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The Shipping News November 24, 2004 October 20, 2004 You may have seen the progress we've made on our pier repair project (described below) - much of the pier will be replaced or repaired this month, and we hope to have all of that phase of the project finished by the first part of November. New pilings have been driven, new planks for the dock put in, and the pier's looking pretty good!
Even with all the construction, it's important to know people are still open for business! Kenmore Air is still flying in with their seaplanes, and Friday Harbor Seafood is open, too! In other news...we looked over our end-of-summer reports and found we were up 3% over last year in the number of guest boats who visited the marina, which translates to about 500 boats. And last year's numbers were up 3% from the year before (2002). There were also more passenger vessel and cruise vessel stops here at the marina as well - thanks for dropping by! Tami, Harbormaster September 1, 2004 Meanwhile, the Victoria Clipper out of Seattle is also stopping its daily run on Labor Day and the Orca Song out of Everett has dropped its schedule to Thursday through Sunday for now. The pier renovation we talked about last month has been scheduled to begin around mid-month, probably around September 20th. We were able to get an extension because of the extent of the pile driving that will be required, as well as replacing 150 feet of walkway. You're going to love it when it's done - be sure and come by and see our progress as we upgrade this part of the marina for the first time since the 1970s. Tami, Harbormaster Main Pier Rebuilding Begins September 1st Included in this project is replacing the wooden portion of the walkway that leads to E, F, G and H floats along with the nearby supporting piling. The contract requires access be maintained to the entire marina during the time the project is underway. This will be accomplished with detours and temporary walkways. Please follow the temporary directional signs and keep clear of the construction equipment and call us if you have special needs or have questions on the project. Steve Simpson, Port Director July 8, 2004 Well, the Fourth has come and gone, and it was great. If you’ve ever visited the island during the holiday, you know what I mean. The day starts in town with the annual parade, which just might have more islanders IN it than watching, and continues with potlucks and picnics the rest of the day. Hope to see you there! Tami Hayes, harbormaster May 1, 2004 This month marks the first annual Orca Festival. Locals and visitors alike started the celebration with a street dance in front of the San Juan Island Yacht Club on Saturday. I hear a top time was had by all. I would have been there but I just can’t stay up that late anymore. Of course the flip side of that is that I find myself listening to the birds fire up around 5:00 a.m. every day. Oh well. Back to the Orca Fest. The San Juan Island Visitor’s Bureau would like you to come on up and enjoy a little of what we enjoy all year long. The Orca Fest will run the entire month of May which is one of my favorite months in the islands. Lots of natural beauty without the crowds of summer. Many a May I can remember sitting out on the rocks on the west side of our island surrounded by California poppies with a whale show all to myself. Wait! Back to the Orca Fest. It’s called a “Celebration of Water and Wildlife”. Friday Harbor will abound with art, theater, lectures, the Farmer’s Market, picnics at Whale Watch Park, teas, a Whale Conservation Symposium and way too much to list here. However, check out the website at www.guidetosanjuans.com/orcafest. It is a dozen or so pages of stuff happening here this fine month of May. April 1, 2004 Boy howdy! I’ve been really busy the last few days. The weather has been more like June than March and April and people are boating out here in the San Juans like crazy. We knew this might be a good year considering that we booked the 4th of July before January was done. I think it’s going to be a great year for boating in the islands. Even if you don’t have a boat, I think Washington State Ferries will let you use one of theirs. So come on out and enjoy some of our Mediterranean weather, great restaurants, excellent wildlife experiences and just plain old fun. Planning a few trips out to the islands this summer? Don’t forget our “stay with us four nights and get the fifth one free” program. This promotion has bee hugely successful and it looks like we’ll keep it going for at least another year.
