San Juan Islands – Riveted

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:

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0164.JPG

" data-medium-file="https://i1.wp.com/www.riveted-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_2128.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i1.wp.com/www.riveted-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_2128.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-22085" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.riveted-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_2128.jpg?resize=800%2C600" alt="DCIM100MEDIADJI_0164.JPG" width="800" height="600" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/www.riveted-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_2128.jpg?w=800&ssl=1 800w, https://i1.wp.com/www.riveted-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_2128.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-recalc-dims="1" />

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!

More from Sucia Island

Laura Domela — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 17:32:44 +0000

The sunrise yesterday looked exactly like the sunrise today. It’s cold (28 degrees Fahrenheit) and perfectly crystal clear out. It’s gorgeous out!

Yesterday Kevin and Sam and I had breakfast on Sam’s boat and then hiked out to Ewing Cove to check out the sea conditions. Snowy mountains in the distance, from Echo Bay:

Rough water out past Ewing Cove. It’s hard to tell just how rough it was by these photos…but we would not have wanted to be out there yesterday!

Back on Safe Harbour, the three of us got to work on more webcast material. We’re excited to share these next ones with you!

Some clouds moved in yesterday afternoon and gave us a beautiful sunset:

I cooked dinner last night on Sam’s boat (shrimp tacos, and rice and beans). Here we are…at the dock in Fossil Bay, with the whole island to ourselves:

Here’s one of Sam’s drone shots from the other day (the day it was not gusting to 40 knots). This gives a good perspective. We’re docked in Fossil Bay, and the land that’s at the far left toward the top of the island is the outer edge of Ewing Cove:

Turn Island

Laura Domela — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 23:52:00 +0000

We left Anacortes this morning around 9:30am or so…sleeping in meant we had about 2 kts of current against us as we made our way out of Guemes Channel. Oh well. It was so nice to be on the water and out of the marina that we didn’t much care if today’s cruise over to Friday Harbor took a bit longer than usual. In fact, I even throttled back some of the time so it WOULD take longer.

The weather today was just fine. Not too windy, and we only had 1-2 foot chop in Rosario Strait.

We were feeling a little “marina fever” (the weather has been crap since we got to the boat last Saturday), so we decided we’d stop over at Turn Island (just around the corner from Friday Harbor) for a little hike before heading into the marina.

Found still life with barnacles:

The hike around Turn Island is about a mile and looks like this:

We’re tucked in at Friday Harbor now. We went for a walk when we first got here, and we’ll probably have dinner with friends tonight at the Downrigger (it’s back!!) Tomorrow we’ll be having Thanksgiving dinner at the Coho Grill (just like last year, only this time with friends). Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Another Night at Cypress Island

Laura Domela — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 22:06:09 +0000

Yesterday afternoon we went out on a sea trial of the new Nordic Tug 40, and this morning we went to the factory to check out another new Nordic Tug 44. We'll blog about this separately I think, but both new boats look fantastic. This afternoon we decided to pop over to Cypress Island for the night. We stopped at our favorite local seafood spot, Black Rock Seafood, and picked up some fresh local halibut, a few local spot prawns, some Shigoku and extra small Pacific oysters, and one container each of salmon pâté and smoked albacore pâté from Seabolts Smokehouse. (They are almost always sold out of these pâtés…they're so good!)

We got over to Cypress and did a few boat projects before heading to shore for a short hike.

We took the dinghy around Cypress Head and beached it on the other side of the sandy bar that connects it to the rest of the island:

There are two other boats here, and one empty mooring ball.

Tons of tiny, dead, brightly colored crabs on shore.

Curvy tree:

The hike around Cypress head is really only about a mile, but the other option from here goes straight up and we just weren't in the mood for that today.

Here's the track of our dinghy ride back to Airship from the other cove. There was about a 2kt current against us and a nice rip around the north edge of Cypress Head, but the Torqeedo handled it just fine!

