We were sad to say good-bye to Giovannia’s parents, but the sea was calling and we had several miles to make on a rather cold and foggy morning. After a morning stop at the Bagel Factory, Gio’s dad dropped us as and our sizable load of gear off at Langley Marina and we made a b-line for Camano Island. One of our friends described the geology of Whidbey Island as a “glacial turd” and I think Camano must be another, smaller bit of geologic scat as well. Like Whidbey, the Camano Island is rimmed with high, loose bluffs. The evidence of past landslides is a everywhere, and the fortunate few able to build homes on top of the hill often have long, winding stairs, usually is a semi-state of collapse, that snake their way down to the coast below. The shoreline itself is very beachy, which made for easy landings. All of the eroded sediment makes for great beaches and for extensive sand flats that stretch as much as a quarter mile offshore. This made for some fun paddling at low tide as the swell would often break on several hundred feet from the beach, and in our kayaks were were able to cruise between the waves and the beach. Stretching my imagination, I felt like we were cruising along the barrier reef in Belize, inside the safety of the lagoon.
Our destination for the day was Camano Island State Park, or a more precisely, the Cascadia Marine Trail site at the souther end of the park by Lowell Point. Great little campsite, removed from the rest of the park, we had a decent amount of privacy. Not so much for the family of three that landed their kayaks twenty minutes after our arrival, however. Chuck, Cindy (parents) and Anika (daughter) were paddling from Manchester State Park (very close to Blake Island) to Anacortes. Very similar to out route, but the were completing a full tour of the Salish Sea they started two years ago. They had already done Olympia to Manchester and a full tour of the San Juans. They were now filling in the gap. I told them about this site and asked them for a contribution. Hope that comes to fruition.
But the best part of Camano Island State Park was a double visit from our friends. Ba is a longtime friend of ours and a phenomenal cook. He brought us lamb chops, curry and focaccia. He also brought a crab pot, which we set via kayak (my first time crabbing by kayak). After catching up for a while and enjoying a beer or two, we checked the pots, which were full of crabs, but they were all female dungeness and couple small red rock crab. Thankfully we still had the lamb and curry for dinner. We were also joined by Orlay and Shirley, friends of ours from Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators (NAME), the organization Gio and I met through and we’ve been members of ever since. They have a vacation home around the bend from the park and joined us for the evening. Seeing so many familiar faces and enjoying the company of loved ones, we both felt overwhelmed with generosity. After months of Covid quarantines, being able to spend time with family and friends, was a bit more than we could handle and so we decided to get back on the water the next day and keep paddling north.
