Northwest Loop: San Juan Islands

Beautiful Friday Harbor on San Juan Island

Now it was time to embark upon the main part of our trip: Orca hunting in the San Juan Islands. 

We were taking the Washington State Ferry to Friday Harbor, a town on San Juan Island, where we would be staying for three nights and going on three whale watches. 

Friday Harbor Marina

We didn’t want to leave anything to chance because we know that Orcas can be fickle critters. Practically every minute on the island would be whale-watching. 

It was foggy in the morning when we arrived at the ferry terminal. We hoped this wasn’t foreshadowing for our visit to the island, but we knew that the Pacific often creates morning fog that dissipates into sunny skies. 

Fog is common on the Pacific Coast

Plus, we also knew that the San Juan Islands, despite being in the Pacific ocean, are much drier than mainland Washington. 

While waiting in the ferry line, I observed and photographer a couple of birds – hampered a bit by very low visibility. There were some close-by House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches … 

Breakfast time for birds

… plus a couple of Bald Eagles and almost 30 Great Blue Herons … 

Eagle and Great Blue Herons; It was too foggy to photograph the 30 Herons on the beach

Once we drove onto the ferry – one of the very large car ferries common in the Pacific Northwest, we went onboard to see what we could see from the deck. 

The Washington State Ferry is a great way to get around

Before we even departed, we observed a large number of Pelagic Cormorants that were nesting on the dock pilings. 

Gathering nesting material from the sea

These birds are slimmer and smaller than their cousins, the more-common Double-crested Cormorant. 

There were dozens of them on the pilings

I have seen them before, but was surprised at how iridescent they were, even in the watery sunshine that was trying to break through the clouds. 

Really pretty birds

You can recognize a breeding Pelagic Cormorant from the white patches on its back ... 

Pelagic means "relating to the open sea"

The trip from Anacortes to Friday Harbor took about an hour. We scanned the horizon, but didn’t see a lot except for some Moon Jellies …

We saw lots, but we zipped by so fast, it was hard to snap

… flying Rhinoceros Auklets …

We'll get better views of these guys later

... and fairly distant Black Guillemots ...

 

Not always graceful

The San Juan Islands 

An archipelago in the Salish Sea north of the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, the San Juans are part of the state of Washington. 

San Juan Islands

There are 400 islands and large above-water rocks, of which 128 are name and four are accessible to car and foot traffic via the Washington State Ferries system. There are 478 miles of shoreline.

A small island and the shoreline

Historically, the San Juans were part of the traditional area of various peoples of the Coast Salish peoples, including. the Nooksack and Northern Straits (which includes Lummi, Klallam, Saanich, Samish and Songhees) peoples. These populations were ravaged by smallpox, brought by English explorers, in the 1770s. 

Remnants of native and European cultures at American Camp

If you ever wondered why the area has so many Spanish names, here we go … 

Eliza's map

Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza charted the islands in 1791 under the authority of the Viceroy of Mexico, Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo. As would be expected, Eliza named several areas after his patron, including the San Juan Islands, Orcas Island (short for "Horcasitas") and Guemes Island. 

So, Orcas are actually named after the Viceroy of Mexico!

Vancouver expedition; Painting: Captain Steve Mayo

In 1792, the British Vancouver Expedition under George Vancouver explored the area in cooperation with the Spanish and, unlike many of his fellow Brits, Vancouver respected and retained most of the names given by Eliza’s expedition. However, he did rename a few areas, including the Strait of Georgia. 

Wilkes' names honored War of 1812 heroes

In 1841, the United States Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes further explored the region.

Wilkes, who may or may not have had charts with the Spanish names, gave decidedly American names to nearly every coastal feature. 

In 1847, the British resolved naming issues in the areas under their dominion, including the San Juans, by keeping the British and Spanish names and removing the American ones. The areas under American control kept the names given by Wilkes. 

That’s why the San Juans have many Spanish names, but the rest of Washington does not. 

So, we had three parties exploring, charting and naming the area. 

It would be easier to be like birds and ignore borders

How did the San Juan islands come to American? 

The 1846 Oregon Treaty had established the 49th parallel as the boundary between Canada and the U.S. west to the middle of the Strait of Georgia, and then by the main channel south to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and from there westwards to the open ocean. 

Both sides agreed that all of Vancouver Island would remain British, but the treaty did not specify which channel the boundary should follow between the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 

The U.S. claimed Haro Strait as the international border, while Britain claimed Rosario Strait, with both sides laying claim to the San Juans. 

The Patos Lighthouse is on the American side close to the border

The dispute led to a protracted diplomatic confrontation that was eventually resolved by Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany, who was brought in to arbitrate the disagreement in 1871. The Haro Strait border was established in 1872. 

So, even though some of the islands are north of parts of Canada, they are ours.

Natural Beauty 

By the time we arrived at Friday Harbor, it was sunny. That's great, because the island is beautiful.

Ocean and mountains -- you can't beat that!

The majority of the San Juan Islands are hilly, with some flat areas and valleys in between, often quite fertile. The tallest peak is Mount Constitution, on Orcas Island, at an elevation of 2,407 feet. 

The coastlines are a mix of sandy and rocky beaches, shallow inlets, coves, bays and deep harbors. 

 Kayakers in an inlet 

Gnarled madrona trees grace much of the shorelines, while evergreen fir and pine forests cover large inland areas. 

