After waking up early and visiting the Grove of the Patriarchs (see my previous post here), I departed Mount Rainier National Park and started the long (for me) drive to Anacortes. Along the way I stopped at Snoqualmie Falls, which gained popularity after being featured in the TV Series Twin Peaks.
Snoqualmie Falls
Anacortes
Anacortes was my base for exploring San Juan Island, as I didn’t want to pay for- or deal with- reserving a limited vehicle spot to take my rental car on the ferry or pay for higher hotel prices on the island. My timing was good, as the week after I left, Washington State Ferries ended up cancelling dozens of sailings due to a lack of staff.
View from my hotel in Anacortes
View of Anacortes from Cap Sante Park
View from Cap Sante Park, overlooking Fidalgo Bay
View from Washington Park
View from the ferry as we departed Anacortes en route to San Juan Island
On board the ferry to San Juan Island
Passing another Washington Ferry vessel
Friday Harbor on San Juan Island
If you visit any of the San Juan Islands, I recommend planning your trip in advance. I just showed up and managed to get on an amazing sailing tour with only 30 minutes notice. If you are ever on San Juan Island, I highly recommend All Aboard Sailing. The tour took almost six hours and was limited to six people aboard the 42’ boat built in 1956. We were seated on bean bag chairs, wrapped in cozy blankets. The captains brought out umbrellas when it started raining lightly and hot cider as we were pulling into Friday Harbor around 7pm.
Cattle Point Lighthouse
With my 85mm lens it was hard to capture these Southern Resident orca whales with any detail, but you can see their dorsal fins poking out of the water and the water droplets from their blows. US and Canadian regulations limit how close boats can get, especially if there are calves in the pod, as there were above.
Humpback whale BCY077 “Gibbous" as seen in the Haro Strait. I would have had no idea which particular whale this was, if not for biologist and captain Barbara from All Aboard Sailing. She and fellow captain, David, were very kind and emailed us afterwards with a map of our sailing route and details about the wildlife we saw.
Sea lions living their best life
Cattle Point Lighthouse
Washington State Ferry sailing off into the distance (most likely to Orcas Island)
Pulling into Friday Harbor at the end of our sailing tour
Continue to the final post of my Washington State trip: