Monday 24th July

10 years ago Daddy proposed to Mummy on San Juan Island, today with two small children we returned to the island.

We left the Airbnb after a few games of pool and darts, Mummy was slightly upset that the Airbnb hosts didn’t come over and say Hello. It didn’t stop the boys from enjoying the grounds and a final run around.

We made the short drive across to Anacortes to grab the ferry later today. As the weather was miserable, Mummy suggested an earlier ferry. This gave us time for a quick stop in Safeway. Highlights were Mummy talking to the checkout lady who’s husband was English, then another checkout man saying Bollocks and Bastard in an English voice and laughing!

Mummy also had time to dissect a cooked chicken in the car.

The street names were getting on the thin side again, if in doubt, just start making things up or using old English words. J, K and L Avenue is just pure laziness!

One thing you can never control is the weather. After reading Google, it states that San Juan has the lowest rainfall of any island in North West. Today it was raining, heavy, all day long!

We parked the car in Lane 4 and awaited our instructions to board the ferry. It brought back great memories as the ferry was completely unchanged from 2013. We spent time on the viewing deck, then went outside and caught some real sea air!

We arrived and got ourselves checked into the hotel, first impressions it’s not the luxurious river suites. However we are busy each day and only really sleeping here, if it’s clean and comfortable we aren’t complaining. Mummy did get the key stuck in the door lock, so that set us back a few minutes.

We got absolutely soaked, it felt like we were in England during a November afternoon. The heavens opened as soon as we arrived on the island and didn’t stop all night. We walked like four drowned rats into the town, about half way we saw lots of flags and a lovely sheltered area to escape the rain.

We were there for about 2mins before a car pulled up and out jumped a man in his 60s. He had a fast New York accent and it turned out he was the Head Teacher. We were standing in front of the Spring Street International School of over 100 students. Some students take the ferry over from “the main land” every day and students come from across the globe to this school.

We went to JBs as it was dry, it was also a bowling alley! Grandad would be happy as the pins had no strings and the pinball machine was a Beatles themed one. We stayed in the arcade to dry off, the women next to Daddy had an interesting conversation “I just need a man to take me to Hawaii, you know pay for the flights and accommodation. I can pay for the meals and drinks but the flights are table stakes”

We played this NBA game which turned into carnage and people nearly getting hit with basketballs.

After the recommendation from the Head Teacher we went to the Golden Triangle, the only Thai restaurant on the island. Two things happened during dinner.

One, Mummy accidentally pushed a spring roll into Elliott’s mouth and knocked his loose tooth nearly out. We had blood all over the table, napkins and Elliott was very upset. We spent a lot of time in the toilet talking about teeth and that Mummy or Daddy will never hurt Elliott.

Second thing was the rain, it didn’t stop for the whole meal which we were hoping for. We finished the meal and needed to tackle the heavy rain back to the hotel. What did find a fancy pig though!

We are orca watching tomorrow and we are praying things clear up. If we went out on the boat today it would have been gutting. We have the best captain and a private charter – let’s go!

Tuesday 25th July

Today is the day. 10 years in the making. Orca watching part deux. We are told early on there could be a chance of no whales. Our captain tells us they are hitting a 95% success rate, are we the 5% today?

Our captain welcomes us on board, he is young, calm, he grew up in Colorado and ran tours in the Arctic and now does Orca tours. His name is Daven, he tells Daddy when getting onto the boat to watch the beam over head as it could come in contact with the “forehead zone”. We are joined by Sarah who is the wildlife expert also from a Colorado and done tours in the Arctic. Daven makes it clear they are not married or related.

Both seem a bit too calm for our liking. Ten years ago we had the owner of the company Jim Meyer who was jumping around and shouting at the other boats. Daddy starts to worry that the calmness is a cover in case we don’t see them today. Daven drops a few “we can’t predict nature” lines that raise the tension even higher.

We are joined by about 12 other people, we have a couple from Chicago, a couple from Mexico and a family from Washington. Tension is building, Mummy has already mentioned she might cry if we don’t see Orcas today.

The Canadian women starts making friends by stating that she is on two orca watching tours today (11am and 4pm) so she isn’t fussed about seeing them this morning. The rest of the boat wants to throw her overboard. We see a sea plane land which distracts us from a mob overboarding of our Canadian friend.

We power through the water in an ex New Zealand navy boat that bounces through the water with ease. We listen as Daven informs us about getting to places where Orcas like to eat is a good strategy. If we see glistening white that could be seals.

We see Harbour seals, lounging on the rocks. They look lazy, confused and happy. Daddy imagines an orca breaching and taking an enormous bite out of a blubbery seal butt.

We keep moving where we see a Bald Eagle! Oyster catchers and some more seals.

We pass a lonely bouy, Daven laughs as there is a giant seal laying at the base.

Orcas can eat 8-10 seals per day, also Orcas will share their food. Davens theory makes sense but all we see are more seals.

Then we get a radio report J1 (the other Meyer boat) has heard a report that Orcas were spotted here 30mins ago. We charge around looking for black fins, Daven describes orcas breathing as “campfires of water”

Daven slows the boat, pops the sunroof, grabs his binoculars and adopts an interesting steering technique.

