wall). It might have been a bit quieter on anchor.

We grilled some king salmon for dinner, and it turned out great! I made a glaze of maple syrup (3Tbsp), Dijon mustard (1Tbsp) and lemon zest from half a lemon, and brushed it onto the salmon filet, then topped the salmon with some partially cooked bacon (so we wouldn't overcook the fish while trying to crisp the bacon), and then brushed more glaze on top of the bacon…delicious (with a side of asparagus). It's a keeper!

View of the cliffs filling the galley window:

This morning after breakfast and a bunch of work (and a quick copter flight for some Watmough Bay aerials, coming soon), we took the dinghy to shore for a little hike.

From the trailhead you can actually hike up to the top of the cliffs on the north side of the bay, but we only had a bit of time to play around since Kevin had a call he needed to be on at noon. Before going back to the boat, we took the dinghy out for a quick loop around Boulder Island. We've been thinking about what we might ideally want for a new dinghy someday, and we've been entertaining two ideas:

(1) Versatile and quiet, like the Portland Pudgy with add-on sail kit (that telescopes and stores inside the boat!), and a Torquedo rechargeable electric motor:

(2) Fast and Comfortable, like the Apex Eurosport dinghy with bigger motor we saw at the Seattle Boat Show last month:

We're leaning toward fast and comfy. The Apex 11 Eurosport in this black and white color looked so sharp (and wouldn't show nearly as much of the diesel exhaust that our white Zodiac does), has built-in LED nav lights (and a step!) at the bow, seats 5, has a nice comfy for-2 driver's seat with storage underneath and a built-in gas can storage compartment. It's pretty dang sweet.

I think we'll head up to Garrison Bay today (on San Juan Island, near Roche Harbor). We haven't been there before and it's a known quiet anchorage with much to do nearby. We may stay a few days, even, since the wind/waves are supposed to pick up a bit soon.