Seattle to Ketchikan Day 6

Monday May 9th.

We spent 3 nights in Friday Harbor, and enjoyed all of them.
But now it was time to move on.

I had always heard about the marina at Roche Harbor, so that was one place that I definitely wanted to visit.  It's only about 10 miles from Friday Harbor to Roche Harbor, so that was our destination today.

The above map snippet shows the short route for the day.

We left Friday Harbor at about noon.
Lisa had a doctor appointment in the morning, and since the route was so short we decided it would be fine to leave later in the day than we normally leave.  I had called Roche Harbor and made reservations.

We arrived into Roche Harbor Marina at a little before 2 PM.
I had made reservations, but once again since it was so early in the cruising season the guest floats were totally open - reservations would not have been needed.

It was 101 nm to this point.

We really enjoyed Roche Harbor for many different reasons.
Lisa said it was her favorite stop on our voyage.
We only spent one night here, and I'll just let the pictures tell the story of our short visit.

Faraway looks pretty lonely on the guest floats

Chapel

Cabins for rent, and picnic tents

Check out the name and sign on this vessel

Lime kilns

We learned that making lime in the kilns was an early industry in this area.

I thought we were walking through a nice little residential area.  Then I realized that we were still on the marina grounds, and also that there were no people around, almost like a ghost town.  I guess these are houses and condos that are for rent for people using boats in the marina.  Since we were so early in the season they were still all unoccupied.  Beautiful places.

One of the reasons we liked Roche Harbor so much was that they had a dog park.  And since it was so early in the season, no one else was around.  It was like a private dog park.  And of course Bina loved it too.

We saw this new construction on the hill right up above the hotel and the access to the docks.  It was so huge that I thought it was a lodge or commercial building of some sort.  We were told it was a private residence!

The landscaping in and around the marina grounds was just stunning, and I'm not one usually impressed by flowers and shrubs. 

They also had what was billed as a 40 acre sculpture park.  Again, no one else was around when we visited, so it was like a private tour.  Bina probably thought it was another dog park since we just let her run loose.

No, that's not a statue of a deer, it's a real deer.

Local residents

Did I mention that I like to look at boats?
There were some beauties here.

In the evening they held a "Lowering Of The Colors" ceremony up at the main dock near the marina.  I had read about it in the cruising guide books but thought that it was too early in the season for them to do it.  They played appropriate music for each of the flags represented there.  I could see the USA flag of course, which was lowered last.  But I also saw the Canadian flag and what I think was the flag of Great Britain.  After all the colors came down they fired off a small cannon - BOOM!  Bina sure did not like that.

A great way to end our one evening in Roche Harbor Marina.