We ran north in San Juan Channel at displacement speed. Well, maybe just a bit more than that to get through the currents and eddies. I smiled when I looked at the fuel flow meter: 1.2 gallons per hour, making about 6 knots. Little Izzy hopped out of the v-berth and found the most stable place in the boat, on the cabin floor...
It wasn't clear out, but light breeze and some sun peeking through here and there. We heard boats south of us talking about fog - perfect visibility where we were cruising...
Not a lot of traffic out, but we did get to climb over the huge wake thrown by a Canadian Coast Guard boat. We continued north, around the east side of Spieden Island, then northwest through the Cactus Island area. The water was what I call "wavy smooth"...
I listened to the whale watch boats, everybody looking, nobody finding. Then, the mention of several Minkies south in the fog - but the fog was beginning to lift. I was happy not to be in the hunt today, and just taking in the scenery...
We ran slowly through John's Pass, between Johns Island and Stuart Island, and into Boundary Pass. We were enjoying the slow pace and the nearly flat water... but, I found myself scanning the water all around us. "Stop it," I told myself, "we aren't looking for whales today."
"Look over there - seals." And, "Up in that tree - it's an eagle." Yeah, I have to stop that. We passed the opening to Prevost Harbor, one of our early favorite anchorages in the San Juans. Cruising west(ish), we took in the pretty light on Turn Point...
We ran around that point and along the bluffs on the southwest side of Stuart Island. I turned into Reid Harbor, just to take a look around. We've stayed there a few times in the past - I just wanted to see how crowded the anchorage is... plenty of boats in there, but room for more.
A ping for an in-coming e-mail... "we have a naturalist who will be leaving early due to a job in Alaska - can we give you two more hours for the next couple weeks?"
Joan e-mailed back: "Whatever you need." Looks like we're only going to have one day off each week for the next couple of weeks. With a small staff, someone leaving early leaves a hole. One month to go on our contract - we can handle this.
Coming out of Reid, I took us around the south side of Spieden Island, and another eagle on Sentinel Island...
The water lumped up a bit in Spieden Channel. I was enjoying the smooth ride Wild Blue provided, ran across the channel, closer to San Juan Island again. And then the call on the radio telling of a humpback whale sighting in Haro Strait. Again, I was glad to be kicked back enjoying the scenery and not making a run for it. Plenty of that to come in the next month.
Little Izzy snuggled into her blanket, as we made the turn back into San Juan Channel...
Our chartplotter has been behaving erratically... it shows the right position, but the heading is way off. The radar is right on, the autopilot holds the course. I have a call and an e-mail into Raymarine, but they aren't in a hurry to respond. Joan moved my guitar, and the plotter screen rotated a bit... a bit closer to the correct heading. The flux gate compass is mounted in that area... but, the guitar doesn't have much metal on it. Oh... the cable for the satellite TV and the wiring for the electric plug is run through that area. I think we're on to something.
We came back into Friday Harbor, into our slip, washed down the boat, and hooked everything back up. Anchoring in Reid Harbor would be nice, but we're enjoying electric, all the water we want, and satellite TV here in our slip. We were back in time for an adult beverage out in the "lanai" and some guitar time.
Eight gallons of fuel used and lots of beautiful scenery. A very nice day off.
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