Orcas Island Trip

Fri 6-8-07
We arrived tonight at Doe Bay resort . Orcas Island. About 3:30 pm after a 6.5 hour drive a 1 hour wait at the terminal and a 1.5 hour ferry ride. But let me tell you its worth it! Orcas Island and Doe Bay are very magical places! We met our friend Allan Rosato there at Doe Bay.
Allan used to work for me 11 years ago when I owned a restaurant in Spokane Wa. Hes a great guy. He kayak guides for Shearwater a kayak outfitter here on Orcas. Allan wanted to take us out kayaking imediatly but we passed as we were beat from the drive. We hung out for awhile made the date for tomorrow morning to go out. Then we got setteled in our Yurt right on this little cove! Beautiful! Had a great dinner at the Doe Bay Cafe. and crashed.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast. The bay was like glass. While we were unloading the kayaks another guide asked where we were going and I told him we had a date with Allan . He proceeded to tell me there were small crafty warnings up and all trips for the day with Shearwater were cancelled. 25 MPH winds 3 ft seas ect. Bummer!
Allan called he said the wind would be out of the SW so lets go to the North end of the Island.
My wife Mary passed but I was not going to travel 400 miles to get my Valley Skerray noit in salt water. I said lets go! We doned our dry suits and were off it was a kick! We paddled along the coast for about an hour to a point and a beautiful 20 meter rock wall. It was awsome. Wind blew but the Skerray (and me!) held on . It was great. You could see the wind coming across the water. Boom it would hit you! I just got low and braced. Allan is a great guide! He stayed close. Gave a lot of encouragement As he new this was my first salt water trip. We paddled back to the beach. It was very kewl!
Mary had taken a nap in the car. We loaded the kayaks . Got out of the suits. Talked and made a date for dinner. We left for home the next morning.
I would recomend both Doe Bay Resort and Allan Rosato . One a s place to stay and the other as a guide.
I will be coming back to spend a week dong this soon!

Spring Is Here!

Hi! Well just a note to say we have tried out the new dry suits (Stohlquist) and they work great! Mary found this out by a capsize in 37 degree water on Lake Coeur D Alene Id. a few weeks ago. She stayed dry and warm! Which is what there for. We have Kayaked another lake called Benowah which is in Id. also. It is a lake that the St. Joe river dumps into about 70 miles South of Coeur D alene Id. Its a magical lake only 5 ft deep in most places as the silt pours out with the river. Lots od bird life. Ospreys, Great Blue herons ect. Actually the Great blue Herons have a rookery there and start breeding next month. If you are in this area its quite a site to see. 7 and 8 Great Blues together on logs which you hardly ever see! I will try to get pics up of it as soon as I figure that aspect of blogging out. Be well! Jim

Newbie at This

Just to say I am a new blogger. My interest are in Kayaking, scootering, camping, music and left of center politics. My name is Jim Franey and I reside in the great Pacific Northwest. Spokane Wa.
My major interest right now is Kayaking (flatwater) in lakes around the Pacificnorthwest and Canada. (In Canada, Kooteney and Slocan lakes so far). Unfortunately the winter is setting in which makes me a little uneasy about getting out there in cold water. My wife (Mary) and myself have nice dry suits (Stohlquist). But its still scary as we have not much self rescue training. We shall see!
The boats we have are (mine) a P&H Orion , kevlar and a Valley Skerray, fiberglass. (Marys)
Very beautiful boats in my oppinion! As well as fine performers. In my limited knowledge oppinion. I will ad more as I become more experienced in this Kayaking and Blogging thing