Good ol’ Stuart
Since getting Meriwether back in the water, we haven’t had much for planned destinations. We have been actively trying to go to places we did not visit in 2019 to at least get that new-place-smell during this year of unplannable chaos. The goal of “new” even out weighs the inefficiency of reversing course to get to it. I hate to back track, but this year I am letting that go just to keep exploring as much as possible. This is where Stuart Island comes in. We just passed by it before arriving to Friday Harbor, and now we were sailing right back up there to anchor in Reid Harbor. Sure, sure… we did already visit Stuart last year, but we anchored in Prevost Harbor – where I learned an important lesson on just how cold the water is there – and eventually moving to Satellite Island for the work week. Reid Harbor would be new to us… what ever it takes in search for that smell.
The sail was pretty straight forward and made more so because of the complete lack of even a breeze. We would motor the full distance with no real hope of raising the sails. Just the comforting rumble of our old diesel tractor motor under our feet. Cold and drizzle were present but our spirits were not dampened in the slightest. Just straight up the channel, between a few islands, and into Reid Harbor where we would sink our anchor into the muddy bottom and park our home for a few days of internet-less life.
Yep, we went here specifically to be without a signal for the weekend before heading off to somewhere-else-new for the work week. The only problem turned out that we did in fact get a cell signal, although weak enough to keep it’s use to a minimum. The weather would clear to blue skies and rainbows soon after our arrival, and colorful sunsets would be the norm over the next two nights we stayed here. Picturesque it was.
Kerri promised a new system of trails to hike this year so off we went only to find that said trails were private dirt roads. Undeterred, we hiked up the only road we could, past the farm lands and view of Prevost Harbor, and up the hillside only to climb back down the other side to visit (again) the historic Turn Point Lighthouse. Not a new-to-us place, but at least we got out for some exercise, something I find myself lacking now that I am dogless.
With Canada on the other side of the water, we could go no further north or west this year. At this point, our only possible route was to turn back towards the United States or risk an international incident. Hopefully we can find more places to explore within the San Juan Islands. We still had more than two months before our reservations for winter moorage, but only a half dozen marks on our map to visit.
