Our first stop in the San Juans was Sucia Island. There we were tied to a mooring buoy in the largest bay on Sucia, Echo Bay. We spent three quiet, peaceful, spectacular days there. We had glorious sunsets and quiet fog-filled mornings. The sandstone cliffs are a 'must see'. We had engine trouble here, so we stayed longer than we had planned, but it was well worth it. We couldn't have been in a more beautiful spot.

With the engine trouble we'd just had, we decided to stay close to services and changed our plans, and instead of heading for Canadian waters, we decided to do a little island hopping and made our next destination Deer Harbor on Orcas Island for an overnight. Then on to Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island before making the quick trip across to Friday Harbor.

After a couple of days in Friday Harbor, where Gretchen and Wally, Brenda and Justin, and Andrea met up with us, we were off to the other side of San Juan Island to beautiful Roche Harbor.

We spent an entire day with a pod of killer whales, and hated to leave, but hunger pangs called us to the dock where we had dinner on the patio at the Roche Harbor Hotel. We had been so overwhelmed when we were surrounded by so many killer whales that we had forgotten to eat or cook. It was now after Labor Day and all the boaters and their families had gone home thus leaving us completely on our own to enjoy the whales. (Shhh, don't tell anyone that that is the perfect time to go whale watching.)