Bellingham to Friday Harbor

We rejoined Southern Cross on the 16th, with good friends Faye and Fred along for a few days. They really brought good luck in terms of weather and sailing conditions! Wednesday we started motoring out of Bellingham Bay against the typical headwind and chop, but after pulling even with Fairhaven we were able to raise sails and make Hale Passage in a single tack. Wind died partway through Hale, but only for awhile, and then we had a wonderful reach past Pt. Migley and all the way to Matia. Rolfe Cove was full, but we dropped the hook in the next cove to the south and had it all to ourselves. Enjoyed a nice walk among Matia's stately trees and the first of many glorious sunsets.
The next morning, we were rockin' and rollin' thanks to some sloppy waves from the Strait of Georgia, so we headed out without breakfast and bashed our way toward Pt Doughty. Conditions moderated after we closed with Orcas, and we ate breakfast and had a nice sail down President Channel, then past Jones Island into SJ Channel. We anchored briefly off Yellow Island so F&F could explore a bit. The caretaker keeps "banker's hours" so F&F had to cool their heels on the beach to wait for the opening bell (10AM).
We pulled into a slip in Friday Harbor so Mark could check in with his students and make sure the 1st mid-term was going smoothly (he's teaching 2 online classes this summer). All being well, we rented a car and headed across the island to check out a house high above Haro Strait belonging to some of F&F's neighbors. Wow! What a view.
Back on the dock, we watched the boaters next to us feeding herring to a female harbor seal named "Popeye".