Our Big Adventure, Day 9: Blind Bay and Shaw Island

Things you often see in the San Juan Islands:

• Otters
• Seals
• Eagles

Things you occasionally see in the San Juan Islands:

• Whales
• SCREAMING DEALS!

With a Washington State Parks mooring pass, you can stay for up to three nights at any of the docks or buoys in the Washington State marine park system, all year long. For our boat, that comes out at a grand total of $130. Rosario Resort was beautiful, but Blind Bay was peaceful and quiet, and we definitely prefer anchoring out to staying in a marina. Blind Island State Park is a tiny rock with nothing on it but a little outhouse, a perfect little world to visit with a kayak.



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Shaw Island is the smallest of the ferry-served San Juan Islands. The only commerce is its incredibly well-stocked general store, which has a small selection of delicious locally grown produce and satisfyingly hot mustard produced by the sisters of Our Lady of the Rock convent.



The ferry dock itself used to be manned by nuns, but it no longer is.

We took the county road across the island, passing some quirky public art:

And a fascinating community noticeboard.



The roads were so like the summer roads I grew up with in County Limerick, along the Clare border: High ditches of grasses, nettles, docks, Queen Anne's Lace, thistles, dandelions, and a thousand other familiar plants and trees. It feels extraordinary to me how places so far away can have such similar flora, but the San Juans are roughly on the same latitude as Ireland. They had just taken in the hay, but the warm, familiar sweet smell still hung in the warm air, and the heavy buzz of bees was always in the background.

Along the way, there were kayaks and boats stored among the trees,

On the other side of the island is the Shaw Island County Park, a beautiful campsite, and a lovely sandy beach, the kind of beach where you'd build a driftwood fort:

Or just hang out in the sun:

Or go for a walk:

Near the park, the residents had just built and opened a new playing field:

It was so peaceful and quiet, and the air was heavy with the sound of bees and the fragrance of cut grass.

Dinner on the boat:

That night, we took the dinghy out and sat in the middle of the bay looking up at the stars. Four unlit kayaks slid by us in the dark. Outside, we could see the massive ferries passing, lit up like cities. It was magical.