In Which We Take the Ferry to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island

Saturday 23 August 2014 ~ Blind Bay, Shaw Island

Today's plan was to ride the ferry from Shaw to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. Foot passengers from one island to another can ride for free. One of our friends had told us they often did this rather than trying to find a place to anchor in the crowd of boats at Friday Harbor. The Shaw ferry is the only one where you can get close with your dinghy and, in fact, leave it.


We later got to talking with a local Shaw islander (either she just graduated, or is a high school senior this year). She mentioned that Shaw (population 180) has a grade school and middle school, but no high school. The students can choose to go to the high school on Orcas, Lopez, or San Juan (in Friday Harbor). She chose the High School in Friday Harbor as it was in walking distance from the ferry docks. Interesting island life. E. mentioned he might enjoy living on an island.



Needless to say, we awoke to fog. It slowly burned off and was gone by 0855. Nice to know in case we awake to fog tomorrow. For tomorrow, we should be heading back home. But enough sad thoughts, here is a photo essay for today's journey. Enjoy.

While waiting for the fog to lift, the kids helped J. get the dinghies over the side (we were protecting L.'s back which was still a little tender). 


 



After breakfast we rowed over to the store's dock, and tied the dinghies up out of the way. Not to worry, we ended up buying some hot mustard from one of the monasteries on the island for E.'s taste in all things burning hot.

Then we waited for the 1020 ferry.










Here are our dinghies at the bottom of the ramp. Will they be there upon our return?

And we were off to Orcas, Orcas Island first, then onto Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. We enjoyed being at the bow (which switches) for the trip. It was fun watching people load and unload, too.


 

In fact, we got a surprise at the Orcas stop. One of the professional musicians from the Drayton Harbor Jazz Festival/Camp lives on Orcas Island. Today he embarked for Friday Harbor. We spoke with him briefly, but we don't really know him. It will be interesting to see if M. has him as one of her teachers next year. She and I. really want to go to Jazz Camp next summer, and this fellow is a trumpet player. We'll have to wait and see.

 Down Wasp Passage we went. If you look at the right in this photo, you can just make out Pole Pass that we traversed yesterday. It is just over the guy in the blue shirt's shoulder.

A photo for you schooner lovers. As we were coming into dock at Friday Harbor, another ferry was leaving. Meanwhile, this schooner left her slip adjacent to the ferry dock, backing through the ferry landing. As a charter vessel, she must come and go multiple times a day. Just think of the communication and timing needed.

Another piece of irony. As we looked into the anchorage add we docked ... it was almost empty. We wanted to see Shaw anyway, but what do you figure? Of course we recognized one of the boats. CARRAWONG was at anchor. Later in the day, as we managed to head down to the park at the marina, CARRAWONG had already departed, so we missed speaking with them.



If you look very closely all the way forward, you might see a famous trumpet player getting ready to disembark for places unknown to us.

We must say, however, that we really took this photo to show how the unloading goes: People and People with Bikes first, then once the foot traffic is clear, the cars.


After stopping at the Farmers Market and devouring a container of strawberries (we got bonus points from the farmers for returning our container), and plowing our way through a huge pizza at Cousin Vinni's Pizza, we still had room for ice-cream.

One of our favorite places in Friday Harbor is the used book store. J. even came back with a book. Everyone else just enjoyed looking and reading, but didn't find anything they couldn't live without. We stocked up with groceries, packing them into the two back packs we brought along for that purpose. Then we enjoyed wandering around.




Remember a pose similar to this one? The last time we were here, the kids climbed upon Popeye, the one eyed seal for photos. Fun to see how the kids have grown.

Then we caught the ferry back to Shaw, via Lopez. Here are the photos of the return trip.

Upright Head, Lopez Island.

 

 Returning to Shaw Island.

And the dinghies were still there.

Back at Shaw Island, back where we started from. 

Here is the Shaw Island store.

And sleeping cat. 

We then noticed this little park area. Apparently it is private property, but they invite folk to use it. What we were told and what we read on the signs were two different things. We enjoyed the opportunity for some photos, though. 

We untied PIPPI for the kids to go explore the island. We then got talking with a young man "Z." from Minnesota who was working at the store for the summer. He came out for his brother's wedding (the store owner's daughter).

While talking, a ferry came in (the kids were already on the island). As they were leaving, the capitan opened his window and yelled down, "Z. you left the lights on in your boat." Z. laughs, "Too embarrassing." He invited us for coffee before we left for home tomorrow.




 

 Z. hustled off to turn off the boat's lights. We in turn headed off to MERGANSER.