San Juan Islands Beta Needed

**Yonder_River** · 07-11-2007, 01:58 PM

Planning on a three night trip to the San Juan's this September. Never been up there and am stoked to go. I heard your itinerary should be planned well in advance since everything books up quick.

I'm looking for recommendations of any kind so throw it all out there. Great camping places, must visit islands, bring/not bring a car, sea kayaking outfitters (get a guide or not), places to avoid, etc..

oh ya, my wife really wants to see some Orcas..

**MrZach** · 07-11-2007, 02:13 PM

Bike touring the islands is fantastic and incredibly cheap (especially when you look at the ferry ticket for a car compared to a bike). There's generally good shore-side whale watching from quite a few of the state parks and public showers at a few of the larger towns. If you're not so thrilled with bike tent camping, you could just hop from B&B to B&B along the way (there's quite a few).

I've toured the islands extensively on kayaks, but have no info at all on local guides and/or outfitters as I've been out of state for a long time and have never used a guide service. If you've never toured on the Sound before, I would recommend hooking up with either a guide or an organized trip of some sort.

**Buster Highmen** · 07-11-2007, 02:13 PM

There's much more informed folks on this than I, but I'll throw this in :
Friday Harbor/San Juan is the most developed and touristy. That cuts both ways: more expensive, more to do. Whale Center righ there in town, ask hop. Whalewatching park on W. side of island the best bet for onshore whale sightings.
Orcas Island is the biggest, has a good balance of stuff, Doe Bay used to be cool, don't know now. Mt. Constitution & Moran State Park is interesting and worthy trip. Rosario is right there at the ferry landing.
Lopez Island has the best flavor for the islomane of all the bigger islands, sparse, few resources greatbiking and the feeling of being away from it all.

If you take your car, be prepared for 4+ hour waits in the ferry lines. Bikes are the way to go, although Orcas is big.

**PNWbrit** · 07-11-2007, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by Yonder_River

sea kayaking outfitters (get a guide or not), ..........
oh ya, my wife really wants to see some Orcas..

Hop really would be the man to ask.

Nothing but good things to say about these guys Sea Quest Kayaking. My wife has used them to put on corporate events and we've done a few longer trips with groups of friends.

Having orcas breach around our rafted kayaks is one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had.

Consider splashing out a little and flying with these guys from Anacortes www.sanjuanairlines.com or splashing out a lot with www.kenmoreair.com sea plane from Seattle.

Have fun, the islands are great. Try to go as late as possible to minimize the crowds.

**skimoore** · 07-11-2007, 03:20 PM

I'm also heading up there for 4 nights, staying on Orcas island. Probably renting a car in Seattle to get up to Anacortes, but the ferry kind of sounds like hell! I am also looking to Kayak and/or whale watching boat...although I think kayaking would be the way to go initially and then if there's no luck, hop on a boat.

Any restaurant/store/farmers markets recommendations would be greatly appreciated as well.

**cj001f** · 07-11-2007, 03:24 PM

rental cars at SEA are a fortune and the Fremont bridge troll provides faster service.

**NorCascader** · 07-11-2007, 03:43 PM

Lopez=pancake flat biking + camping at 5,000 yr old indian sites + mushrooms (yep silly kind) in the fall + if you get too hungry and you have no money you can always eat one of the 2 million bunnies there.

Laid back and choice.
I grew up in Anacortes.

**refried** · 07-12-2007, 05:24 AM

Lopez is the most laid back island, if you want to do nothing and avoid most tourists come here, not alot to do here, but 3 days isn't much time. If you want to see California transplants and artsy types, go to Orcas (Mount Constitution is a nice hike with great views). S.J.I. is a long boat ride but nice, F.H. has pretty much everything (even a bowling ally), but is a real tourist town.
Bring your car unless you planning on biking everyware, the islands are pretty big and there is no public transportation. Sept. slows down a little, and things start closing early here (the Lopez Market closes at 7pm), but FH and Eastsound have bigger villages and things are open later. Weekend ferries suck, plan ahead and bring something to read, earlier boats aren't as crowded, but they can still fill up.
No guarantee you'll see orcas, but the west side of S.J. is a good place to see them.
pm me if you want

**3pin** · 07-12-2007, 08:15 AM

I just did a three-day kayaking trip with Sea Quest, which was fantastic. Decent amount of paddling, with a beautiful campsite out on Stuart Island that looked out to the Olympics. Our guide caught a number of crab from the kayaks on the second day, and we steamed them up for dinner an hour later. Can't beat that.

