The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. -Joseph Conrad
Our second wedding anniversary was spent sailing through the gorgeous San Juan Islands. This trip has been on our bucket list since we chartered a sailboat in Seattle a few years ago. And what better time to do it than for our anniversary! For this, we decided to upgrade our sailing experience by chartering a Lagoon 39’ catamaran. Never having been on a catamaran, we dove in fast and quickly learned all the bells and whistles. It turned out we knew a lot more from sailing on our Beneteau. We spent the next 7 days sailing around the islands searching for wildlife, paddle boarding and kayaking, hiking, cooking our meals on the yacht, and enjoying the gorgeous sunsets with a bottle of wine. The Pacific Northwest scenery will literally take your breath away. It is so magical! Any place that has water, mountains and greenery as far as the eye can see, will always capture our hearts.
Our first night was spent in a secluded (and most popular sunset viewing) cove at Sucia Island. We spent the evening paddle boarding, cooking our first meal onboard and enjoying a golden sunset.
We leisurely woke up the next morning and spent half the morning kayaking around to the other side of the cove and then went to shore for a panoramic hike on Sucia before sailing off to our next spot. The scenery is just so breathtaking! We couldn’t get enough of it.
We spent our days casually cruising and sailing (a little), as there were very mild winds… but once we found a little, we definitely brought the sails out! We went out hoping to catch a glimpse of an orca (or pod). Unfortunately, over our 8 days we did not see one! Being out in nature more than enough made up for the fact we didn’t see any whales.
Anchored at Prevost Island watching the sky turn into a pastel painting.
We spent our wedding anniversary at the famous Friday Harbor! What.A.Place. If you haven’t been and get the chance, you MUST check out this charming town. We kayaked late afternoon (and fought some major wind and current), but it was totally worth it. We had a bald eagle fly directly over our heads! Both of us just sat in our kayaks mesmerized by it’s grandeur.
The moment we saw the bald eagle fly over our heads.
Paul cooked us a special anniversary dinner with fresh salmon we found on the island. The whole thing was absolutely perfect.
Before heading over to Roche Harbor for a few days, we did a quick day trip over to Jones Island for a quick hike and stretch of the legs.
Made it to the beautiful Roche Harbor! The days we were there, of course, were a little cloudy and rainy. That didn’t matter to us. We were just happy to check it out and relax.
The rain would stop just in time for another beautiful sunset.
After leaving Roche, we sailed the long way to our last destination in in hopes of one last shot at seeing an orca… again, no luck. But the weather was absolutely perfect, we enjoyed the extra time at sea. Our last evening was spent in Blind Bay of Shaw Island. More kayaking and epic sunsets to end our amazing anniversary trip.
Being out in nature is a simple luxury, but a luxury nonetheless. Sailing around the San Juan Islands was so therapeutic and spiritual. Good for the soul. Good to reconnect with each other without all of the daily distractions. We will definitely return to this magical place… and hopefully next time, see some orcas ;).