Other connections, using passenger only vessels, can be made between Seattle and Friday Harbor on the Victoria Clipper. From Port Townsend you can get here on the Glacier Spirit operated by Puget Sound Express. If you want to come from Bellingham hop aboard the Island Commuter II operated by Pacific Cruises out of the Bellingham Ferry Terminal. Want to join us from Everett? Come by way of the Mosquito Fleet located at the Port of Everett. Our part of the world is one of the greatest places for boating in the world. But that’s not the only thing to do here. There are dozens of charming bed and breakfasts, many fabulous places to eat, great hiking and, of course our whales to see. Romance, mystery and adventure. All right here waiting for you to explore. Ed March 1, 2004
February 2, 2004 Punxsutawney Phil apparently saw his shadow this morning at Gobbler’s Knob heralding six more weeks of winter. Fortunately, this ain’t Gobbler’s Knob. Looks like maybe we’ll skate by another year with just minor nor’easters and a little bit of snow. I was on the mainland last week and driving down the freeway and I experienced sunshine, snow, howling wind and driving rain. Sounds like the kind of changeable weather one gets toward spring. So I’m thinking that maybe Punxsutawney Phil’s magic doesn’t cover the San Juan Islands. I’ve had reports from folks returning from the Big Seattle Boat Show that sales were up this year especially for larger vessels. Looks like the Bush economy is finally trickling down to those of us in the middle strata while the more economically enhanced are enjoying fruits of their labors. But hey! My first boat was a three place commercial stainless steel sink with the drains stopped up. Powered by pole, it was very cheap to run right up to the time I was caught by an adult and was put ashore.
So sail, walk or drive onto the ferry, or fly out to Friday Harbor. It is the best place on the planet that I could find to live. It’s so quiet and peaceful this time of year. Come leave a nose print on the aquarium. Ed January 1, 2004 Where the heck did 2003 go? Is it me or are the pages coming off the calendar a lot faster than they used too? So here we are at the kick-off of a brand new year and this is the day that we start taking reservations for the coming season. If you would like to join us for the Memorial Day weekend, the forth of July or Labor Day weekend you would be wise to give us a call at (360) 378-2688 and reserve space. Have a Visa or Mastercard number handy when you do. Wow! What a great set of holidays we just had. The Town and the Port were decorated to the nines this year. I’ll miss the candy cane streetlamps and the very fine xmas tree in the new turn-around. Spring Street looked like a jewel box at night. I don’t think Friday Harbor can be any prettier than it was this season. Well, the days will be getting noticeably longer now that we’re past December. With the flipping of the calendar pages it will soon be time to prepare for the opening of boating season. Snow flakes will give way to sunshine and peoples minds will return to their boats. Now is the time to be thinking about what needs to be done to get the boat ready summer adventure. Speaking of adventure, we’re open 363 days a year. Sometimes when cruising this time of year one can get held up by stormy winter weather. There are far worse places to get stuck than the San Juan Islands. Snuggly buttoned up in a warm boat with a good book behind our all weather breakwater sounds OK to me. Feel free to share our paradise anytime. Ed December 1, 2003 Hello December! This month the Town of Friday Harbor is putting on the dog with the Northern Lights Festival. The Port is going to put on the dog with them and we’ll have the official lighting of the marina and boats on the 6th. Should be a lot of fun, so dress up the boat, bring down the kids and celebrate the beauty of this special time of the year. On the 13th of December the Santa Ship will arrive in town around 5:30. Santa will be met at the Spring Street Landing Pier by the Friday Harbor Fire Department and whisked up to the Fire Hall for presents and good cheer. On that same evening, the lighted boat parade will cruise the harbor and an open house will be held at the San Juan Island Yacht Club. Another good feature about December? The Port Commission invites the boating public to come to our seaport village and do a little Christmas shopping. Show the marina staff $100 dollars worth of receipts gained from shopping in town and we’ll give you a night moorage for free! (sorry, tobacco and booze excluded). Also, don’t forget our stay four nights and get one free program. This has been a great program so don’t forget to save your moorage receipts. This is a very wonderful time of year to visit Friday Harbor. The town, the marina and local residents are putting forth a real effort to make this holiday season one to remember. Come see the magic, you’ll be glad you did! Ed November 2, 2003 The first nor’easter came blowing through this last week. Not the coldest or the windiest, but cold and windy enough to remind me of past years like 89 and 90 that were. The big nor’easter of 89 brought back memories of ten foot deep sea-smoke hurtling over the water at sixty-five miles per hour with a temperature of fifteen degrees. Out on the breakwater where I was living aboard my boat, four inches of frozen seawater clung to the weather side causing a three degree list. Even with the oil stove and electric heaters going full blast I had to wear my exposure suit to keep warm. Since I was moored beam to the wind I was trapped aboard as the mooring lines had stretched in the wind causing the vessel