Sunset sailing in the San Juan Islands

June 10, 2019 – We sailed South on the ebb and cut through the Pass at Turn Island. A deer was walking the sand spit of todays extreme low tide to the small islands South of Turn. Crisp and clear we could see the details of the Olympic Mountains over the resting Harbor seals.

Close hauled we sailed towards Big Rock glacial erratic and tacked our way down the Lopez shoreline into wind with benefits of the ebb current. Harbor porpoises surfaced in Cattle Pass and we sailed by Goose island cormorant rookery to the lighthouse which today was used as a look out post for a bald eagle. And on out to Salmon Bank.

On seeing a minke whale through the binoculars we headed East. We never saw the Minke whale surface again and eventually gave up search to cut in around Low Island. More eagles watched out over the waters including one near its nest. Passing the Steller Sea Lions of Whale Rocks we caught the changing tide and drifted the flood back along the shore of Deadman Island. Harbor Porpoises surfaced in the calm waters which reflected the colours of the forested Lopez shoreline. We drifted through the pass of Turn Island towards Friday Harbor through the stellar sunset.