On the morning of our fifth anniversary, we headed over to Doe Bay from West Sound after a lazy morning and free showers atthe Orcas Island Clubhouse.  It was about 3 hours motoring with light wind, too light for sailing.  The most difficult part of the passage was going through Obstruction Pass between Orcas and Obstruction Islands where we fought the current coming through at about 3 knots.  When your boat normally only goes 5 knots, pushing against that current really slows you down.

When I was on deployment, I spent a lot of time surfing the web and dreaming about our San Juan Islands cruise.  One of the sites I stumbled on was for the Doe Bay Resort and Retreat because they have hot mineral water soaking tubs like we relaxed in when we lived in Japan.  Finally we were out cruising, making dreams come true!

We called ahead to Doe Bay Resort and Retreat and reserved the mooring buoy.  When we got to Doe Bay, I thought the mooring ball was too close to the shallow rocky coast, so I rowed out a stern anchor and set us up with our port side toward the shore.  We rowed ashore and had some difficulty pulling the dinghy onto the beach because it was full of water.  Hitting the rocky beach put a bunch of small cracks in the bottom layer of the dinghy, filling the foam core with water.  Just take a look at the short video I made about our dinghy cracks.  Natalie and I decided that if the inside plastic cracked, we’d probably sink, and towing a waterlogged boat for the rest of the trip wasn’t a good idea, so we decided to go to Friday Harbor the next day and get a new dinghy.

Ashore at Doe Bay we checked in and paid $15 each to use the mineralwater soaking tubs.  Before jumping in, we explored the grounds and Natalie found a cool waterfall that runs down into the bay.  A little while later, we hopped in the tubs and relaxed while taking in the scenic view out across Doe Bay into Rosario Strait, perfectly framed by pine boughs.  It was great, letting the hot water soak our tired sailor muscles.

A quick dip in the cold tub to refresh and then back to hot tubs.  While we were soaking, a spike buck deer, still in velvet, came up to the grass around the tubs.  We tried to be quiet while reaching for the camera, but it took off before we could get a picture.  Later, after eating a delicious dinner at the Cafe, we saw a lot more deer while we were walking around the resort grounds.

Doe Bay Resort was a great place to spend our anniversary.  We enjoyed the tubs, the food was amazing, and the scenery was beautiful!