WEDNESDAY June 24th – Time to Explore Little Sucia before heading off to Roche Harbor.

Fox Cove is one of our favorites because a tiny island called Little Sucia forms part of the cove.  We love exploring Little Sucia because not many people venture out there.  There’s always some treasure to find and this time Little Sucia gave us a piece of wood that looks just like a whale, as long as we can find the perfect tail. 

We cast off bound for Roche Harbor when in the distance we could see another American Tug just off the North end of Orcas Island.  Through the binoculars it looked like they were just floating along.  Then behind the boat it looked like I could see smoke.  After a second confirming look I gave the binoculars to Julie to see if I was crazy.  It was kind of hard to tell but she thought so as well.  We made a rapid course change and headed for the boat.  As we arrived the Skipper came out and let us know they had a fire onboard.  Their alternator had burned up and caught on fire but luckily did not cause much damage and quickly went out.  The engine however was now dead and could not be restarted.  He was on a fairly slow drift, headed for open water.  We stayed with the disabled boat for a while until they had an ETA from Vessel Assist.  The skipper then told us he felt like he was in no danger and was comfortable with us leaving.  We carried on to Roche Harbor happy we could provide help if needed.

We arrived in Roche Harbor and immediately filled up with water so we could all take showers.  We had a great dinner out at the Madrona Grill, then came back to the boat for an early night to bed.

TUESDAY June 23rd – We decided to stay at Sucia Island one more night before heading to Roche Harbor.  Sucia Island has so many nice little anchorages you could spend almost a week there and never stay in the same place twice.  We once again moved to Sucia’s Fox Cove, another beautiful anchorage just a short ride away. 

After getting secured to the ocean floor we dinghied in for another hike, this time our to Henry Point. A fun hike but wow, it was a little nerve racking with the kids, especially Ava.  The shear drop-offs running along the trail, with no barricade, really stressed us out.  One misstep and you would be falling just about straight down to certain death.  Great views but probably not a trail we would take Ava on again until she was older.

We hung out at the beach for a while longer then back to the boat for dinner and an awesome evening watching the sun go down.

MONDAY June 22nd – In the middle of the night the wind kicked up again, blowing and rocking the boat all over the place. We moved to this bay specifically to get out of the wind but of course the wind had switched directions just to irritate us one more day.   After spending a few hours at the beach in the morning we decide to pack up and move to Fossil bay on the same island. 

We are trying to get a good hike in everyday so today we decide to hike out to Johnson Point.  Ava once again complained but got into the grove as we got going.  It was a beautiful hike through the woods as Skylar searched for a tree branch that would serve as a replacement tent pole.  Incredible views all the way out to the point and Skylar found a branch for what he thought would work to keep his tent up.  It actually worked but not without a little modification from a broom handle and some zip ties.  I guess he will be camping once again. He’s a resourceful kid

With Skylar’s tent all setup on the beach we all joined him for a nice fire and marshmallow roasting.