Our summer’s last hurrah took place on Lummi Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington state this past week. Lummi Island is the most northeasterly of the San Juan archipelago. Lummi is located near Bellingham, WA and can only be reached by private boat or a small county ferry, the Whatcom Chief (pictured above). Lummi is about two hours from Seattle and 1-1/2 hours from Vancouver, BC. The island is absolutely stunning with untouched, natural beauty and a small population of residents.
Our beach house was located in Legoe Bay, right in front of the well-known Lummi Island Reefnet Salmon fishermen, known for their sustainable practices in fishing. The boys had an absolute blast playing in the tidepools and beach combing for treasures. In the background you can see Orcas Island.
Lots of little boats are situated in Legoe Bay as residents go out to check their crab pots daily.
We had some beautiful weather days and one very stormy day.
Of course on the very stormy day, a boat had been chartered for salmon fishing. Small-craft advisories, extreme high winds and water-over-the-bow type of waves kept the salmon from biting. However all was not lost, as the boat made its way through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a large body of water that forms the principle outlet for the Georgia Strait and Puget Sound, about fifteen orca whales were spotted. They came to the boat and swam under, playing around and breaching, to the delight of the few passengers aboard. My boys say it was the highlight of their whole trip. Of course the presence of the whales explains why the salmon were not biting….the whales were having lunch.
The gorgeous weather returned and we headed to the other side of the island to Bellingham Bay, another beautiful spot close to the ferry dock.
You could see forever and the water was glass-like.
One morning this seal pup came right up on our beach,the seal wasn’t more than two feet long.
With no Mom in site, we wondered what would happen to this little guy.
The morning view while sipping our coffee was always breathtaking.
We had a great time and really needed the time away. Now it’s time to get the kids ready for back to school and prepare the vineyard for the coming winter months.
