Away from the slip to Jones Island

Finally, after what has seemed an eternity, Aeolus is back together enough for use and we took full advantage and went over to Jones Island for the day on Sunday. Tackling the steering system meant that Aeolus was out of commission for that time, and although it was only a few weeks, the weeks had been beautiful sailing conditions and it killed me to have her stuck at the slip. I am still working on the new bow hatch, but that doesn't keep her from being sailed.

Sure enough, we couldn't have our cake and eat it too. Sunday was beautiful here in the San Juan Islands, but alas, no wind. There had been perfect sailing wind so many days prior to Sunday, but no luck taking advantage of it.

Heading over to Jones is like heading home. Once again, we had the entire south cove to ourselves and people stayed away by the millions. What few boats go to Jones outside of July and August seem to always go to the north cove, even when there are north winds. Baffling. The south cove has a far better beach, and is bathed in sunlight. As you can see from these pictures, it was a warm and beautiful day and we had the place to ourselves. The boys played in the water and we tidepooled all around.

While lounging, two bald eagles came over to eat something that was on the beach. They were fairly close, and we got to watch them at leisure. How often do you share a pocket beach with feeding bald eagles???

Anchoring here is easy, and the holding is good. Depths are about 30 feet, which is outside the range of most eelgrass and so that feels good. There are a couple mooring buoys, but we're cheap and honest, most of the time on both scores.