Day: July 6, 2011

A Samish Island Fourth of July

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on A Samish Island Fourth of July
Travel

The celebration actually started yesterday.  There were the beach fireworks Duff and I saw while paddling, usually involving ordnance  obtained from the reservation and NOT approved by Washington State law.  Also, the neighbors a couple of doors down had hired a band.  Duff and I had heard them while paddling, and back home they were really loud.

After dark Laura and I walked out front and watched (and listened to) fireworks both on the reservation across Padilla Bay and on the San Juan Islands.  For some of them, if these weren’t official shows, then someone was REALLY in violation of the “safe and sane” fireworks laws.

Monday, July the Fourth was one of the best Independence Days we’ve ever had.  It started quietly enough like every other morning on the island so far.  I even skipped another paddling opportunity in order to sleep in a bit.  Mid-morning we decided to head down to the Samish Island Parade on North Beach.

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Paddling Around Samish Bay

Posted on By Tom No Comments on Paddling Around Samish Bay
Paddling, Photography, Travel

It looked like I wasn’t going to get to go paddling this trip.  I had thought about just buying a kayak and leaving it up here for future trips, but couldn’t find anything reasonable.  I thought about booking another tour, but by that time most had filled up with holiday  travelers.

Fortunately, the neighbor Duff came to my rescue.  He had several homemade Fiberglas boats that we had used before, but they weren’t easy to reach.  They were at the bottom of the cliff on the south side of the island.  We managed to haul them up the cliff, but by that time it was late in the evening, and we were a bit tired from the haul to go paddling.

After discussing options we decided to take the boats up the Valley and run a section of the Skagit River.  This was something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, so I was psyched.  We loaded the boats onto our rental, since it had roof racks.

The next morning Duff and I headed out in two vehicles.  We had barely gotten off the island when one of the boats came loose and slid off of my car.    Fortunately there was no damage to car or boat, and we were able to get it loaded back on an limp home.  However, we needed to regroup.

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