Friday Harbor, the Hub of the San Juan Islands!

Friday Harbor is a picturesque town and the largest small town in the San Juan Islands; you could say it’s the hub of commerce for the islands. This was our third time staying in the harbor. It has been said that the boating community is a small world, our slip just happened to be right next to Herb and Willy from Willy’s Tug, Tim and June, on Circle T, from California were also docked nearby. Both are Ranger Tug owners we know from our cruising time in the PNW – most recently when we all joined the Ranger Tugs 2013 Desolation Sound Cruise. Because of meeting up with these boaters, we got to experience a couple of things while in Friday Harbor we wouldn’t have, had it not been for Tim’s “Local Knowledge.” Perched on the bluff above the marina sits a Lions Club – with Tim’s membership all six of us were able to take advantage of a scenic, and a very happy, hour from the club’s porch with the added bonus of touring their very informative military museum before we left.

Friday Harbor’s famous mascot, Popeye, the one-eyed seal, has a statue in the park, overlooking the harbor, dedicated to her (above). She hangs out in the water surrounding the little fish market on the dock and will beg for food from people buying fish from the market.

Willy and Herb (below), on our way up to the Lions Club.

That night, after drinks at the Lions Club, before we parted to return to our boats, Tim suggested we meet on the dock the next morning and he would take us on an expedition of sorts to a favorite breakfast spot of his. He knew of a local restaurant we’d never heard of before and said it would include a walk, so we’d be sure to get our day’s exercise in as well. We had no idea where we were going, but at the appointed time we met on the dock and off we went, walking up through town toward the airport. Tim, being a pilot, has flown in and out of the airport in Friday Harbor and has more local knowledge than the rest of us. As it turned out our long walk was rewarded with a fantastic breakfast at the little-known, to outsiders, Ernie’s  Cafe, abreast of the airport runway. We never would have found this restaurant on our own.

It was drizzling all morning, so our walk, up, around the building, and through little out-of-the-way paths, to the restaurant was a little wet, but we got to see some beautiful critters slink their way out of hiding to soak and take advantage of the damp ground (below).

Finally, we arrived, the guys were way ahead of us and as you can tell from their gait, eager for a big breakfast. Looks like I should have had Chili #4 (below).

One thing that was plentiful during our trip this summer was yellow jackets. They were everywhere it seemed, always flying into our boat or hovering outside. Ernie’s had bee catchers hanging over their outside deck.

Apparently, the restaurant is named after aviator and author Ernest K Gann.

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Goodbye Canada… Hello Parks Bay!

We left Vancouver Island in our wake as we bid Canada goodbye, with our bow now pointed toward Haro Straight, we began to feel the pull of our country drawing us back to familiar shores after the close of a long-planned boating adventure.

It was late in the day when we arrived back into home waters, so after checking in with customs at Friday Harbor, we idled back out and across the San Juan Channel to anchor overnight in the protected confines of Parks Bay, off Shaw Island. It’s our cruising philosophy when paying for overnight dockage, to strive to get as full a day at a marina, and or town, as possible, so we returned first thing the next morning to secure dockage for a couple of days at Port of Friday Harbor, one of our favorite San Juan stops.

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