A sail around Stuart Island

October 8, 2020 – Just as we rounded the corner on our sail today we found a bald eagle high up in the trees and a Steller sea lion swimming down the channel. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen any bald eagles outside the harbor. It appears many eagles are making their way back to the San Juans after a visit to the rivers to intercept returning spawning salmon. We’ve been seeing lots of bald eagles on our sails lately.

Sailing wing on wing we headed north to visit some of our favorite places. A large number of harbor seals were warming up on the easternmost tip of Flattop Island while a bald eagle hung out on the western cliff ledge. Crossing over to New Channel, cutting between the Cactus Islands we made our way to sail along the north shore of Spieden Island. Today we found a Peregrine falcon standing near the top of the bluff perched in a tree. This is the second time we’ve seen the falcon recently. Its good to have him back since we’ve hardly seen him all year like we typically do.

We decided to circumnavigate Stuart Island to get a good scan into Haro Strait and into Boundary Pass. As we cruised along the shoreline we found several harbor seals, cormorants, black tailed deer, bald eagles, and a great blue heron. After passing Turn Point Lighthouse we found an osprey – a fairly uncommon sighting for us and very exciting to see. Our passengers enjoyed taking the helm today as we sailed through Johns Pass, back through New Channel, and down San Juan Channel. The sun broke below the thick layer of clouds illuminating them with pastel colors as we returned to Friday Harbor.