Around the south end of Cypress Head:

Here's my office view right now (and if you look closely at my monitor, you'll get a sneak peak of the new NT40. I got some killer shots today of it as we were on our way out of Guemes Channel today, nicely lit with Mt. Baker in the background):

Dinner tonight will start with some oysters on the half shell, and then I think we'll grill this fresh halibut and I'll make a caesar salad (with my new homemade caesar dressing technology). Happy Saturday everyone!

K-dubs and the Po-Po

Laura Domela — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 22:50:14 +0000

This morning when I picked up my iPhone, I saw that I had a text from a friend and concerned blog reader, after yesterday's post. If you aren't caught up, read that post here first, and then come back.

She agreed to let me share our text conversation here, keeping her anonymous…I offered, she didn't ask.

Her: Hey. You could have some company this morning.

Me: What, who? Where are you?

Her: Well….I called the San Juan Sheriff's office and let them know they may want to check out that little hideaway.

Me: I think they already are checking out this little hideaway. That's what I think these guys are doing…monitoring this cove.

Her: So you think they are good guys?

Me: No judgment on good or bad, but I do think they are probably law enforcement, stationed in the lighthouse, watching the cove for suspicious activity.

Her: Well…the sheriff didn't seem to know about it if they are…but they did ask for your blog.

Me: Oh good. Now the sheriff is going to read my post.

Her: He did read the post. While I was on the phone with him.

Me: Awesome. What did he say?

Her: Thanked me for calling…took all my contact info…asked for the name of your boat…and said he would phone it into the marine unit.

Me: Well if this is all legit they're gonna think I'm a total troublemaker.

Her: That's why I gave you the heads up….

Me: Um, thanks?

Her: BTW, I don't think the popo are going to think you're a troublemaker. What if you just broke up an international trafficking ring???

Her: You're going to be a hero…

Me: It certainly makes for a weird state park experience here.

Her: …you'll prob get an award or something…

Her: …get on 60 minutes…

Her: …maybe even meet the President…

Me: You're such a dork.

Me: Remember, the San Juan Sheriff AND the Coast Guard were sitting in boats RIGHT in front of the lighthouse watching us as we arrived. The guys at the lighthouse have to be part of the whole thing. This is a very small island.

We left our mooring ball in Active Cove right in here somewhere, opting not to go hike back out to the lighthouse before leaving. Here are some sleepy sleepy seals on Little Patos as we exited the cove:

Meanwhile, the text conversation continued.

Her: I had my whole team [at work] read about it this morning.

Me: What did they say?

Her: They all think u are wise to get out before gunfire erupts. They can't believe you stayed there overnight.

Me: There was another boat. And it's a state park. (And we were surrounded by law enforcement who watched us come in and didn't tell us to leave or anything. If there was something dangerous going on, you'd think they'd have sent us away.)

As we continued on, we spotted some black dots in the water about a mile away. We got out the binocs and learned it was the group of 10 kayakers we'd seen arrive in Shallow Cove the morning we left. They were headed toward Patos Island.

Me: There are 10 kayaks headed to Patos now from Sucia. Kayak campers.

Her: Or…drug runners disguised as kayak campers.

Me: Right. Or that. At least they know how to dress the part…unlike the lighthouse cops.

As we made our way closer to Orcas Island, I was certain we'd be intercepted, but we weren't. We only saw one other boat and it was a police boat, but they never came toward us. At first I was a little freaked out that the San Juan Sheriff's Department read my post and might be passing it along to other law enforcement agencies, etc., but now I figure if they're trying to discourage illegal activity near the border, then having some blogger with 45,000 followers writing about how the place is teeming with all flavors of law enforcement would be a total bonus for them. (You're welcome, guys!)

p.s. We looked for more orcas today on the cruise. Nothin. Party's over folks.

