Sucia Island

I'd heard about Sucia and it's stunning landscape for years--it's somewhere that I'd always wanted to go, even before we had a boat. Sucia was named by Spanish explorers, those same guys who named virtually all the San Juan Islands (save for Vendovi, but they actually named that after one of their Fijian prisoners, so I guess we can add that to their list too). The name means "dirty water," but thanks to the magic of GPS and modern charts, we found the water to be just fine.

Sucia is not just one island but a group of islands in the shape of a giant hand print (the right hand). In fact, two of the islands are actually named North Finger and South Finger. From Patos, we came around the "palm" and past the southernmost "pinky" before heading north to pick up a mooring buoy in Ewing Cove (the thumb). There are lots of beautiful and secure spots to anchor or grab a buoy on Sucia, which makes it one of the most popular spots in the San Juans. Echo Bay, Fox Cove, Shallow Bay and Snoring Bay have mud bottoms where you can anchoring virtually anywhere you want, and with nearly 50 mooring buoys, anyone who wants a spot here can have one.

Ewing Cove is one of the quieter spots on Sucia, which suited us perfectly. It's tucked in between Ewing Island to the north and the Cluster Islands to the south and is framed by a lovely little beach at the head of the cove. The horseshoe-shaped trail running around the east side of the main island is one of the most spectacular in the San Juans. We followed it from "our" beach, through the forest and out onto the sandstone cliff overlooking Echo Bay. At the head of Echo Bay, the trail turns inland and follows a dirt service road all the way around to the far southern point. Although the guide book said the elevation gain is "negligible," I must beg to differ. But it was a great hike--about 6 miles round trip--that readied us for afternoon drinks in the cockpit. Is there anything better than sitting in the sun with a good book, your honey and a cold drink? Maybe, but at the time we certainly couldn't think of anywhere else we'd rather be.

Rum and Cokes in the sunshine after our 6 mile hike.

In the morning, we did some serious dinghy explorations. Aaron actually fell in here while dinking around with the dink. Ha!

Bright purple and orange seastars were everywhere.

Before falling in... Note the dry pants.

Can you see me? I decided to lounge in the sun while Aaron climbed around the Cluster Islands.

Bella Star in Ewing Cove

Aaron made a holster for a bottle of wine, so we could lower it over the side to chill for dinner. Yum!

This is a knot of my own design that would baffle Brian Toss and probably never be duplicated.

-Aaron