reluctantly leaving fulford harbor on salt spring island we motorsailed over to roche harbor on san juan island to clear customs. this place had a totally different feeling from the other places we've visited. it feels like a resort not a harbor. first off i didn't see many sailors but i saw a lot of well-dressed power boat owners. the women had manicures, hairdos and purses. all the trappings of that other life. everyone was dressed in kakhi shorts and white polo shirts. oh and i saw a lot of dogs, mostly goldens and poodles. it's not often we feel dwarfed by other boats but here you can see in the marina shot it's hard to spot chesapeake among the big big boats.
some history on roche harbor if you're interested. used to be the world's most valuable supplier of limestone. the lime was mined and baked in large kilns and one you see in the top photo. the mine was sold to john s. mcmillin and he turned it into his own little company town. the small downtown had brick streets, i'm assuming made from the lime & cement they manufactured there. another thing they're noted for is the ritualistic flag-lowering ceremony of U.S. and Canadian flags during which both national anthems are played on the church bells. just before we left the next morning the bells were playing dave brubeck's "take five" and then "hello dolly". now that was weird in a sweet way.
for me the best part was visiting the westcott sculpture garden which i'll put in the next blog entry. so more to come.
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