Carhartt Guys: the Plot Thickens

Laura Domela — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 01:32:30 +0000

Alright. Here we go. If you follow along you’ll remember the last time we were here at Patos Island. By ourselves. The only boat on the one mooring buoy here. We hiked around the island and never saw another boat. But then, on our way from the lighthouse back to the beach where our dinghy was, we passed two guys heading toward the lighthouse wearing Carhartts and knit caps, the guy in front carrying a handheld radio. They said “hey.” We said “hey.” We expected to see their boat when we got back to the cove, but no boat. No kayaks. No nothing. It was curious to say the least. (It’s at this point the “making up stories’ engine roars into overdrive.) We never saw them leave. No boat came to pick them up. We were the only boat here. It was super odd.

So, fast forward one month.

Today was a weird day, for sure. Federal, state, and county law enforcement were out in full force here between Sucia Island and Patos Island and the Canadian border. (This is an area that’s usually pretty uninhabited. Most of the time we’re at Patos Island, we’re the only humans for miles around). Our friend Sam was pulled over by the San Juan County Sheriff and boarded after he left our moorage at Sucia. We were pulled over shortly after leaving Sucia by the Washington Department of Fish & Game (who had zero questions for us about any fishing, hunting, or game). They looked all S.W.A.T. team…and they said nothing about why they pulled us over and copied our driver’s licenses, either. There were sheriffs, fish and game guys, and coast guard boats ALL OVER today. All. Over.

So, we moored here in Active Cove on Patos Island, and after finishing up some work, we took the dinghy ashore for a little hike out to the lighthouse.

About 3/4 of the way out to the lighthouse, a voice calls out from a dead end branch of the path, off to our left. “Hey, do you know if there’s a restroom….?” indicating back the way we’d come from. It was a bit startling, for sure, to see this guy…this guy wearing Carhartts and a ball cap (with an American flag on the front)…coming FROM the direction of the lighthouse, where no boat could beach or anchor. We’re pretty sure this was one of the same two Carhartt guys from a month ago. And obviously, he KNOWS where the restroom is on this tiny island. I said “yep, just back there a little ways.” He says “thanks” and we move on. Shortly, we pass the other Carhartt guy walking the same “away from the lighthouse” direction, only this one is now wearing a mustard-Carhartt-colored “suit” of kind of rain pants and rain jacket…and it looks like he’s packing a firearm. He fumbles with his chest zipper a bit and says hello as he passes us. We keep walking, a little weirded out at the duplicate experience. We hang out at the lighthouse a bit, noticing that there are double the solar panels they had the last time we were here. There’s also a new microwave antenna, and some surveillance cameras we don’t think were there before. Well…this makes some sense. Maybe the Carhartt guys are doing a little border surveillance or something. Of course today’s experiences are informing this guess, but what else could it be?

Here’s an older photo of the lighthouse, sans microwave antenna, surveillance cams, and half the solar:

From the lighthouse we saw another San Juan County Sheriff’s boat whizzing past the opening of Active Cove, where we are moored, and I thought “Maybe they’re coming to pick up the Carhartt guys!” We headed back toward the beach, but then we passed the two guys again! They were heading back to the lighthouse. (They SO knew where the bathroom was already. I mean, come on!)

Wildflowers along our path:

They said “hello again” and we said hello (and I tried really hard to take a photo of them, my camera hanging down at my side, but all I got was this):

So, as we said before: if you never hear from us again: two men, early 30s…maybe 40s, Carhartts, knit caps (might be packin’), not too chatty. (And they totally DO know where the restroom is!)

Oh, and here are some photos from the gorgeous sunset tonight here in Active Cove:

Orcas near Patos (and a whole lotta law enforcement)

Laura Domela — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 23:42:02 +0000

Wow, today on the water was weird! Cool, but also weird. Sam left Shallow Cove on Sucia Island about an hour before we did. As we were leaving, he texted us and said he'd been boarded by the San Juan Sheriff. They inspected all his safety gear and documentation and stuff (he passed) and then they were on their way. We joked back and forth that maybe they'd be on the lookout for us next!

