San Juan Island Adventure
By Ryley Hartt

Conjuring images of its wild heritage—the immaculate peaks of Rainier and Mt. Baker, islands carpeted in Sitka spruce and bordered by scraggy red madrona canting in the shallow topsoil; the abundance of salmon and the orcas and eagles that subsist on them—the Pacific Northwest has long attracted adventurers, experimenters, locavores and tinkerers. But you don’t have to buy your veggies at a farm stand or belong to the REI co-op to appreciate this region’s beauty. As New York Times Seattle correspondent Tim Egan once wrote; “Here in the corner attic of America, two hours’ drive from a rain forest, a desert, a foreign country, an empty island, a hidden fjord, a raging river, a glacier, and a volcano is a place where the inhabitants sense they can do no better, nor do they want to.” Now, if the threat of rain is the only thing putting a damper on your travel plans, take note: the San Juan Islands, along with the northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, lie beneath a permanently clear patch of sky known as the Blue Hole, protected from the moist air moving up from the southwest by the Olympic Mountains.

Getting There and Getting Around
Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport makes for an easy entry-point to the San Juans, especially since the completion of the Light Link Rail (www.soundtransit.org), allowing customers to get from the airport to downtown Seattle in just 36 minutes for $2.50. There is no direct ferry from Seattle to the San Juans so plan on renting a car, or better yet, a motorcycle, which will save you hours of waiting in line for the ferries. EagleRider (www.eaglerider.com), with two convenient airport and downtown locations, offers a full selection of Harley Davidsons and the occasional BMW, sometimes for as little as $99 per day. Call the Washington State DOT at 206-464-6400 or visit www.wsdot.wa.gov for ferry departures from Anacortes to the San Juans, and plan to arrive 20 minutes early (an hour early on the islands) unless you took my advice about the motorcycle, in which case five minutes is plenty of time. It’s an hour and a half ride from Seattle to Anacortes on I-5, and unless you’re pressed for time, I would strongly suggest hopping the 20 min. ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton and driving up Highway 525 to 20 across Whidbey Island and Deception Pass instead.

Seattle
If you’ve made it this far, it would be a shame not to at least take a day or two to enjoy the Emerald City. Stay at the Pan Pacific Hotel (www.panpacific.com) in the heart of the Gateway District between downtown Seattle’s retail district and South Lake Union area, which is about to burst with new activity after becoming the site for Amazon.com’s new headquarters. The hotel’s luxury Vida Spa shares a 16,000-square-foot plaza with a Whole Foods Market, Starbucks, Tutta Bella restaurant and the new Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar, where locavores will delight in Chef John Howie’s take on Pacific seafood staples like oysters, Dungeness crab, salmon and halibut. For lunch, head to Pike Place Market. Even if the fresh-caught fish sailing past your head no longer feels like a novelty, this world-class greenmarket commands attention from locals and tourists alike. For more Seattle attractions, like Gasworks and Discovery Parks, Ballard Farmers Market the Seattle Center and the EMP, check out www.visitseattle.org

Orcas Island
Get there early enough to drive up to the summit of Mount Constitution, the highest point on the San Juan Islands, where you’ll have a panoramic view of Bellingham, the Cascade Mountains, Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, Anacortes, and Port Townsend. Make your way around the horseshoe-shaped island to Deer Harbor, where Skipper Ward Fay runs Classic Day Sailing charters (www.classicdaysails.com; 360-376-5581) aboard his gorgeous, wood-hulled, 1940’s Blanchard 33. $70 a head buys three (plus) hours of laid-back sailing instruction and local lore from a knowledgable skipper, and an up-close look at the smaller islands and wildlife in the San Juan Channel. Spend the night in the rustic comfort and solitude of your own beachfront cabin from $150 at North Beach Inn (www.northbeachinn.com). You won’t find TV’s in any of these cabins, some of which date back to the 1930’s, but you will find a well-stocked kitchen and woodshed, a cozy fireplace and a view that will make you never want to leave.

San Juan Island
Hang a right when you land at the ferry terminal in Friday Harbor and make Western Prince Whale Watching & Wildlife Tours (orcawhalewatch.com) your first stop. Led by Captain Ivan, Western Prince has been offering small-scale and conscientious whale watching tours since 1986. With an advertised 90% success rate for orca-spotting and a team of naturalists who’s meaningful insight sheds light on the lives of these “Southern Resident” killer whales, Western Prince has also added a new 27’ Zodiac with a cruising speed of 30 knots to bring the excitement even closer. For those who prefer a slower pace, sea kayak rentals are also readily available around Friday Harbor. For accommodations, check out Friday Harbor House (www.fridayharborhouse.com) overlooking the harbor or Roche Harbor Resort (www.rocheharbor.com) on the north side of the island.

For more information visit the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau (visitsanjuans.com).