Lavender is a popular crop, which attracts a wide variety of bees

Being an island moderates the climate: summertime highs are around 70 °F, while average winter lows are in the high 30s and low 40s. Snow is infrequent, except at higher elevations, but the islands are subject to high winds which can bring brief periods of freezing. 

Lots of flowers were blooming

The San Juan Islands host the greatest concentration of Bald Eagles in the lower 48, with more than 125 nesting pairs. 

A Bald Eagle we saw on our first whale watch

As one would expect, there is a fair number of shore and pelagic birds. Most of what we saw was while we were whale-watching, so I will go into more detail when discussing those three trips. On land, we didn’t see much, except some House Finches and Robins. 

A pretty bird singing on a sunny day

The islands are famous for Orcas, which is why we visited. But, there are also Columbia Black-tailed Deer and red Foxes. I saw some of both, but did not get any photos this time. 

Fawn, 2012

We were looking for black morph Red Foxes, which I had seen when I visited the San Juans in 2012, but we didn’t see any of those. 

Black Red Fox, 2012

Wolves, Elk, Sea Otters and Beaver used to inhabit the San Juans, but no more. However, Beavers may be making a comeback, swimming over from the mainland. We didn’t see a lot on the island, but, then we didn’t spend much time ON the island. As I said, we participated in three whale watches in, essentially, a day and a half on the island. 

Our visit was land and sea

On-Island Sights

When we weren’t on a boat, we briefly visited both parts of San Juan Island National Historical Park, also known as American Camp and English Camp. 

English Camp sign

The Park is made up of the sites of the British and U.S. Army camps during the “Pig War,” the boundary dispute over the ownership of the island I outlined above.

Why was in called the “Pig War?” 

In 1859, an American killed a stray British-owned pig, ignited already simmering bad blood between the two groups. The American homesteaders requested military protection, resulting in the establishment of the American Camp, while the British sent Royal Navy ships. 

Map: NPS

An agreement was reached whereby both sides would maintain camps on the island until the dispute could be resolved through diplomacy. From 1860 to 1872, British Royal Marines occupied a camp on the northwestern part of the island. The American Camp is on the southeast side. 

The British withdrew after the dispute was resolved and American Camp was reduced in size and scope.

The Cattle Point lighthouse, near English Camp

We also went to Lime Kiln Point State Park where we looked for whales from a popular viewing area near the Lime Kiln Lighthouse. 

Lime Kiln Lighthouse detail

The Park is considered one of the best places in the world to view wild Orcas from a land-based facility.

In 2012, our whale watch went this close to the lighthouse (not cropped)

At Lime Kiln, people on the shore can be within 20 feet of breaching Orcas. If they are lucky.

I took this in 2012 of Orcas right by the shore

We weren't. We didn’t see any whales, but we did see Harbor Porpoise, which are notoriously difficult to photograph because they are small, shy and, unlike other porpoise and dolphins, not flamboyant swimmers.  We also saw Harbor Porpoises several times on our whale watches. 

I have seen Harbor Porpoises many times before; this is my only decent photo

Drifting in the inlet

We also saw a Harbor seal lazily swimming near the shore. So lazily that I think it was sleeping part of the time. This Harbor Seal was one of many I have seen and photographed in multiple coast locations, including the San Juans, Oregon, California, Iceland, Norway Svalbard and Alaska.

And, of course, we saw the pretty little Lime Kiln Lighthouse. 

Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island

Food

Now, I can’t talk about any location without discussing food. Eating out was a bit tricky because Friday Harbor was still under a full mask mandate and many places were operating at reduced hours. 

Delicious ocean food

Even though we were not super hungry (we had picnicked at Lime Kiln), we decided to get a bite to eat before our first whale watch and that was the best food decision we made. 

We ate on the deck at Downriggers overlooking the harbor, so the ambiance was incredible. 

Scott studying the menu

Scott had oysters and one of the most beautiful house salads I had ever seen. Caty and I had absolutely incredible halibut fish and chips. 

We were hungry when we got back at around 8:30 p.m. after our evening whale watch, but only a handful of restaurants were open. Yes, a tourist town, where no restaurants are open after 8:00 p.m. We ate at the Blue Water Bar and Grill despite some rather sketchy online reviews because, well, it was open. I had “tomato basil soup” that looked and tasted like marinara sauce. Even a side of sour cream couldn’t tame it enough to make it palatable. I could not recommend that place. 

Too bad there was no crab

The next day, we had a quick lunch (when Caty and I would have rather been sightseeing) between our morning and evening whale watch at Friday’s Crabhouse. 

The place was pretty good (Caty and I had burgers, Scott fish and chips), but they didn’t have Dungeness crab, which is what Scott wanted. Apparently, Dungeness has a season. Who knew? 

That evening we booked it back to Downriggers after the whale watch and just squeaked in before they closed. The food was just as good as before and the view as the sun was setting was spectacular.

Dinner with a view at Downriggers

We stayed at the Earthbox Inn & Spa (we didn't have time for spa; we never have time for spa), a nice little very conveniently located hotel right in the middle of town. They had been great about us cancelling our first planned trip, so we had to go there. It was a good choice.

But, enough about the island, that is not why we were there. Tune in next time to find out what happened on our whale watches.

Follow me to find out!

Trip date: June17-July 2, 2021