Wet escape and Sucia

The boys and I took for what was supposed to be a lengthy adventure into the Gulf Islands and the enjoyment of some of our favorite northern places. However, it's a crap shoot with the weather, and this time we came up short on the rolls.

Starting out on Monday we had grey skies but no deluge, as we headed to Jones for the night. I was really pleased to see two young families on Jones with two sailboats and three or four little rug rats. Always looking for more young people to experience the Salish Sea wilds. At one point we were exchanging pleasantries and they said this was their first time up in the San Juan's from Olympia and asked if I had any suggestions of places to go??????!!!!!!!!!! I shared a few places...

We started with nice weather, but it didn't last. 

The forecast at this point was calling for SE 15-25 and some SE 20-30 in the Straits of Georgia. With this forecast we shied away from going to Tumbo as planned (getting to Tumbo from the San Juan's requires crossing Boundary Pass, which in strong SE winds can be distinctly unpleasant, especially with a strong ebb running, which it was), so we decided to go to Sucia instead. In Shallow Bay there were two other boats, and we had a great afternoon running on the trails and hanging out. Again, the deluge had yet to start, but it was grey and cool. The following morning we did a new hike out to Ewing Cove. The walk there from the head of Echo Bay is about 2.1 according to the park sign, and it goes right along the shoreline and past many lovely Madrone trees and coves.



Ewing Cove was a revelation in several ways. For one, we hadn't been there before, and that is rare treat these days. For another, it has an aspen grove, which to my knowledge is only the second one I know of in this part of the Salish Sea. The other being on Tumbo. And finally, the cove itself is south facing and lovely, with many islets nearby and a nice beach. The anchorage there was a favorite of some old salts who wrote a guidebook to the San Juans back before the internet. It is great in all but SE conditions, which is what you get consistently from October to May.

Sucia sandstone has lots of hiding places!

By this time the forecast was calling for the big storm on Saturday, with a 972 MB low and 40-50 knot winds. This put a nail in the coffin of our plans to go to Tumbo or into the Gulf Islands. Bummer.

Instead we enjoyed a nice trip back over to Stuart. On this day, it began raining early, and did not stop all day. ALL DAY. Just soaking. And the real rain was supposed to start on Thursday, the next day. So we decided to put our tail between our legs and head on back to Friday Harbor and home. There were quite  a few sea lions off Spieden this time, and the Spieden goats have had their young ones and they were fun to watch running around (though I remain passionately hopeful some future owner of Spieden island will see the wisdom of sterilizing the population so the native plants on the island can return. Imagine the riot of color and flowers that sunny Souther side of Spieden if it was being grazed 24/7/365).

Lovely

Ewing Cove environs

A wonderful time with the boys as always. Quiet. Birds. Games. Hikes. Runs. Each other.