Sucia Island excursion

Leaving Bellingham Bay behind

Yesterday, 12 Senior Trailblazers went on an excursion on a cool boat from Bellingham Bay (Don looking out pensively) as we went out to Sucia Island, one of the San Juan Islands that I've never visited before. It was an all-day outing, with the two great owners of the Island Opportunity Charters, a water taxi service that took us there and back, treating us to an adventure I didn't even know existed.

The boat dock at Sucia

We were the only people on the island, which in summertime is usually overrun with others enjoying this lovely place, and it was wonderful. The weather was perfect, meaning of course no rain, mild temperatures, and a day to hike and explore the island.

Our lunch spot at Johnson Point

We first checked out Fox Point and then trekked a couple of miles to Johnson Point, where we had a lovely lunch, with a view of Mt Baker and plenty of open spaces just to ooh and ahh for around a half hour. We had walked around two or three miles by this point, and we were quite ready just to kick back and enjoy our surroundings.

Madrone tree along the trail

There were so many beautiful madrone trees on the island, some of the biggest and most healthy I've seen anywhere. There are so many bays and places to see on this island that we did have to pick and choose. After packing back up after lunch, we headed to the China caves. 

Cindy looking into one of the caves

The isolated coves and bays of Sucia Island once served the Lummi Indians in their seal hunting days. They later provided excellent hideouts in the 19th century for smugglers of illegal Chinese laborers, as well as for hiding illegally imported wool and opium.

 Wikipedia has a full page on the history of the island (which the above quote was taken from), and we sure did have a lot of fun looking into, and speculating on, the caves at one of the bays. We called the boat owners and the came and picked us up at this point, since they have a boat that allows for us to get onto the boat without a dock.

Getting picked up in style

From here we went around the part of the island that has an old lighthouse, one that gave us a perfect place to capture the entire group before making it back to Bellingham Bay. We had hiked somewhere around five or six miles and were getting pretty tired. Being on the water does that to me.

End of a great adventure

The owners took this great picture of the group, all twelve of us, in front of the lighthouse and, if you use your imagination, you can also see Mt Baker behind us. It was a wonderful day, an adventure I won't soon forget. Thanks to Barb for organizing it, and thanks to the boat pilots for taking us out and back in safety!

:-)