Friday Harbor and San Juan Islands

Glacier Spirit - our PSE Cruise Ship

For as long as I remember I have always wanted to visit Friday Harbor located in the San Juan Islands of Puget Sound. I had put it in my bucket list of things to do in my lifetime. Almost gave up trying to get there because the logistics of figuring out how to get there without spending a good part of the day driving, get on a ferry, then driving again, then getting on another ferry just to get to Friday Harbor was too time consuming, until we found out about the Puget Sound Express cruise service. The PSE is a whale watch cruise boat that travels Puget Sound and stops at Friday Harbor for 2 hours, then continues cruising around the islands and heading back. Allows those that want to get off for a couple of days to do so, and then reboard at a later time (with prior commitment as to date).  San Juan Islands encompasses several larger islands (Orcas, Lopez, San Juan, Shaw) and a number of smaller ones. We picked up the PSE cruise boat out of Port Townsend and left the dock at 9am.  On board we met Ron and Carol from Toronto and had a great friendly day chatting with them while on board, they were meeting family at Friday Harbor but would return back with us.  Buzzed north to the western side of the San Juan Island (Friday Harbor is located on this island) to view orcas feeding.  Pretty neat to see.  A mom and her two sons.   Part of a pod that frequents this area of the Sound. These orcas are numbered and closely watched and the naturalist on board knew the names and number of each orca (J, K, and L pods are known to be in this area).

Orca Spotted!

Funny to watch all the other cruise/whale watch boats clamor to get the best viewing of these huge marine mammals.  They all stay far back to avoid harming them and to keep them safe.  But, you could tell when there was a spotting - the boat would list to one side with the people going to that side of the boat to see and photograph them.  Now I have seen orcas/whales off of the Maine coast, off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, now in the Puget Sound, and also in the San Diego area.

Orca!

The day was clear up to mid afternoon when clouds came in, but was a great day.  Docked at Friday Harbor around noon and had 2 1/2 hours to do whatever.  Huge, huge marina with all kinds of boat activity with ferries coming in dropping off people and vehicles, ferries going out, large sailing boats moored out on the bay, power boats coming and going.  Could sit all day and just watch.

Busy Friday Harbor

We had packed our lunch because we did not know what facilities there were and didn't want to spend time sitting in a restaurant.  Instead, sat at picnic tables overlooking the bay and then went on a quick tour of town.  Very touristy.  Lots and lots of money all around us - looked at a real estate window where homes are listed - million bucks for a peek at the water!  Got back on the boat and cast off by 2:30 and the captain decided to go a different route around the islands to get back to Port Townsend.  Saw bald eagle, sea stars, porpoises, lots of waterfowl, deer grazing on islands, and again - tons of boats.  And homes built on the cliffs of the islands staring down at you.  Only way to get to the homes was by boat, some islands had ferry service, by sea plane (saw a number of those), or live there full time.

Mt. Baker, Sailing Home

As I reflect on yesterday some things stay with me:  Friday Harbor is so much like Annapolis - very much a sailing center catering to tourists; would require strategic planning if you live there because you would be dependent on ferries or sea planes or private boats to get on and off; and weird we did not see any freighter traffic having been on the water in the middle of the channel for hours.  And last - when we crossed into Strait of Juan De Fuca (deeper part of the Sound and the freighter channel) what was a big wow to us - calm water and fairly warm to choppy water and a big drop in temperature - you could clearly see where the deeper water started just by looking at the wind pattern on the water- almost like a wall.  The waters are from 48 to 54 degrees depending on time of year and where you are on the Sound.  Water pushes in with the tides from the ocean through the Strait and then back out.

The day very eye-appealing, was light on our purse since we brought our lunch, got to the island without much pain - no traveling/ferry/traveling/ferry to get there, and got to see a part of the world I have always wanted to see.  We would recommend PSE cruise boat - they treated us great and what a splendid way to spend the day! And yes, I could live on one of those islands, not San Juan but one of the others.