stand off the float by eight feet. I spent some uneasy hours in the pilot chair with the engines running. Eventually the cold wind came down to just a gale and I was able to shorten lines and look at the ice sculpture that the docks and boats had become. This early blow is a walk in the park compared to those long gone storms. But it should serve as a reminder that it has been a good long while that we haven't had a full-on lights out arctic express. Even with this puff of northerly wind I found many boats chafing on lines that were too thin and too few. I saw squashed fenders that were much too small for the job. The sound of halyards slapping masts could be deafening when strong gusts sent cats paws racing across the water. I had to make numerous phone calls to warn people that their boats needed attention. At this time of year, we are fortunate to our live-aboard community. They are generally the ones who save boats that have come untied, lost some fenders or have roller furling coming undone. They are here when staff is not and they have a natural love of those things floating. But even they can be too late sometimes. Last week I found a sailboat sunk to the decks due to a fitting giving way in the night. Fortunately, no one was sleeping aboard when it happened. This month's lesson? Check your lines, fenders, sails and halyards. Winter is upon us. Have a great Thanksgiving, Ed October 1, 2003 We are having an outstanding fall this year. It was 87 degrees on Sunday, September 28th. The previous Saturday the guest moorage was filled to capacity and felt like any high summer weekend. Sometimes it seems as if everyone with a boat is in the San Juans. Business has been just great and I appreciate everyone who saves their vacation for the shoulder seasons. A sure sign of seasons changing is the appearance of the southbound cruise ships coming from Alaska. We see the same ships on their way north in the spring and like the swallows we welcome their southbound migration which heralds the beginning of a more peaceful time of year. More and more boaters are showing up earlier in the spring and staying later in the fall when the islands are less populated and getting an anchorage to ones self more likely. Two things to factor into your fall cruising is much cooler nights and the possibility of morning fog. The fog can keep you from furthering your journey at times, but what better place to get stuck than here in paradise. Another sign of the changing season are those folks that return from the north to spend the winter with us as liveaboards. Some, like the transiting of the cruise ships, we see year after year. Some will be new neighbors and some come from all over the globe. I enjoy meeting these floating vagabonds and look forward to hearing their stories. One of our customers circumnavigated the globe in a 46 foot power boat. Another of our tenants had a pet duck. There are 40 liveaboard vessels in the marina and attached to each one is an interesting story. I think Friday Harbor is one of the sweetest places in the world. To be able to live and work here is a great blessing. It you want to sample what we all have every day, give us a visit. Our beautiful seaport village awaits. Ed September 4, 2003 Was that summer that just whipped by? Oh boy, I guess time does fly because it seems that I was just wondering how busy we would be during the festivities surrounding the 4th of July. September and October are very special months here in the islands. Warm dry days are complimented by cool nights and sometimes foggy mornings. I first came here some twenty years ago in October and camped at San Juan County Park on the west side of San Juan Island. In those days there were duo phonic fog horns that made the well known beee-oh sounds out in Haro Strait and additionally, the fog horns of the deep sea ships passing through between Vancouver B.C. and the ocean made for an amazing symphony. Sitting on the shore in a ghostly fog and listening to whales breathing and the fog horns sounding out their warning is one of my fondest memories. At that time I thought that this had to be the coolest place on the planet. Not long after that I became a resident of this very special place. You don’t have to make a radical move or change your lifestyle to experience the epiphany that I had that foggy October morning. You can visit us by sea, by ferry or by air and have just as much romance or adventure as you like. Of course the best way to enjoy what we have is by boat. And if you are boating through the islands, one of the most important stops along the way will be Friday Harbor. Our seaport village has a little of everything for everyone. Groceries, US Customs, chandleries, restaurants, medical help, internet connections, seaplane base, airport, drug store, hair care, movie theater and lots more stuff I can’t think of right now. So now that the kids have gone back to school, take some time to visit one of the most special places in the world. A place where the weather is almost always good and people are always able to commune with nature. Come and enjoy our island friendly port. Ed August 1, 2003