Everyone is asked to look out the windows for any signs of orcas. The mind starts to play tricks with you, is that an Orca? No that’s a wave…Orca? No, that’s another wave. We are nearly two hours into our four hour charter trip, we need at least 30mins to hammer back. Daven mentions we are basically in Canada as we have crossed an invisible line.

The stress levels are through the roof. GCSEs, job interviews, driving tests are nothing compared to the wait for orcas. Especially when Elliott keeps on telling everyone on the boat that Mummy came 10 years ago and didn’t see any orcas.

We hear a radio message, a sighting of three orcas! They are on the opposite side of the island to us. Daven kicks into gear and spins us around. The Spanish man at the front asks “what are those red trees called?” It doesn’t matter man, we have Orcas to find! We hammer around the corner to find two boats, one from Canada and another larger Whale watching boat.

We position ourselves and wait. Then as if by magic, after powering across hours of open water, a magical black fin appears.

Daddy wants to cry. He starts to clap and then stops. Daven is jumping up and down. Sarah spots another orca! We have a family!

We learn this same family of orcas was spotted in Monterey, California just three weeks ago. Shows the distance these amazing animals travel.

Sarah proclaims that Daven is a brave captain and most other captains wouldn’t have taken a chance on this area. Daddy is relived. Mummy is happy. The boys are happy eating snacks.

We were the only boat from San Juan to see the Orcas!

All the other boats were from Canada. We are told via the radio that the other boats from San Juan had gone a different way after reports of a humpback whale were received.

We stay with the same orca family for 45 mins watching them swim and move. At one point, Daven spots the orcas circling and thinks they have cornered a seal. Lots of movement and orcas moving in different directions.

Sarah creates a moment of magic on the ride back to shore. She furiously downloads her photos from her flash Nikon onto her iPhone. She asks the boat to switch their Airdrop to “everyone” and shares the most amazing close up photos with everyone. 90% of the photos on this blog are from her photographs, she will also share these with the marine biologists who monitor the movement of the orcas.

Mummy is emotionally drained and grabs a shower before laying down. The boys head out for a celebration pizza at Van Gos. Handmade pizzas in a super relaxed atmosphere.

Tomorrow we have a chill day exploring San Juan island and all of its sights. We have been told it’s possible to drive the island in 1.5hrs! Completely different to driving 4.5hrs and still being in Western Montana!

Wednesday 26th July

After yesterdays stress, we needed a calmer day. Today we spent time exploring and driving around San Juan Island.

First stop after some breakfast was Reuben Tarte County Park. Lovely driftwood beach, nobody there and ideal for the boys to run off some energy.

The boys found crabs in various sizes, and played until they got bored.

Before heading into Roche Harbour we saw an amazing sculpture park. Covering 20 acres the park is completely owned and setup by the local community.

The boys even took a turn creating their own sculptures!

Mummy thought it was funny!

After the sculpture park walk, we headed down to Roche Harbour. We came here 10 years ago and it’s pretty much exactly the same. Still very quaint and well manicured, same monster yachts, same people and ice cream!

After talking to a few people, normal looking boats are expensive and big boats are even more expensive! We saw one that was $9m and another with a full crew in the $11m range.

We found a bench to eat some lunch, over the last couple of days as you might have seen from the photos. Elliott has a very wobbly front tooth, he won’t let anyone touch it! Guess what? During our lunch, tin tin tin his tooth falls through the picnic table and onto the floor. Success!

Now we need to see if the Tooth Fairy works overseas?

We grabbed some ice cream to celebrate!

On the way to Snug Harbour through pure luck, we ended up finding the lemonade and cookie stand that Daddy proposed to Mummy 10 years ago. We are trying to dig out the photo and tried our best to recreate it!

Snug Harbour was next one the list, very calm and peaceful place with lovely cabins. We managed to get down the front and the boys payed in the mud. Nate did get mud in his eye and screamed the house down, breaking the serenity for everyone.

We shot over to Lime Kiln State Point, we wanted to see the lighthouse and it’s also a great spot to see passing orcas.

The weather was great, the views were amazing.

but the lighthouse was closed!

With the lighthouse closed the boys played Mario and Elliott continued to talk about his app called Elliott.com

We ended the day at False Bay hoping to find more crabs. The tide was very high so we had to work hard to find the rock pools. The boys enjoyed making a base out of the driftwood.

We met a lovely couple on the way out who got talking to Elliott (shocker) and it turned out he worked for Stilt the lawnmower company and was on San Juan doing a tour of the stores. He gave Elliott some free swag! New hats!

We even saw some animal friends along the way. The deer ran right in front of Mummy on the trail!

One thing about America, is there use of plastics and not doing much recycling. Go to a breakfast buffet and it’s plastic cutlery and plates. Go to a supermarket and they will happily give you all the plastic carrier bags you desire. All food is plastic wrapped. It’s quite discouraging when we (in the UK) are separating our rubbish and using paper straws when the USA hasn’t really started making any changes yet.

Tomorrow we are packing up and back on the ferry and heading towards Seattle. We have some time to explore Seattle before we catch a flight over to the windy city!