A Journey to the San Juan Islands

On a grey Friday morning we (my mum Corinne, her partner Basil, and I) jumped in my fabulous Stallion and trekked up to Anacortes and caught the ferry over to the San Juan Islands, a small cluster of islands, just shy of the Canadian border. We first traveled to the biggest of the islands - San Juan Island. Initially I had planned for us to leave the car at Anacortes and simply walk on the ferry, since I had heard that the island was very easy to navigate simply on foot, but at the last minute we decided to take the car - and I was so glad that we did!!! 

The boat ride over was so breathtaking. Our ferry meandered through harbours and past tiny islands, multimillion dollar properties and beautiful rock formations. 

We reached the island and immediately began driving all over the place getting a feel for the island. It was wonderful. Refreshingly beautiful. The island centered around a small downtown area filled with shops and restaurants, and then the roads stretched out to each corner of the island - to whale and bird watching spots.

We stayed for awhile at each place, although we saw no whales, and not much bird life apart from rather large seagulls. 

Spot the whales.... no, we couldn't either

It was fabulous to be by the water, enjoying the peace and calm of it all as we optimistically kept watch for whales. We explored the area a little, visiting the lighthouse and looking in some rockpools at the sealife.

After a long time we gave up on the whales (although we were highly suspicious that they would show up just as we left). We headed back to town, checked into our hotel and relaxed for a while before heading to a local restaurant for dinner.

Quaint little post office opposite our hotel.

The next morning we made the most of a rather unappetizing hotel breakfast buffet, then headed back to the ferry terminal to explore the next island - Orcas Island. Orcas Island is laid out quite differently to San Juan Island. It is a horseshoe shaped island and the main village is at the middle of the horseshoe, about 20 minutes drive from the ferry terminal. Orcas Island was an experience all of its own. The further along the road I drove, the more my heart began to melt! I really fell in love with this island. It was beautiful in a different way to the first island we were on. By the time we hit the village I was about to die of contentment!

Orcas Island village is a quaint, spirited community. There are sweet little shops, a farmer's market, and an atmosphere that spoke to my soul!!! The buildings were all colonial style wooden houses, brightly coloured with idyllic picket fences and wild flowers. I just loved it. I felt like Anne of Green Gables. It also had an alternative lifestyle vibe about it, it felt very relaxed.

We tore ourselves away from the village to explore the island a bit more (we were trying to work in with the ferry schedule). I took us to a lookout at Mt Constitution, on the eastside of the island. We slowly wound up the mountain, and even before we stopped at the lookout, we were all left breathless at the view.

It was truly magnificent. Gently rolling slopes and mountains, curving out towards the sea, islands dotted around the waters, water stretching and hugging around each land mass, forests blanketing whole islands, painting them in a rich dark green hue. It was gorgeous. We reluctantly piled ourselves back in the car and headed back to the ferry terminal.

We made it in perfect time and took our next ferry to Lopez Island. We got off at Lopez island and, to be perfectly honest, felt a little deflated at what we found there. It had a considerably different feel to the other islands, felt more clean-cut, more developed. It did not inspire that explorer in me, in fact, I just wanted to get off the island and leave! Corinne and Basil were feeling the same. After Orcas island, Lopez just did not impress us. We drove around for a while, stopped once or twice to get a cold drink, and then chose to head to the ferry terminal early and wait for the next boat. While we were waiting, Corinne and I took turns reading aloud an ebook I had saved on my nexus. We continued reading it on the ferry back to Anacortes. The more we read, the more we were hooked. In fact, Corinne read the book all the way from Anacortes back to Seattle, it was so riveting!

So all in all, the San Juan Islands were beautiful, captivating, rejuvenating. I would definitely recommend taking a car, otherwise you could feel quite stuck. Orcas Island was by far my favourite. I would go back there in a heartbeat. We had great food on all the islands, it was a great weekend!