The hot, dry weather has made the San Juans tinder dry. During the Fourth of July celebrations, we had three separate brush fires caused by off course fireworks. A casually tossed cigarette could lead to disaster, so please take extreme care if you visit our islands this summer. OK, all worrying aside, the other side of the weather coin is that the island topography is probably much like that of the south of France. No, you don’t need to fly to Provence to sample paradise; you merely need to hop a ferry to enjoy one of the finest and most unique places in the world. The downside? Lots of dust and traffic and excavators and a maze of red cones to keep people from being excavated. So watch your step when loading or unloading your gear from your cars or walking in from the ferry. There are lots of signs to direct traffic away from the construction. Change is sometimes hard to deal with, but when the work is done, the product will be awesome. July 1, 2003 Wow! We booked early for the 4th of July and as of Canada Day (the 1st) business has been much better than last year. We had our first Music in the Park event last Sunday and folks said that a top time was had by all, even with the fluky weather. Carolyn Cruso put on a great show with hammer dulcimer and guitar. Next Sunday the One More Time Jazz Band will entertain the waterfront at 2:00. The 4th will not only have the best parade of the year and fireworks over the bay but a rockin’ street dance in the Port parking lot featuring the TimeBenders. I had a great time at this event last year and can recommend it for everyone. Really a great way to spend time waiting for the bombs bursting in air. Even though our reservation slips are booked, we don’t turn people away. We just start rafting boats on the northern floating breakwaters when the slips fill. If rafting is not your cup of tea, we have plenty of good anchorage north and south of the marina. The best time to arrive in the marina if you want to get a slip is between the hours of 11:00 and 1:00 which is check-out time. There is turnover every day in the guest area. When you can see the marina give us a call on VHF 66 US and Slip Assignment will direct you. We now have a full crew to serve your boating needs. You can identify them by their bright red t-shirts. Their duty is to help you find a slip, direct you to services and businesses, help with pump-outs, handle your lines and, of course, collect moorage fees. If you need assistance, look for the red shirts. Summer is now officially in full swing. We will fill every night from now until September. But never fear. We’ll get you in here one way or another and we promise to make your stay as pleasant as possible. You are why we are here. Come join the fun that is every day in our seaport village. Ed June 1, 2003 We had a packed house for Memorial Day weekend. Everyone was here except the sun. Fortunately, the temperature was very mild and the sun finally joined the fun on Monday just in time for the parade. Bagpipes, drums and trumpets were heard over the water as the Town remembered those who have fallen in battle. Starting on the 29th of this month we will begin the Music in the Park program. Every Sunday at 2:00 the Port will feature local musicians in Fairweather Park. We will start with Carolyn Cruso featuring hammer dulcimer and guitar. Through the summer we’ll hear the One More Timer Band, Argyle St. Band, Solar Siblings, Marlene Dickey, Full Circle, Uncle Otto and Scott Spadafora and Friends. This has been a very popular program and has drawn a fair following during the last two years. Join us and get a sample of the local culture. Our “Stay for Four Nights, Get One Free” program is proving a great success. Save your moorage passes because these nights do not need to be in succession and will be good till the end of time. Also, the word on our “Canadian at Par” program is spreading and our business from the north is getting better. I hear that their dollar is gaining a little ground so I anticipate that that side of our business will be improving this season. Yea Canadians!
Well, we’re off and running for the summer season. If you decided to postpone that European vacation this year due to global conditions, make our seaport village your destination for your vacation. We are one of the safest spots on the planet! Ed May 1, 2003 Ah May! We are having a spectacular spring here in the islands. Dry mild weather that is just perfect for early season cruising. I like to take this time of year to load up the boat with supplies, books and beverages and head up to Reid Harbor on Stuart Island. In May, likely as not, you can have the whole state park to your self.
The 4th of this month is the official beginning of boating season here in the Port. The theme is "The Lewis and Clark Expedition". We will be celebrating the bicentennial of the expedition and the centennial of the University of Washington Labs. We will have a theme and traditional boat parade sponsored by the San Juan Island Yacht Club and the Friday Harbor Sailing Club. Much fun will be had by all. Dingy races, cannon fire and yachting attire all conspiring to entertain natives and visitors alike. Over the years that I’ve lived here it has not been unusual for me to find my own personal whale show while visiting Limestone Point or boating down the west side of our island in May and June. A visit to our little seaport village and its surrounding parks and anchorages can be an unforgettable experience even after the crowds arrive in July. But do yourself the favor of seeing it in May and June. One more thing. So you don’t have a boat but you’d really like to have a San Juan adventure. Drive to Anacortes and use the Washington State Ferry’s boat. Then, if you’d like to see the whales there are several wild-life touring boats working from the marina. We look forward to seeing you. Ed April 1, 2003 Migratory birds are making their appearances throughout the marina and the shore-side greenery is developing new leaves that look as if they are bursting to life in slow motion. Spring is here, no doubt about it. The last weekend in March was very strong for moorage and it feels like folks really want to get out on the water this year.
