Back to the San Juan and Gulf Islands

Sailing with my friends Henry and John on a chartered sailboat has been an annual treat since 1999.  We missed out in 2020 because of Covid, and in 2021 we could not cross over from the San Juan Islands in Washington to the Gulf Islands in Canada, but this year Canada was open again. It was a wonderful six days with sunny skies and enough but not too much wind for great sailing. 

This full moon rising behind the clouds reminded me of a rather sinister version of Pac-Man. This was taken at anchor in Reef Harbour between tiny Cabbage Island and Tumbo Island.  The east end of the harbor is very shallow and the water gets almost warm enough to swim in.  We’ve done that in the past, but we are all now getting on in age, so we gave swimming a pass this year.

Interestingly, my boat handling skills have not worsened despite progression of my cognitive impairment from Alzheimer’s disease.  I was still able to skillfully dock in a very tight space.  These skills are stored in procedural memory which is usually well preserved until late in Alzheimer’s. On the other hand, my ability to play Hearts has seriously worsened.  This requires declarative memory, and that is slipping.  I couldn’t remember how many points the cards represented (thirteen for the Queen of Spades, one for the others except for negative ten for the Jack of Diamonds), and I couldn’t remember what cards had been played. Playing Hearts each night after dinner has been a tradition on these trips since 1999.  I used to be a really good Heart’s player, but now I am not competitive. This is because my declarative memory is getting considerably worse.

I love the solitude of sleeping while at anchor.  The gentle motion of the boat through the night always lulls me into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.  However, after several days of cooking on the boat and foregoing showers, it is very pleasant to get to Roche Harbor Marina on San Juan Island. Roche Harbor has an interesting history. Indigenous Coast Salish people lived there as long ago as 500 A.D., but by the 1850s, they had been displaced on San Juan Island by both American and British soldiers and settlers. Both Britain and the US claimed the island, and the dispute festered until 1872 when both countries selected Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm to arbitrate the dispute.  He awarded the island to the United States.  By this time, rich deposits of limestone had been discovered around Roche Harbor, and mining and processing of the limestone became very lucrative. The Hotel de Haro was erected in 1886, and you can still check into a room there. Now it is a popular resort and marina with excellent restaurants, coin operated showers for those of us on more modest vessels, and lovely woods for hikes. A day and night there is a nice change of pace and a shower and excellent meal really hit the spot, but I think we were ready to get back to anchoring out for our last night in near solitude at Hunter Bay on Lopez Island.

I love these annual sailing trips, and I’m hoping that the progression of my Alzheimer’s won’t prevent me from taking a few more.