I’ve always wanted to visit the San Juan Islands north of Seattle, known for their idyllic views, quaint towns and whale watching. While I didn’t have time for the latter, I still had a good visit to Orcas Island and Friday Harbor (on San Juan island) – two of the more popular destinations. A visit to the San Juans is especially nice in the fine summer weather.
The most practical way to reach the islands is to drive out to Anacortes and take a ferry from there. From Seattle it takes around 90 minutes to get to Anacortes and the ferry to Orcas Island is around another 65 minutes. We took the car aboard as we were driving around Orcas Island although if you’re just going to Friday Harbor and joining a whale watching tour, it makes sense to leave the car in Anacortes. From Orcas Island, we took an inter island ferry to Friday Harbor. The three main islands in the San Juans are San Juan, Lopez, and Orcas. The ferries stop at all three. Tip: you should make an online reservation if bringing the car on the ferry as space may be limited.
Orcas Island is probably the most dramatic of the San Juans – the island is horseshoe shaped and possesses Mt. Constitution, from where there are great views of the whole area. Our first stop on Orcas Island was to pay a visit to Orcas Island Pottery, which is a collective of works by various potters. The pottery is displayed all around the garden, so it’s good fun just to walk around and check everything out. For those with kids, there’s even a tree house and swings to keep the young ones occupied. I ended up buying a vase for my Aunts.
We had lunch along the main commercial stretch of Orcas Island (namely Main Street) at the Island Skillet. While the food is not remarkable, it is decent, fresh and portions are sizable and they serve breakfast all day. I would have liked to spend more time to roam the shops in town but we wanted to get up to Mt. Constitution before catching the 4:25 pm ferry to Friday Harbor.
Mt. Constitution is the highest point in the San Juans. On a clear day you can see Vancouver B.C. Alas, it was a bit hazy but you could still see the mainland with Mt. Baker looming in the background.
Our ferry to Friday Harbor, the main town on San Juan Island, was a pleasant, 35 minute ride but unfortunately, by the time we arrived – most of the stores were closed. Island time as my aunt says! So we just roamed around – it was a hot afternoon – and found some ice cream parlors.
We took the 6:30 pm ferry back to Anacortes. It was a shorter ride being a direct ferry from Friday Harbor. If we had more time, we could have taken a ride out to the other side of San Juan Island but as it was, it made more sense to hang around Friday Harbor. I’d like to do some hikes and/or kayak in the San Juans next time – which would mean staying overnight probably.
San Juan Islands tourism site: http://www.visitsanjuans.com
