April 26, 2012

"Escape the mainland and enjoy the jaw-dropping paradise for activities like: whale watching, kayaking, hiking, biking at the picture perfect San Juan Island." - Quote about San Juan Island by Sachin Kumar Gupta.

Do you know, San Juan island pop up again and again in "top 10" lists and "Places to visit before you die" lists.

We reached to Friday Harbor (San Juan Island) from Anacortes, by Washington state ferry. Distinguished as one of the best places in America. San Juan Islands are primarily famous for sea kayaking and orca whale-watching among visitors. But half the fun is the tracing the island beautiful cuves by the car or some part by the bicycle. It is quite easy to cover all the main points of the island in a day. We covered (*marked*) island's circumference going through the main points. It would be easy to cover the points in below order or reverse.

*Friday Harbor*: We just roam around few roads on this tiny island, and finalized the selected places to cover for the day, as we have to catchup the return ferry to Anacortes. We followed the Roche Harbor road.

San Juan Vineyards: Beautiful grapes grown can be enjoyed here. There is also wonderful wine, tasting room, and gift shop. Just a fe mile away, enjoy the Lakedale Resort famous for camping, fishing, lodging, and swimming.

*Roche Harbor*: This is a beautiful place, having facilities like spa, restaurants, tennis courts. You can also enjoy the trails (The Quarries) in this area. While being at the top, panoramic view of the marina and Victorian garden can be adored. Nearby Westcott Bay sculpture park is just a walk away. Just near this point, helicopter ride also avail across the San Juan Island.

*English Camp*: This is another adorable place operated by the national park services. This is a nice place to relax and enjoy walks, and lovely scenery. You can hike up the Mt. Young hill for amazing views of the San Juan.

*Krystal Acres Alpaca Farm*: The rare and charming Alpaca animal of Camelid family can be seen here. Alpaca are prized for their luxurious and costly fiber which is harvested by shearing once a year.

*Pelindaba Lavender Farm*: After that we followed West Valley, and Boyce Road respectively. After some distance you can find Lavender farm fragrant walks through the lavender fields on the roadside with the eye-catching views. At the place, It seems that their owner can enjoy a cup of coffee in a sunny day.

San Juan County Park: The place has easy access to other islands, and sea, views to Canada, and a lucky chance to see marine mammals.

*Lime Kiln Point State Park*: This is a must visit place in San Juan Island, with stunning sea views, picnic spot, trail system. A tiny lighthouse adds beauty to this place, that just stand still near the seashores. The place offers the high chances to see the marine mammals at this place, if you have some patience to wait for that moment.

False Bay: The place offers nice views, fun walks at low tide, great birding.

American Camp: It is also operated by National park services. There are miles of beach, nice picnic spots, and extensive trail system.

*Forth of July and South Beach*: If you are going to the tail part of the San Juan, Cattle Point, you can enjoy spectacular views of forth of July beach at one side, and South Beach at the other. Both the beaches offer picnic spots, easy walks, and great ocean views. We enjoyed stone floating and long distance stone throwing in the sea.

*Cattle Point Lighthouse*: This is another must to see point in San Juan Island. Just before reaching this place, The view of roads going to sea-way and lighthouse touching the sky is really amazing. We just had a snap of ours lying on the roads.

Don't be surprise if deer jump here and there on the road at random places, as we found two :) At the end we return back to Friday harbor, and return to Anacortes followed by Seattle. The one day journey ends with a costly affair of Pizza while returning.  
Discover and explore San Juan with the Sidewalks, Trails, Shorelines, Docks and many more ...

4 comments:

Ralph E said...

u covered all the important places in the island. cool job. this is fantastic place all times. Must visit. could u give more trip planning info from Seattle with timings.
Ralph E

TimL said...

Nice post & photographs.

Andrea Wecker said...

This post is helpful during my visit to San Juan. Good work. Do you live in US?

sachinkgupta said...

Thanks Andrea for lovely comments.
I don't live in USA, I was there at Seattle during business visit. As of now I am at Pune (India).

-Sach

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