The Deer Harbor Marina.
The second San Juan County beach I’m featuring is at the Deer Harbor Marina on Orcas Island. The kids and I went there with a friend of mine who still lives on the island (and who will feature in an upcoming post) when she suggested that we might enjoy visiting there. It isn’t all that far from the beach in my last post, but it is hugely different in feel – which you’ll notice from the very first photo! This is a public beach (there are very few on Orcas) and actually, land-owners own beach rights only to the high-tide mark – below that all beaches are open to the public.
So…I give you a sandy/muddy beach – entirely different from the stony, broken-shelled beach where we clammed. No clam chowder recipes this week, but this is definitely a recipe for having a great time on the beach!!
Love this. Sand and mud – excellent at massaging one’s feet!
NOT the same beach as the one we clammed at – totally, 100% different. From a beach that would chop your feet up to a beach that, while slightly slimy, is soft and mushy!!
At first I thought these were seagull tracks…but they were so large…and then I saw a heron…and figured they must be from him.
Great Blue Heron – he flew about 15 feet away and then landed again.
Boo had fun playing by herself while her siblings took a walk further down the shore.
Barnacles and mussels. You can eat the mussels, but they’re pretty tiny.
A very old oyster, still stuck on the rock – isn’t it cool?
Another Hairy Chiton – I found 3 or 4 on this beach – so cool!
I adore tide pools! So many wonderful things to find therein!!
The marina at low tide.
I posted this picture last week, but I really love it and this is the beach where I took the photo.
Making the mundane entertaining.
A fine day for an epiphany 
I look at your photos and read your words and I think, how different these scenes are from Minnesota and how you must miss this place.
Thank you for taking me here. You are revealing an important part of your life, a part that shaped who you became as a person and a writer.
I just got back from there last night! Had a great time at my nephew’s wedding. Philosophized while on the airplane, so might have to write about that next week!