Cruising Great Northern, Our DeFever 53, Throughout the Northwest
Orcas Village; 5/18/21
Orcas Village is a collection of businesses and houses associated with the Ferry Terminal for Orcas Island. It can be described more as a hamlet than a village. More or a crik than a small stream so to speak. It has the goods though. A few shops, a post office, historic hotel and and absolutely best grocery store for any island paradise.
Orcas Island is the largest island in the San Juan archipelago.
Next to the dinghy dock: Old cables snaking out of the water and onto the Island. A bit creepy… The dinghy dock at Orcas Village. We parked on the inside of the dock and were still surprised to see how rough it got there when boats went by leaving large wakes.After viewing the old cables, the second thing you see when walking up the dock to the ferry landing is this most amazing linear sculpture of kelp and a quintessential crab peering through the kelp.Looks suspiciously like a jail cell to me… Doesn’t it look a bit worried to you?The third thing is an old landmark, the Orcas Hotel. They are open for lunch and dinner. We sampled their fish and chips. Sorry to say, but the fish was overcooked and the fries so coated in sea salt that we had to wipe them off before they were edible. We’d heard that it was a good place to eat, but I doubt that we’ll go back. Perhaps a bad day in the kitchen staff? It is easy to kill fish by overcooking and by using too stiff a batter, but hard to kill french fries.
The Orcas Island ferry terminal, the life blood of Orcas Island. The backdrop across the waterway is Blind Bay where we are anchored.
Its coming in, and its coming in strong!Made it…The next sight to behold is the Orcas Village Store. Unpretentious on the exterior, but filled with gastronomic delights. A very full service grocery. Great produce, local sourcing when possible, and an excellent place to restock food stores.From our perch on the veranda of the ORcas Hotels restaurant. You just can’t beat the view.The Orcas Village Post Office. Color it red and you can seen the bones of an old repurposed schoolhouse.Bayhead Marina, a private small boat marina just East of Orcas VillageThe green coutryside of Orcas IslandBayhead Farms, circa 2021. Founded in 1959 when most of the trees were planted. The current owner harvests the organic apples, pears, quince, peaches, plums, cherries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Very little of the produce is sold other than the berries. The apples and pears get juiced to make wine, vinegar and brandy.
Tomorrow we will be leaving Blind Bay and making our way to Friday Harbor for a few days of marina living. After that we may meander over to Garrison Bay on San Juan Island, then Reid harbor on Stuart Island and then up to Sucia Island. Who knows,,, the possibilities of exploration up here seem endless compared to Southern California…
Northwest Boating Travels With Blair, Les, and Leo 
What fun!
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