The Opening Day of Boating Season is just around the corner. May 4th to be exact and the theme is the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Should be interesting. The time will be springing ahead this month another sure sign that the world is tilting over the to the warm side. As the going gets warmer, more and more people are talking of fitting out, hauling out and paying out. Zincs, bottom paint, bright-work, bronze and stainless steel; all those things that go into resisting the actions of galvanic and saltwater corrosion. But this is the stuff that makes messing about in boats a labor of love. I know a lot of you thought it was having cocktails on the lido deck in some sunset cove. Keeping a boat in tip-top shape is more about rolling up the sleeves than getting under way. Well, we are all about boating here in the Port of Friday Harbor Marina. It is great being a community bound together by water. A community that is just as comfortable in front of the tiller as behind the wheel. Grab a few days away from your normal existence and come sample some of ours this spring. Leave the freeway for the waterway. Slow your pace and take some time to reflect upon the wonders and natural beauty of our islands. Ed March 3, 2003
I’ve seen a lot of early activity from the various sailing groups this year getting ready for competition and learning fun. Lasers, El Toros, Etchels and high end racing rigs all getting ready for a full on season. What a great sport and pastime sailing is. One of the few things in life that does not require fossil fuel and can be accomplished in the simplest dinghy or multi-million 12 meter. If you are a sailing dinghy enthusiast, come join the dinghy races on Opening Day of Boating Season May 4th this year. I might even throw my dinghy on the trailer this year before someone gets the idea that it is a yard planter. Do you find yourself feeling a little stressed what with world politics, the rising price of everything and the bumper to bumper lifestyle that seems to sprawl from one strip mall to the next? Well, I’m happy to report that those visions of concrete and asphalt seem far, far away from where I sit and write this newsletter. It may be March, but I see many boats underway around the marina and much activity around the boats in the slips as people “just mess about in boats”. This place is as close to boater heaven as I need to get. Come join us. Grab the ferry in Anacortes, fly from almost anywhere or come by way of your own vessel. We look forward to seeing you enjoy what we have all the time… I checked our reservation system today to see how our bookings are doing. I was surprised to see that the 4th of July is already booked. If you’re thinking of coming on any of the other busy weekends please book soon by calling (360) 378-2688. Remember that we won’t turn folks away, we just start rafting on the northern breakwaters when the slips fill. See you soon, February 1, 2003 In past years a substantial portion of our overnight guest boat business came from our friends from the north. That is not so today. The reason for this change lies mostly with the unfavorable exchange rate with the Canadian dollar which at present is worth only about 65% of the US dollar. Our Port Commission came up with an idea that will make the trip across the border very attractive to our Canadian customers. Canadians have a number of long weekend holidays throughout the year and the Port Commission proposes to accept Canadian money at par for those holidays. Here is a list of those holidays:
We expect to see many more of our old friends from Victoria, Saanich and Vancouver in the coming season. It will be great to regain the international feeling that has been a part of our community and our history. Another waterfront happening is the placement of a 400 gallon saltwater aquarium in the center of the Spring Street Landing ferry terminal. This tank has been located on the lower level of the Spring Street Landing in the foyer. The tank required filters and a chiller with compressor to operate in that location and did so for a season. However the compressor failed and we had to return all the creatures back to the sea. In the new location we will circulate seawater directly from the bay using a redundant pump system. The idea here is to expose people to the very creatures that live in our local waters. Visitors, children and local folks will be able to enjoy a habitat that mostly only divers get to see. I see an exciting season coming. I hope that you will all find the time to visit our beautiful and unique seaport village this year by sea or by air. Ed January 5, 2003 Ah! The start of a new year. We here in the Port are challenging ourselves to make this coming season something different and something better than ever before. We are looking to ourselves to find ways to improve our service to both our permanent tenants and the many visitors we see in the summer. I mentioned some of these ideas in the last installment of this newsletter, but here are some other things worth mentioning. We intend to reduce reservation fees to be more user friendly. In the past, we charged $.20 per foot more for reservations due to the difficulty in keeping slips open in this very busy marina. We think our customers will find a small surcharge much more palatable. We are also improving our facilities for handling boating clubs and rendezvous. We now have a meet, greet and register float with a canopy to shed the rain that we have so little of. Whereas we have always restricted clubs and rendezvous to the spring and fall we will, with