Life in Friday Harbor

11/20/10

A cold day in Friday Harbor, winds from the NE blowing 20+ in gusts.  Sitting in Blue Bossa, warm because I have the heater on, boat rocking around a bit because the harbor is not at it’s best with a NE wind, wind chop coming around the point and working under the floating breakwater. A lot of liveaboards, including myself, have put at least a couple of more lines out on the various fingers of the dock to keep their homes from hitting the sides of the docks hard.  It snowed last night, but the snow melted as soon as it hit the dock and boat.  Walking around town today, I had two coats on, a warm long sleeve shirt, t-shirt, long underwear, and pants, as well as thick socks, tundra hat, and gloves.  I must have looked like the fat version of the gingerbread man walking down the street.

Where does one start with a blog?  I guess my goal with this is sort of a travelogue with comments.  For the next few months, I will be based in Friday Harbor and only going out in good weather to various places in the San Juan Islands or to Canada.  But my little outings will be good to a) get away from Friday Harbor, b) learn more about Blue Bossa, c) learn more about the tides and currents and weather phenomenon in the Northwest, d) relearn the finer aspects of cruising on a boat, and finally e) enjoy the San Juans at its most uncrowded.

Friday Harbor is a self-contained little town.  Incredibly busy during the summer with crowds coming over on the ferries, seaplanes and a huge influx of yachts filling the harbor and overflowing into outside anchorages, it is quiet and peaceful during the winter season, much more to my liking.  It has all that one would need within walking distance, including a post office, pharmacy, a couple of markets, a gym, big Ace hardware store, a theater, tons of nicki-nack stores, a couple of video rental places – there’s even a small West Marine store, which I frequent a lot for small odds and ends.  Lots of restaurants of varying quality, one restaurant in particular, the Rumor Mill, sponsors a lot of different musicians either local or from outside.  I’ve even played there (more about that later).

I opted to keep my car with me for right now.  It’s handy to wander around the interior of San Juan Island (lots of parks and hiking areas), or go to the mainland to pick up big stuff that I need.  I’m also keeping it to drive down to my brother Rick’s family in Bend for Christmas.  It’s hard to get rid of wheels when you’ve lived so long with them.  I just need to gird my loins and join my nephew and niece who don’t have cars and are able to exist just fine without the expense of owning one.  But I have the ultimate “escape vehicle” (Blue Bossa), so I’ll probably need to sell it come February, before I go north by boat.

I’ve been able to play music with some of the musicians here, which has been fun.  As soon as I got settled in here, I subbed for a piano player and played at the Rumor Mill with the San Juan Jazz Quintet.  Everybody was super nice, and I made some connections.  I’ve subbed for a couple of other times, and I have 3 gigs coming up, 2 for November and 1 in December.  I would like to play more, but there isn’t a lot of stuff going on in Friday Harbor during the winter.  Such is life.

I joined up the gym for the next 3 months to see if I can gain a bit of muscle tone and lots of weight loss.  So far I’ve been doing a lot of swimming (they have a nice Olympic size indoor pool that’s warm) and some weight lifting.  I’m hoping to join a yoga class.  I would like to get in shape for a surf trip that my brother Bill and some friends have been cooking up…hopefully a trip out to Nicaragua or El Salvador during early June.  At 61, I’m feeling my age, and my surfing has dwindled down to nothing.  Now I appreciate old farts in their 70’s going out at Cowells and standing up on their surfboard.  So...loose weight and gain muscle.  Easier said than done.

The weather has been varying.  November is definitely winter time, and so far, I’ve seen the appropriate amount of bad weather, usually just rain, but occasionally a good whopper of windy conditions will come up.  So far I’ve seen a strong southerly come thru with driving rain, a really windy westerly, and finally today a strong NE wind, with sub freezing temperatures.  It’s so different here, as I am surrounded by islands whereas Santa Cruz, with the view from our old house on Princeton Street, would see wild and whooly storms with the full onslaught of the open Pacific Ocean, with its huge swells busting against West Cliff Drive, briny foam whipping down the street.  Much more dramatic.  Maybe I should spend a winter on Western Vancouver and really see the action.