**hop** · 07-12-2007, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by 3pin

I just did a three-day kayaking trip with Sea Quest, which was fantastic. Decent amount of paddling, with a beautiful campsite out on Stuart Island that looked out to the Olympics. Our guide caught a number of crab from the kayaks on the second day, and we steamed them up for dinner an hour later. Can't beat that.

Who was your guide?

I'll chime in on the rest of the stuff here at some point... I'm too busy admiring the view of Haro Strait from the Center for Whale Research deck.

**3pin** · 07-12-2007, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by hop

Who was your guide?

I'll chime in on the rest of the stuff here at some point... I'm too busy admiring the view of Haro Strait from the Center for Whale Research deck.

Randy and Ashley guided our trip. We spent some time paddling by Henry, Spieden, around Stuart, and some others, plus hiking out to Turn Point. Paddling back in the dark on Saturday had some awesome bioluminesence. Saw one pod of orcas way out in Haro on Sunday, but there was no way we could get there in time, especially in the chop. Otherwise, lots of eagles, seals, herons, and more.

**hop** · 07-12-2007, 01:37 PM

OK here we go.
My qualifications: I've been on SJI for a good chunk of 11 of the past 12 years, mostly spring/summer/fall.

Guided kayak outfits: Go with Outdoor Odysseys, Discovery, or Sea Quest. OO in particular is known for their gore-mett food, but they're all good.

Whale watch boats: Ivan of Western Price is a cool guy, a member of WWOANW (whale watch operators NW), has quality naturalists, and his boat is comfy and runs on biodiesel.

Land-based whale watching: Lime Kiln state park is the "official" spot but there are others depending on where the whales are. If the whales are on the west side of SJI I prefer the Land Bank which is just south of Deadman's Bay, which is just south of Lime Kiln. You can have decent luck from Eagle Cove, American Camp, San Juan County Park and South Beach/Cattle Point, but it all depends on if the whales are near when you're there. Bring binocs for best results.

Camping: San Juan County Park is on the westside right on the water and would be my first choice. There's also Lakedale; I've never been but I hear it's nice.

Food: Backdoor Kitchen and The Market Chef are good local spots, but can be pricey. Duck Soup Inn is awesome and has a correspondingly high price tag but it's great for that special meal with that special someone. Same with Vinnie's.

Car/no car: SJI is hilly and pretty big; you'd be hard-pressed to see everything via bike on a short trip w/o spending all your time in the saddle. By Sept. the ferry lines should be much more manageable and not really worth worrying about too much. You could also rent a car on island.

**Yonder_River** · 07-12-2007, 02:57 PM

Cool, thanks for the info.

While I'm an experienced whitewater kayaker, I don't know squat about sea kayaking and have only been once. Would it be pretty easy to just rent boats and just paddle from their location on our own or are their safety issues that would make having a guide worthwhile?

I know sometimes guides are useful and worth the money, but other times they are only necessary for tourons who want their hand held and their lunch packed for them.

**PNWbrit** · 07-12-2007, 03:18 PM

Having a guide around there is a really good idea the currents can be a bitch. There is no way I'd have considered paddling to some of the place we've been taken.

They'll be listening in to the whale spotter channel to know where the pods are and therefore the best put in and paddle for any given day. It works just like any other guiding situation - if you're a small, strong group that has aptitude and follow instructions you'll have a great time.

**hop** · 07-12-2007, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Yonder_River

Cool, thanks for the info.

While I'm an experienced whitewater kayaker, I don't know squat about sea kayaking and have only been once. Would it be pretty easy to just rent boats and just paddle from their location on our own or are their safety issues that would make having a guide worthwhile?

I know sometimes guides are useful and worth the money, but other times they are only necessary for tourons who want their hand held and their lunch packed for them.

I don't know if anyone will rent you a boat w/o a guide out here. If I owned a company I certainly wouldn't. These waters can get gnarly quick if you don't know what you're doing. A simple thing as a tide change can make your trip go from "go with the flow tranquilo" to bucking a 4 knot current with haystacks and chop, and there are so many islands and channels and bottom contours that effect how the water moves that you'll have a hard time figuring out how to stay in the easy/safe water. It's not straightforward all the time and an experienced guide will be able to choose the best route given the conditions.

I think OO has the most returning (aka most experienced) guides of all the operations right now.

**Yonder_River** · 07-12-2007, 03:38 PM

Well, that pretty much solidified that. Thanks!