enough notice, start booking groups during the high season. We are looking into ways to further improve our guest electrical service, entertainment and communications systems. More and more people are now taking advantage of the wireless internet service we have here so if you’re 802.11b active we can connect you to the rest of the world. We want to be the best part of your floating or flying vacation and to do that we are going to do whatever it takes to make our marina, our seaplane base and our airport first class for service and facility. As for the airport, it was already voted airport of the year in 2002! If you have any suggestions how we might improve service to you or yours please email contactus@portfridayharbor.org or give me a call at (360) 378-2688. I look forward to hearing from you. You, dear customer, are the most important part of our facilities. Ed December 2, 2002
OK, it’s not even Christmas…I just want to spin winter in a more positive light. The first is no real surprise. People think that the restrooms and showers are way too far from the guest slips. We knew this, but what we didn’t know was just how strongly some folks felt about it. So, depending on permits and grant monies we will be working towards providing you, dear customer, with restrooms that float. Yes! Right at the base of G dock we will have a 20’ X 40’ barge with restrooms, port-o-potty dump and pump-out station. And perhaps even a pair of showers. We are in the design stage now, so stay tuned. Secondly, I was under the impression that people (boaters) were becoming such slaves to computers and palm pilots that hardly anyone could have a floating vacation without reserving everything way ahead. Now, this is opposed to the idea of just having an adventure by going somewhere and seeing what happens. Well, I was wrong. Most boaters I talked to did want to reserve for dates like July 4, but most were content to just mess around in boats. November 2, 2002
This has been an outstanding autumn. The weather has been clear with some foggy mornings with the temperature getting down into the twenties some nights. Lots of brightly colored leaves to enjoy. Some days it is so calm that the salt-chuck looks just like a mirror. Especially pretty when a ferry pulls in or out with its own image displayed in the water. Quite a few boaters are out and about considering this is the first weekend of November. Of course we would normally be enduring the beginning of our usual northwest monsoon season. Perhaps by next weekend I won’t be waxing so poetically. Surely by then the flags will be standing straight out, the trees will be in constant motion and we’ll have a nice soaking rain rollicking out of the southeast. Well enough about the weather! Have you ever dreamed of having your very own slip here in Friday Harbor? Fantasized about not just coming here for a visit, but of having your own little piece of the rock? Well, we here in the marina might be able to help out a little bit in the fantasy department. For the first time in a goodly amount of time we have 30 and 40 foot slips available at the nifty rate of $6.53 per foot per month. Keep your boat right in the heart of the San Juan Islands where we have as many dry days as they do in Yakima! Dang! There’s the weather thing sneaking back into the story. I love winter here. Even with the short days and long nights it is beautiful and peaceful and I can’t imagine anywhere better to be. A bunch of us used to take our boats to Reid Harbor out on Stuart Island for the Thanksgiving weekend. It was like we had that corner of the world all to ourselves and one never knew just what day it would be possible to get home. Perhaps that tradition should be revisited. Want to come along? Ed October 1, 2002 I, and the Port, turned 52 today. Fortunately, the Port is being maintained much better than I am. My hat is off to the Maintenance Dept. for all the work they do to keep our marina clean and in good repair. All the traffic that comes with the 16,000 boats that pass through here every year can put substantial pressure on a marina this old. September 2, 2002 Well, here it is Labor Day. It seems summer started later and may be ending soon as I am feeling an early evening chill in the air. I also noticed that the honkers were beginning their migration in the middle of last month so maybe the rains will be coming soon. August 1, 2002 Summer is a full blown affair now, by golly! Business was a little slow to begin with but we’re filling the marina every night now. The weather has been a little cool for this time of year and I hear a few sun worshipers complaining but for me, I’m thinking this is a good thing. Usually this island is as dry as a bone at the end of July and fire is becoming a concern but this year, the hay has just now come in. I think it just means that the foc’sle is nice and cool for sleeping. We’ve started our “Music in the Park” program for this year with such hot acts as “Sugar on the Floor”, “Uncle Otto” and “Solar Siblings”. Now I know that everyone has heard of these #1 bands as surely they are famous beyond our shores. Wait!…you guessed it. These are local folks making music for not only our own folks but you folks that visit too The line-up for this month will be:
