This page is for planning the retreat at the Whiteley Center on the Friday Harbor campus on San Juan Island between January 30 to March 7.
Lots of general information about Friday Harbor is available on the Friday Harbor entry on WikiVoyage and we should contribute there where possible.
Transportation
- Options for seaplanes
- Island Airporter: Shuttle service from Seatac to Friday Harbor. Monday through Saturday (no Sunday service). Pickup in Friday Harbor Dock at 5:45 and at Seatac at 12PM.
- Bellair Airporter shuttle: Operates a (much more frequent) shuttle service between Seatac and Anacortes Ferry terminal with departures roughly every 2 hours. $37 one-way; $68 round-trip. Accepts online reservations. Requires that you handle the ferry portion of the trip separately.
- WA DOT ferries connect Friday Harbor with the other islands and Anacortes. Note that the Washington DOT recently implemented a reservation system (which probably won't matter to us since we're visiting in the off-season).
- Public transportation options between the ferry terminal and downtown Anacortes and the Amtrak Station in Mount Vernon are available through the Skagit Transit bus system. Buses are cheap ($1), infrequent, and probably require a connection.
- The west side of the island is quite hilly.
Weather in February
Generally, highs will be between 5-10°C and lows between 0-5°C. Monthly averages are described here. Snow is uncommon.
Questions for the staff at the Whitely Center
- What kitchen equipment is available?
- The kitchen is well stocked but it probably won't have things like mixer, blender, or coffee grinders.
- Are there monitors/keyboards in the studios? If so, how many?
- There is a computer room but we should bring our own monitors and keyboards.
Shipping & Mail
Ordinary mail addressed to visitors at the address below will be placed in the mailboxes in the entrance hall of the Fernald Labs. The office staff will sign for express packages and the like (same address, 360-378-2165 for the phone).
- Whiteley Center
- 620 University Road
- Friday Harbor, WA 98250
- Requested USPS mail forwarding service for those 5 weeks (Mika&Mako).
Shops
- There are a few grocery stores in Friday Harbor.
- We can join a coop for a month for 10USD.
- King's Market is open 7:30-21:00 every day.
- Things on the island may be a bit more expensive than in Seattle. We can take whatever we want from Mako&Mika's kitchen (i.e. oil, soy sauce, spices).
Restaurants
(Note: many of these were suggested by Kathy Ballard in the FHL office)
- Market Chef (10am-4pm) -- noodle bowls?
- Demeter's -- bakery
- Backdoor Kitchen
- Cask & Schooner
- Thai kitchen
Some things to do
- Befriend alpacas at Krystal Acres
- Feed Popeye the one-eyed harbor seal.
- Say hi to orcas. We can listen to orcas when they swim nearby: http://orcasound.net/
- stalk resident orcas via satellite
- look for J50 and mystery babymama
- Check and report any sightings on The Whale Hotline (citizen science!)
- Figure out if/how we can visit Mona the camel (!).
- Improve the article for Friday Harbor on Wikivoyage
- Visit other San Juan Islands
- Golf options: San Juan GCC, Lopez Island Golf Club, and Orcas Island Golf Club may all be closed, but we can check.
- Potential hikes
- Mt. Young
- Mt. Finlayson
- Mt. Constitution (Orcas Island) - highest point on San Juan Islands, 360° view. Note that Mt. Constitution is part of Moran State Park. You can download a map of the park (pdf).
- Add hiking trails & bike-friendliness info to OSM
- Can we add street view for OSM around San Juan Island?
- Bicycling!
- Island Cycles seems to rent bikes and has great info on their website.
- San Juan Island Fitness Club seems to have a 25 yard pool, weight room, etc.
- San Juan Islands Museum of Art
- opening of new building w/inaugural exhibition Feb. 14
- Documentary film festival - Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday
Things not to bring
We won't need to bring:
- Bedding/bath towels will be supplied at $5.78 per week for each occupied bedroom.
- Kitchen essentials. Apparently: "Your kitchen is nicely stocked with the essential equipment for cooking."
The Whiteley center has some restrictions on what we can bring to the cottage or the Friday Harbor Laboratory campus.
- Animals (FHL campus)
- Children (just the cottages)
Things to remember
- sheets pickup 12:30-1PM on Thursday.
- always call to see if restaurants are open - cask and schooner was closed for a week this time.
- check tidal schedules for intertidal critter observation.
- farmers eggs $4/dozen on University Rd.
Next time, bring:
- good kitchen knives
- proper waterproof hiking boots
- thermos
- speakers
Places to try
Accounting
| Description | Cost | Paid | Beneficiaries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groceries | 143.52 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako |
| Groceries (1/28) | 101.58 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako |
| Cafe Demeter (1/28) | 8.83 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako |
| Groceries (2/1) | 192.31 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako, Mika |
| Cafe Demeter (1/30) | 14.19 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako |
| Ferry (1/30) | 45.30 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako, Mika |
| Friday Harbor House (dinner 1/31) | 136.13 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako, Mika |
| San Juan Island Fitness | 25.99 | Mika | Aaron, Mika |
| Groceries | 217.06 | Mika | Aaron, Mako, Mika |
| Groceries | 17.12 | Mika | Aaron, Mako, Mika |
| Roche Harbor lunch | 41.59 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako, Mika |
| Groceries (2/9) | 100.19 | Aaron | Aaron, Mako, Mika |
- reminder: Mika needs to pay back to Aaron for the USB thumbdrive.
