Not wanting to bypass the San Juan Islands entirely in our pursuit of Canada, we left Friday Harbor bright and early (before all the people partying way too hard the night before were awake!) and headed towards Stuart Island. There’s a small settlement here with a school and a little “gift shop” to made some side cash. Everyone on the island is in charge of making their own electricity. It’s an interesting lifestyle for sure. We stopped here last time we were up in the islands, but never made it to the Turn Point lighthouse at the end of the island, so might as well do that!
Our route took us right along the length of Spieden Island. It’s a privately owned island that was logged at one point, and then turned into a wild game hunting area…with gazelles and everything. It’s very barren compared to the other heavily forested islands with lots of yellow grass and windswept trees.
In spite of the many boats floating around in Reid Harbor, there were numerous mooring balls available and up for grabs. We snagged one, tossed the dinghy in the water, and motored over to the dock to begin our adventure.
So we were dying pretty good with all the hiking etc, and then something magical happened! …a derelict car in the woods! Jason rolled his eyes pretty hard, but I was down there having a ball (and a break from hiking) for a few minutes. (ok, closer to like 30…)
Anyway, I think I wasted enough time and Jason was starting to get antsy, so we continued down the path towards the light house.
So we successfully completed our hike to the lighthouse and learned a lot about the people living on Stuart Island. Now we were hungry and ready to relax until sunset! Couldn’t resist taking a turn around the harbor in the dinghy to check out our beautiful Blue-J!
