Friday Harbor & Washington
Oh I am IN LOVE with San Juan Island!!!! It all started with the brisk air sweetly punching me in the face as the ferry pulled into Friday Harbor. While on this island, I fell in love with not only the scenery, but the lifestyle and people. There are two places I want to give some extra love to. First is the Crows Nest Coffee Shop, chances are you will miss this tiny little coffee shop if you’re not paying attention, but double back and head in. I wish I could have tried everything on the menu but I did the math and my bladder is just too small. The coffee was the best coffee we had all trip and the lavender syrup from the local lavender fields was my absolute kryptonite, I am daydreaming of this latte as I type. Secondly, after you grab yourself a nice bevvie, go next door to the Spring Street Deli and order yourself a sando. I cannot adequately describe the vibe, so I’ll say this: on our second visit to the deli I forgot to add mustard and the incredible gal in charge double checked with me because she had remembered my order from the day before. Now that’s service! We came back day after day to grab sandwiches and a friendly smile to take out with us on trails.
Our rental was an absolutely incredible cottage in Kanaka Bay with huge windows and gorgeous views. Waking up to a private beach and birds singing all around made the first morning extra magical. The day happened to be my birthday and I was at 199 species for the year. We sat in the brisk morning air and drank our coffee while listening to the birds. A very loud golden-crowned sparrow made it known that it would be number 200 and shortly after that I heard the familiar sound of hummingbird wings. A rufous hummingbird flew by in a golden flash once, then twice, then time and time again until I was able to track it to the tree it was perching on. This particular hummingbird stayed on property our entire stay and would continue to go back to that perch from sun up to sun down posing for any hummingbirds to see. In total, we saw 22 species from our cabin, 6 which were new species as well as deer, raccoon, seals and otters.
On our second day in San Juan, we grabbed a sandwich from the Spring Street Deli and went out to Lime Kiln Point State Park in hopes of spotting orcas. We knew that we were a little early for the season, but still decided this was the place we wanted to go. The trail out to the whale watching sight felt like it was out of a dream filled with pines, firs, moss and rocks outlining the winding trail. We found a picnic table we liked looking out towards Victoria and sat there for hours hoping for orcas but instead seeing seals, sea lions, and lots of birds. While I was sitting on some rocks watching the waves crash into it, two black oystercatchers landed about 20 feet away from me. I watched as they foraged around me for food and then settled down together on the rocks for a while.
On our third day we went back to American Camp to look for the famous wild foxes and were lucky enough to see one running along the tree line in the tall grass. We made our way through much of San Juan Island National Historic Park but the highlight was an Anna’s hummingbird that we watched for about 30 minutes going back and forth between it’s perches. I love the challenge of photographing very small very fast birds and this Anna’s fulfilled that desire. We drove into town to grab sandwiches and went out to Lime Kiln to spend the rest of our day at our same picnic table from the day before enjoying the views.
While in San Juan Island I saw over 50 species of birds and over 20 new species (23 to be exact). It was bittersweet as we prepared to leave the island, but we had one final stop: a bird migration cruise to Protection Island, Washington. We took the ferry back to the mainland and happened to meet the manager of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I fangirled over how amazing Bear River was and lived vicariously through her as she talked about the birds they have seen.
We made our way through Seattle traffic into Port Townsend. The tiny town was bustling with life as tourists filled the downtown streets. We got on our boat that held about 40 people and found our seats. As we took off, our captain informed us that we would be experiencing some winds between 20-35 knots by the end of the tour…. sporty! The cruise started off easy, beautiful sunny skies and gorgeous temperature as we made our way out to our destinations. As we neared Protection Island, the winds picked up and only a few of us remained out on the deck in the elements as we made a few more stops of known bird hot spots. Through the wind and the rain I was chilled to the bone at the end but it was absolutely worth it. I saw 10 new species on our cruise, but we saw 28 species total on the tour including a group of marbled murrelet at the very end which even our captain and naturalist were excited about. We made our way to our hotel and called it an early night after warming up and ended the vacation with a much deserved nights sleep.