**ICEHOCEY77** · 07-12-2007, 03:40 PM

There is a badass convenience store right next to the ferry landing on orcas island. The sandwiches are some of the best ever.

Seemed like there was some cool things to do at Friday Harbor, I was only there a short time connecting on the Victoria Clipper to BC.

But it's a fantastic place, one of my favorite places in the world.

**skimoore** · 08-08-2007, 04:50 PM

Bump...looking for a different place to stay...we're going up there for my GF's birthday and had booked a room at the Rosario resort on Orcas, but having read many negative reviews, I'm thinking we should stay somewhere else...

Any recs? We just want a clean, nice, quiet, beautiful place that will be plenty relaxing...

**ICEHOCEY77** · 08-08-2007, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by skimoore

Bump...looking for a different place to stay...we're going up there for my GF's birthday and had booked a room at the Rosario resort on Orcas, but having read many negative reviews, I'm thinking we should stay somewhere else...

Any recs? We just want a clean, nice, quiet, beautiful place that will be plenty relaxing...

I liked Rosario. The food at the restaurants is overpriced so, you kinda need to find some other way to find food. But it's pretty secluded and the rooms are decent. The view is worth $100Gs. There are some places going in to town on Orcas I don't have any names or anything but they look pretty homey.

Good luck.

**grrrr** · 08-08-2007, 05:17 PM

Rosario is kinda geared toward the slightly older, slightly wealthy want to show off crowd...but really to get an idea of where to go/stay throw out a little more info; are you looking to get a hotel/condo/vacation house? which island, or do you care?

Roche Harbor is the other big resort, and it has more to do than rosario. figure $200-400/night. Houses can cost $170/night up to $1000. FH runs $90 for a dump to $400 for a nice, but not worthwhile room.

There are several smaller resorts as well on all 3 of the big islands.

**skimoore** · 08-08-2007, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by grrrr

Rosario is kinda geared toward the slightly older, slightly wealthy want to show off crowd...but really to get an idea of where to go/stay throw out a little more info; are you looking to get a hotel/condo/vacation house? which island, or do you care?

Roche Harbor is the other big resort, and it has more to do than rosario. figure $200-400/night. Houses can cost $170/night up to $1000. FH runs $90 for a dump to $400 for a nice, but not worthwhile room.

There are several smaller resorts as well on all 3 of the big islands.

We're looking for a hotel or condo, preferably with a nice view...looked at Roche but they're booked up...we would prefer to be on Orcas or San Juan. We'll be there for 4 nights, and day trip from the hotel...already have kayaking booked off of San Juan on one of the days...

Edit: and also, great restaurant recs would be appreciated as well...doesn't have to be fancy, just fresh and tasty...

**Tye 1on** · 08-09-2007, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by Yonder_River

Cool, thanks for the info.

While I'm an experienced whitewater kayaker, I don't know squat about sea kayaking and have only been once. Would it be pretty easy to just rent boats and just paddle from their location on our own or are their safety issues that would make having a guide worthwhile?

I know sometimes guides are useful and worth the money, but other times they are only necessary for tourons who want their hand held and their lunch packed for them.

Nothing wrong with the above rec's to go with a guide, but just so ya know, it's also pretty easy to rent on the mainland and do your own trip. The ^^^ doods are exactly correct, the currents are the key. But it ain't rocket science to figure out, and there are some good guidebooks out there that help simplify it. I did an 8-day trip w/2 buds a few years back, and we had no issues, but did pay close attention to the current charts. Don't ask me where we stayed, but i do remember camping on a couple pretty little islands that we sorta seem to have to ourselves...what a beautiful area!

**refried** · 08-09-2007, 07:45 PM

Jon and Drew from Lopez Kayaks http://www.lopezkayaks.com/ rent unguided kayaks from Fisherman Bay on Lopez, (they also own the Mt. Baker Ski Shop in Glacier).

**hop** · 08-09-2007, 07:55 PM

I was talking with my friend Jason at Discovery and they'll rent you kayaks if you're proficient, know your roll, etc. They also do a thing called "guided rental" where you provide all of your food, camping gear etc. and they provide the boats and a guide.

Places to stay on SJI: Juniper Lane is just outside of Friday Harbor. Google it... it's a cool spot. No water view, but it's nice anyways. Juniper will be able to give other options if she's booked up.

**Yonder_River** · 08-10-2007, 03:58 PM

Hop et al.

Curious, if you have any recommendations on mtn biking trails in the Moran Park area? Nothing too gnarly since my wife is beginner/intermediate in her abilities, but something fun that will get us out there a bit.