Fogmageddon at Stuart and Jones

I like the phrasing I saw today from Cliff Mass about our current fog status here in the Salish Sea. We got away this weekend to our favorite places in the San Juans and while we hoped for some afternoon sun, we never got so much as a glimmer of blue. But nevertheless it was still fantastic.

Elliott on a previous trip to Stuart, when the sun was shining!

We went first to Stuart and on the way there were speculating about how many other boats might be present. My guess was two others, and Amy thought more. turned out there were about four other boats in Reid Harbor, which is still a far cry from the 75-100 that you can find there in July! The wind was calm and the waters were smooth for our journey north from Friday Harbor, and other than bucking some ebb current we had a mellow and quick journey.



The goats were out in full force on Spieden, and I just can't wait for the day when the owner either decides it is time to rid the island of those locusts in a humane way like sterilization, or that the owner donates it to the San Juan Preservation Trust and in that way it is preserved forever in a more natural state. It is such a unique island in the entire Salish Sea, and there is no chance of young oaks generating on the South Side so long as those hooved herbivores are devouring every blade of growth as soon as it pops up. Just imagine how beautiful the flowers and grasslands would be on that wide expanse of Spieden if it wasn't being continually grazed by 100's of goats/sheep!

Anyway, we enjoyed a fantastic walk out to the lighthouse on Stuart and were happy to see a new sign stating that it is now part of the National Monument. None of the other signs had changed closer to the buildings, but maybe they will in time. We enjoyed some restful moments at Turn Point, and always feel as though we are at one of the most special spots in the world there.

Given the darkness and fog, we settled into Aeolus pretty early and did what we rarely do at home but always do on the boat: played games. It is one of the great things about our boat trips, and one of the reasons they are so important to us as a family. We simply spend way, way, way more quality time together than we do at home, and this despite us not being TV watchers or anything else. It's just that at home we are each reading our own books, or some such thing. We played Banangrams this night, and we were proud of Owen for doing quite well.

We were all asleep early, and I'm happy to say there was not a peep on the boat until almost 9am! With the fog so thick and low that the summit of Tip Top was blanketed, we decided to forego our planned trip up there and head instead to Jones Island. We had time to walk the West Side of Jones and had a great time admiring the incredible diversity of mushrooms. We had never seen so many, and so many types, of mushrooms in one place. No chanterelles, but everything else it seemed.

And we were back at our slip in Friday Harbor in time to catch the early afternoon boat back to Anacortes. Once again, on the calendar and clock it looked like only a brief time, but in the cosmos of our lives it was a deep and prolonged journey in a far off place that recalibrated us to our better selves!

Thank you Aeolus, and Stuart, and Jones, for helping us be our best!