We headed off toward the west side of San Juan Island to look for orcas, but pretty soon we noticed five or so boats over near the Canadian border.

Where there's this, there are probably whales. I looked on my Marine Traffic app and one of them was definitely a whale watching boat, and after binoc'ing them, we confirmed: whale watching boats. So off we went. A few minutes later a Department of Fish & Wildlife patrol boat came zooming toward us. Hey! It must be the day to be boarded in the San Juan Islands! We slowed down and then idled as they came up on our port side and asked for our identification. We handed over our IDs as they asked us where we were going, if this was our boat, where we kept it, whether we lived on it, and if we were going to Canada. We told them we had been planning to go look for orcas on the west side of San Juan Island, but that we spotted all those whale watching boats over there so we thought we'd go see if we could see some whales. We were just out cruising around. No we weren't going to Canada, yes this is our boat, etc. They copied our IDs and let us carry on our way.

The whole time that was going on, there was also a sheriff's boat stopped not too far away, watching us:

As soon as we got back underway, it seemed like the sheriff's boat was heading to intercept us, but then it didn't. We continued toward the orcas, and spent a half an hour or so with them from a pretty good distance. There were a couple of large adults, and quite a few young feisty ones. Pretty sweet!

The whole time we were watching whales (just across the border in Canadian waters), the sheriff's boat was parked at the border, watching. Maybe they wanted to make sure we came back, but it was a little weird.

The orcas were heading north, and we thought we'd gotten a pretty good show, so we turned to head back and decided to go over to Patos. The sheriff picked up speed and looked like they were coming to intercept us. They parked right at the entrance to Active Cove on Patos. We slowed up, assuming they were going to want to chat, since that seems to be the kind of day it is up here, but they just sat and watched us as we went into the cove and grabbed the mooring buoy. Just past the sheriff's boat, there was also a Coast Guard boat, sitting on the other side of the point where the lighthouse is. Also this morning, a Coast Guard helicopter flew really low over the cove we were anchored in. All in all, the vibe out here is certainly as if something is UP. I was hoping the sheriff would follow us into the cove here so we could ask him what the heck was going on, but he didn't.

Maybe this has something to do with those two guys with no boat we saw the last time we were here on Patos!!!

So, the orcas, the San Juan Sheriff, the Department of Fish & Wildlife, and the Coast Guard. They're all here. Where's the party?

Cypress and Sucia

Laura Domela — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 13:41:14 +0000

Yesterday morning, Cypress Island:

We spent Tuesday night at Cypress Head with Sam. Sam now has a drone too and got a nice shot of our two Nordic Tugs tucked away in the cove:

Here's Sam on his bow, in his robe, bringing in the drone:

We left Cypress and were headed to Griffin Bay on San Juan Island, but Sam heard on the radio that there were some K dubs (killer whales, orcas) out near Sucia Island, so we changed our plans and headed out to Sucia. We never saw any orcas though.

We moored in Shallow Bay on the west side of Sucia Island. Before we headed to shore for some hiking, Sam took the drone up again and got some great shots of us in the bay, with the rest of Sucia Island and Mount Baker in the background. So cool!

Dinghy on shore, Nordic Tugs (and a sailboat) in the background:

Kevin and Sam on a makeshift teeter-totter in Echo Bay:

Dinner on Airship last night was grilled chicken, zucchini and risotto.

This morning is calm and gray. Kevin's working, and I'm making breakfast tacos for us before we head out.

We don't know where our next stop is yet because…that's how we roll.

Bonus Photos: San Juan Islands

Laura Domela — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 13:02:32 +0000

I forgot to post these photos from my Nikon the other day. Bald eagle on (and off) a buoy:

And a nice view of Mt. Baker on the way over to Cypress Island: