Round Two of Strong Winds

By -
Today was round 2 for strong winds here on the island.  The winds shifted from SE yesterday to NE today.  It was a cold walk to town for coffee this morning.  The winds kept building through the day and the gust were very strong.  After coffee I headed down to the shop and white caps were across the harbor all the way to Shaw Island.  


The images was really washed out but you can see the ferry coming in and all the white caps.  Click on the image to get a better view.

I spent some time at the shop hanging around.  We have some really go specials on for the holiday but not many people come down to the waterfront to shop.  But I am there Friday and Saturday.  My buddy Will did come by and he picked up some warm weather clothing for a great price.  I spent most of my time looking out the windows as boats passed by in the channel.  A Coast Guard Cutter made its way into the harbor.  They were tied up near Griffin Bay.  I guess the winds were getting strong out there and they decided to come tie up in Friday Harbor.  

Since the shop was slow a couple of friends and I went for some coffee at the Griffin Bay Bookstore on Spring St.  This a great place to get coffee.  I am not sure if many islanders know that they have coffee there.  But it is one of my favorite spots to hangout and drink coffee.

After some time joking around with friends and looking at books I decided to head to the shop and close the doors for the day.  It was time to go check out the water.  So Lyle (my roommate), Guinness and I loaded up in the Previa for a drive out to Ruben Tarte Park.  It faces NE looking up Presidents Channel.  I kind of figured it would be a high energy zone to check out the winds.  Plus it is a beach that we use on out Multi Day Tours and it is usually really calm there.  NOT TODAY!  It was great.  Looking across to Jones Island and white caps and deafening winds was all you could take in.  While were there you could see that some snow feel on the higher points of Orcas Island.  Earlier I was on the West Side of San Juan and the Olympics got a nice coating of snow as well.  The snow level was pretty low, so I assume the high elevations got a good amount of snow last night.

Well I took some video and a few pictures.  Nothing compares to being there yourself.  I am sure everyone can tell I really love it when the sea puts on a show.  It just gets me all excited.  Call it strange but I can't help it.


This is Ruben Tarte Park.  I have not seen it like this very many times.  It is usually a nice calm place.  But today it was high energy and lots of fun to see.


It was great to see the energy here.  I have launched my kayak here many times.  Once late last summer I launched to go spend the night with a someone on Jones Island, located just across the way.  It only took about 15 to 20 minutes to paddle over.  A day like today would take forever.





Here I am looking towards Waldron Island as I pan right across Presidents Channel to Orcas and Jones Island in the distance.

The sound is loud on the video so you might want to make sure the volume is low.  The wind is really loud.  Looks like it is going be a cold night and cold for the next few day.  

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and thanks for taking time to stop by to view my little world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Morning Kayak Lessons

By -
Image
A good start to the day when you wake up and see the sun and having to get on the water to teach kayak lessons.  Though it was cold outside, I could tell it was going to warm nicely once the sun had time to do its work.  After a cup of coffee it was time to meet Lauren (my student for the class) and load the gear and get on the water.  The water was perfect, flat calm and good for learning the basics.  Lauren has taken classes before and it pretty up to speed on self rescue.  So we were out to work on kayak handling skills.  Mainly driving home proper edging, body movement and blade placement. After the lesson it was off to grab a bite to eat and get back outside.  I of course headed out to check in the Red Tailed Hawks (RTHs).  I ran into Monika again,  http://orcawatcher.blogspot.com/  , who once again got great images on the RTHs in flight. She got some images of the pair together.  I was able to locate the Rufous Morph further south. There was a visitor with me in town from London ...
Read more

Astral Greenjacket Review

By -
Image
I have finally spent a bit more time in the Astral Greenjacket and I have decided it is time to go ahead with my finally review of the product. My previous jacket was a Stohlquist Brik .  Which is a side entry style jacket.  I was really happy with performance and fit.  I did have a zipper problem which was a not really taken care of by Stohlquist.  I was teaching a class and was performing a "Cowboy/Back Deck" rescue and the zipper broke.  When I contacted service dept to get it fixed they wanted me to pay shipping and charge for the repair of a new jacket.  I passed on the factory repair and did the best I could do. I do not recommend that.  Next issue I had was there is simply no storage on the vest.  Not that big of a deal since I try to not load myself with stuff.  Overall it was a good fit and a clean front making it snag free while messing about the deck of my sea kayak. On to the Greenjacket !   My use of the Greenjacket is for sea kayak guiding and personal kayaking...
Read more

Friday Harbor Bike Rentals

By -
Image
It has been awhile since my last post. So I thought I would write a bit on the latest happenings. Spring has arrived on San Juan Island and I am back to work early this season. Kayak tours kicked off a bit sooner than normal this year. I assume the lack of good snow in the mountains and the early sunshine has something to do with it. So with Spring here we ( Discovery Sea Kayaks ) are open and running kayak tours. This is a great time to visit San Juan Island for a kayak tour. With less people on island there is a very charming small town feel. On the water the wildlife encounters can vary. Some days you might encounter killer whales other days watch as a pair of eagle fly over head. Last season we started renting bikes from our shop in downtown Friday Harbor. Our location is perfect for walking on the ferry and then renting a bike when you arrive in town. Being in the heart of town and close to the ferry makes it easy. I have all the bikes clean and ready to be rented. This se...
Read more