Jones Island – Entertainment Away from the Madding Crowd

Jones Island is another Washington Marine State Park –

On the recommendation of another boater, we picked Jones Island for a three-day stay, the time limit allotted to boaters at most of these marine parks. We chose the cove on the north side of the island, it’s the one with a boat dock. As luck would have it, there was space for us at the end of the dock. The benefits of having a smaller boat! We grabbed it and spent three days exploring the island and relaxing on the boat. Great trails around the west side of the island provided off-boat activities for our crew. Since cell service was poor at the dock, a quick walk to the west side of the island provided a consistent signal while also supplying a stunning view from wind-swept cliffs and stony beaches off San Juan Channel. Also, Jones Island is one of the parks that provide water to its campers and boaters.

If you think we ever get bored while cruising. We don’t!

There is always wildlife to enjoy, and other boaters provide friendly conversation on the dock or the water. We can always amuse ourselves during cocktail hour by watching or helping people dock or getting settled on a mooring ball or anchor. If we really run out of things to amuse us, we’ll make up contradicting stories out of the activity we are watching around us, and we’ll laugh sometimes at what we come up with.

Entertainment is subjective and we are creating our own. We can simply sit and watch Mother Nature do her thing all around us. Another favorite, when at anchor or on a mooring ball, is to sit quietly as our boat swings to and fro. Easy to be mesmerized by the slow-motion and the stunning views of the surrounding islands,  lit up by the setting sun. We like to call it “Nature’s Screensaver.”

We have not missed the craziness of the outside world one bit, except we do long for our loved ones back home.

Jones island has many cozy campsites along the coast; it was fun to watch families come and go, either for day trips or overnight camping. Some would come with a boatload of people, camping equipment, and water toys.

On our first trek up the ramp, we were excited to see deer grazing at the top. They are fairly tame; we ran into them whenever we were walking on the island.

Jim took these amazing pics during his hike today (two above and 6 below).

One evening’s entertainment included watching these two boats after they were lashed hastily to the non-floating part of the dock. Captains and friends went onshore for a hike. We watched as the tide came in and pushed the boats together while tipping sideways, we could not easily, or safely,  get to the boats to retie them. Happy ending though, the owners got back just in time to save their boats, but not without some difficulty.