It is so great to be able to relax in Fairweather Park on a Sunday afternoon in the shade listening to great homemade music with friends and neighbors. Sometimes it almost seems magic when the jazz, the temperature and the view come together to make the moment one that you’ll remember forever. We’ll be starting the month with the 32nd Shaw Island Classic Sailboat Race August 3rd. Between 75 and 100 sailing vessels will compete. It really is a classic! If you would like more information you can contact Charles Collins, Vice Commodore of the San Juan Island Yacht Club at Come and enjoy our beautiful seaport town, Ed July 1, 2002 Well, summer has finally sprung and our marina is once again filled with visiting boats. It’s good to see folks getting tied up and walking up the piers to sample the delights of our little seaport town. People are packing in this week ready to enjoy our 4th of July fireworks display and street dance. There will also be a great parade to celebrate the birth of our country. But July is not just about the 4th, there’s a bunch of other stuff to do here as well. Unlike all the other islands in the San Juans, our island has a diversified town with all the services you’d want or need to supply or resupply your cruising vacation. Here you can get medical attention, groceries, fuel, engine parts, air transportation or a charter boat. Here you can go to a movie, go on a wildlife tour, eat at one of our numerous restaurants or catch our Sunday Music in the Park program. You can even play music in the park if you want to. The Port even has an aquarium at Spring Street Landing that represents a lot of the sea life that occupies our unique part of the world and the charge for a visit is… free! I know I’m leaving lots out of this little letter to you, there’s just so much to do here. I know that you will want to make us part of your San Juans experience. I see plenty of activity going on at our airport too. Lots of visiting airplanes in the transient tie down area and lots of flight operations in motion. Last year we resurfaced the runway and took out the dip at the beginning of 16. One Port Commissioner who is a pilot says that he misses the dip because he said it helped launch his 172. I think the Gulfstream drivers were happy to see the dip go though. If you’d like more information about our airport give the Airport Operations Manager a call. His name is Pat Mayo and he can be reached at (360) 378-4724 or by email on the Contact Us page in this website. We also have an international seaplane base located in the marina and a recreational walking and picnicking beach located nearby. Come spend some time with us by land, air or sea. You’re one of the reasons we’re here. So, see you soon… Ed June 4, 2002 Every June all us folks on the waterfront ask ourselves, "Where are they?" Everyone feels long on time and short of cash. But like the swallows of Capistrano they will return in numbers in July and our sleepy little village will see thousands of gallons of ice cream consumed. May 1, 2002 On Saturday, April 20 the marina was full. With the arrival of two boating groups and the added incentive of good weather we were host to over 150 boats. In ten years I can't remember that happening in April. Seems like people really want to get out on the water this year. Any time we experience a little good boating weather, there are an extraordinary amount of boats out on the water. I can't explain it. Maybe the events of last September have resulted in people wanting to get in closer touch with things closer to home. Whatever it is, come and enjoy what we have! April 8, 2002 Holy Cow! It's April already. We had a yacht club stay with us during the first weekend of this month and spring break and good weather filled the marina. I can't remember that ever happening this early in the season. I'm thinking that the events of last September are causing people to stay closer to home and to vacation on their boats. March 5, 2002 We've had some fabulous cruising weather during the last few weeks and there are many signs that spring is on the way. And it's not just that the plants and wildlife are beginning a new awakening, it is the beginning of yet another boating season. In February we saw many more boats due to the mild weather and with the rain shadow in full force, much more sunshine. Please don't tell anyone about our rain shadow, let's just keep that a secret for the locals. I heard that someone bagged a 40 pound black mouth Chinook the other day. Everyone says that sport salmon fishing is better than anyone can remember. So as to keep people up off their knees while cleaning fish, we will be installing a new fish cleaning station right next to the Main Pier. This will serve two purposes. One, it will keep the fish gurry off the floats and people's shoes, and two, more people will be able to watch the fishers clean fish and admire the catch. Here's a tip. The crowds of summer don't really show up here until July 1 which is the Canada Day weekend that leads into our 4th of July. Before that, May and June are absolutely heaven here. Beautiful weather and uncrowded waters team up to give boaters fabulous San Juan experiences. The same can be said of September as soon as the kids go back to school. I have seen seasons that last almost to November depending on the weather. There are still times when you can have Reid Harbor or Echo Bay all to yourself with nothing but the sound of the wind, the seabirds and the water lapping against the hull of your boat. I can think of nothing better than being all snuggled up in the forepeak with a good book with the sound of raindrops pelting the deck overhead. Raindrops! What am I saying...remember the rain shadow? Tami and I hope we'll see you soon, Harbormaster Ed February 17, 2002 This is the fi |
of the Juliet in the fog in late August, the mists usually burn off by midday.
"August, come she must," as Paul Simon once sang. 
