Laying Low in Deer Harbor Marina

Summer has not yet arrived in Puget Sound, and by the looks of it, we may be having the same kind of summer as the previous two -- cold and windy.  With a storm coming in, we decided to take shelter in Deer Harbor Marina on the southwest corner of Orcas Island.

Deer Harbor Marina is a well-liked marina in all of the cruising guides.  Quite honestly, we're questioning why.  The marina has no breakwater and is open to the south getting rolling wakes from the ferry traffic on Lopez Island and during the storm, rolling seas from the south wind.  The cruising guides talk of an Orcas Shuttle that runs all over the island, but this shuttle officially starts the first day of summer, this year June 22nd.  The marina charged $1.55/foot to moor, which included electricity, water, and the pump out station, if we needed.   This is the most we've paid so far on this trip.  There is no town nearby, just a restaurant 1/2 mile up the road.  So, unless you want to rent a car for $60/day or take a taxi over to Eastsound, there is not much to do here.

In defense of the marina, there is a very well-stocked store at the head of the main dock.  The marina staff is accommodating and very polite.  The marina office has a large selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and wind breakers at a very reasonable price.  There is a resort up the hill from the marina and the swimming pool is accessible to marina guests.  Shower tokens are $2 and give you 7 minutes, which was the longest shower we've had so far on this trip, and we each used every single minute.

We got to share a few hours with a couple from Missouri, David and Nancy, who were chartering a Grand Banks 36.  We were impressed that they both took boating classes in order to be well-prepared for their charter trip.  We continue to be amazed at the friendliness of the boating community.  At almost every stop we meet wonderful people, learn about their lives, and share boating stories with them.  


The storm rolled in with wind gusts in excess of 40 mph and we were glad to be safe in harbor.  We watched a Kenmore Air plane come into the harbor for a landing, being blown about quite a bit, and he skirted the tops of the sailboats in the marina and landed just past.  Quite a thrill for us down here and I'm sure a little scary for those on the small plane.


We're heading to Friday Harbor on Monday.  Jerry is wanting to get to a store to buy glue to fix a stubborn hole in our dinghy.  I'm wanting to find a drugstore to buy an ace bandage to wrap my knee, which has been giving me fits on this trip.  My knee brace just isn't cutting it and getting around is getting harder each day.