August 24

A beautiful but cold morning, like fall has arrived already. We get the cocoa water started and head out to catch favorable currents. No wind, and low clouds and fog after we get out of the harbor. We head south down the east shore of San Juan Island (or past the west shores of Orcas, Shaw, and Lopez islands, your choice), and drop anchor in Griffin Bay to wait out the fog and have lunch. It doesn't clear very fast, so we decide to stay the night. The weather eventually did improve to sunny, but the clouds and fog over the south end of San Juan Channel never lifted. Seals slap in the water at each other, still not close enough to get a good picture, but fun to watch and hear. I row over to shore to the state park, am able to drift in to a pair of red billed black oyster catchers. A nice hike on the beach with tide pools, along a gravel road (couple of handfuls of blackberries), up a grassy hill with views of the (still) cloud covered straights of Juan de Fuca, down through a lush forest of hemlock and cedar, and through a salt marsh back to the dinghy. On the row back to the boat a large bird flies over to check me out, too late I realize it's a bald eagle and I can't get the camera out in time. Beautiful bird. We spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on things, Squishy joins us in the cockpit several times. The seals are okay, but she doesn't like the seagulls.