Friday, August 3: Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island

I’ve never been much of a fisherman, but I love crabbing.  You don’t have to hang around with a pole or try to figure where the fish are and how deep they are.  You just bait the trap, throw it overboard, and come back the next day.  You can literally catch all the tasty Dungeness crab you want in your sleep.  Which is what we did last night.  Yay!  Dinner tonight.

Not much to report today, this is mostly a provisioning stop.  We haven’t been at a dock for a week and it’s time to get some water and groceries, take nice long showers, explore a town, and let someone else make us lunch.  Firday Harbor, on the other side of San Juan Island, fit the bill.  It’s the biggest town in the San Juan Islands and we always like stopping here at least once.

We went out to lunch at a new Mexican restaurant, which was pretty tasty, and Kristine recognized the woman at the next table as “Captain Deb.”  She saved our vacation a couple of years ago when we needed to be towed to a marine center for an engine repair.  We said hi and she actually remembered us and the fact that she had been helping with some training when she got our call.  Kristine and I were really impressed with Deb – she’s a 30 something woman who has really made a name for herself around here in a traditional man’s business.  She acts like AAA on the water, providing towing, jump starting, diving, and salvage services.  And she’s a really nice person.  It was nice to see her under calmer circumstances.

The only picture I took today was of the dock behind us, as we were preparing for our crab dinner.  No, it’s not a boat fire, just some guy who got a little too enthusiastic on the BBQ prep.  This is one of the reasons we prefer to anchor out somewhere instead of cruising from dock to dock like some people do.