My good friend Emily Reed just told me about this:

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art and Sculpture Park (IMA) is sponsoring “Above &  Beneath the Sea,” a photography contest for San Juan County photographers. The contest is in conjunction with the exhibition of world-renowned photographer Ernest H. Brooks II:  “Silver Seas: A Retrospective” June 22 – September 8, at the Museum of Art.

Brooks is an internationally acclaimed photographer and educator who served as head of the Brooks Institute of Photography and has promoted photography as a universal language. He is a diver, an educator, trail-blazer in the development of underwater photographic equipment and technique and has descended into the depths of every ocean on earth.

Entries may be color or black-and-white photographs and must be the original work of the entrant. Brooks will judge the entries and two place winners will be selected in each of the following six categories: Above the Sea: Marine Life, Marine Landscape, Vessels sailing under heavy seas. Beneath the Sea: Macro/close-up, Underwater life, Underwater landscape. Entry fee is $10 per person which includes up to three submissions.  Winners will  have their work on exhibit in the museum along with Brooks’ photography. Deadline: May 7.

For applications and submission requirements go to the San Juan Islands Museum of Art website: www.sjima.org

Popeye, showing off for the island's visitors last weekend in the marina...photo by Rebecca Leff

When she was walking the docks last weekend at Friday Harbor Marina, Update reporter Rebecca Leff ran into an old friend…here’s more:

She’s an island icon; her fame is equivalent to Mona the Camel’s (check her on Facebook).

Popeye's distinctive "one eye bigger than the other" squint makes her easy to identify when she pops up from the water....photo by Rebecca Leff

She may be the world’s most famous harbor seal…Popeye.

Watching all the young kids swarm around Popeye as she made her usual appearance by San Juan Seafood at the Port last Easter weekend, I couldn’t help wondering how long Popeye has been gracing us with her presence. So, I asked Friday Harbor Seafood’s Brenda Wagner, who says Popeye has been coming around for 24 years. She says that both kids and adults love seeing her.

Brenda’s favorite Popeye trick? You guessed it – the splashing of people around the dock.

Thank you Popeye for bringing smiles to both tourists and locals, we love you!

Sunny morning at English Camp....it was great to get out there on a crisp cool spring morning!

Let’s see what’s up this weekend….including getting out in the sun!

• Last month the County Republicans held their caucuses, and this month the Democrats are in action – you can drop in & add your voice to the choice – here’s the scoop:

The County Democratic caucuses are this Sunday, April 15, from 1:00pm-3:00pm at the following location in Friday Harbor (the Orcas meeting is at Orcas High, and the Lopez one is at Lopez School):
San Juan Island, San Juan Island Grange, 152 1st St N, Friday Harbor

Come and be an active participant in your representative democracy.  The process for selecting delegates to the state and national conventions starts here.  Bring your voter registration, if you have it, to simplify identification of your specific precinct (but it’s not mandatory).

Additional information available at 370-5401.

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• You remember that awesome movie called Saving Luna, that Ryan Reynolds & friends made into The Whale for American distribution? It opens in China in the next couple of weeks. Yep, our killer whales are stars in China….

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Come on by Lavendera!

• Lavendera has a celebration this Sunday – drop by! Here’s the deal, from Ceily:

Celebration Date: Sunday, April 15, 2012, 3pm-6pm
Lavendera is having their Re-Location Celebration!

“We are so inspired by our new location we want everyone to see it, feeeel it and experience the calm we have brought with us!. Please help us celebrate our new, expanded, very convenient location and throw off the stress of your taxes!”

Relax....

Lavendera will have delicious treats from Friday Harbor House and Cynthia Burke who they collaborate with. They will have people who can share about the various services supporting Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit from the community.

Lavendera is now called Lavendera Massage…Center for Evolving Well Being. The education program is called “Lavendera Thursdays” which include Free Community Services, Open Forums and education to give people information and access to new possibilities in their lives.

Lavendera is continuing to do their traditional massage and spa treatments. They intend to address individual needs, engaging a variety of therapeutic approaches. Their treatments can take a person through the healing of an injury or provide the blissful experience of a one time relaxation massage or spa treatment.

Lavendera prices remain the same. The price for Swedish and Deep Tissue massage has been combined, lowering prices overall.

Your experience walking in the door will be their signature calm, the Lavendera aroma and the breadth of our larger space. The retail products will expand with the summer season. After you check in, your curiosity will lead you to retreat to the back for water or tea.

Lavendera invites you to come in for the experience anytime!

With a warm welcome,
Ciely Ti Gray and the Lavendera Team

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Yvonne Bowman at the post office (left) helps deliver the Italian bees that were sent to Cyndi Brast earlier this week....photo by WendySea Brown

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• At the Rumor Mill this weekend: The Betchawanna Boogle Band plays tonight, and tomorrow it’s Oliver – here’s more from his mom, Debbie Strasser:

Hi Ian, Oliver and a new friend, Matt Bachman, will be a jazz duo this Saturday Night at the Rumor Mill. Matt is from Chicago and is a temporary teacher at Spring Street School. I think it will be mostly jazz standard instrumentals. So… wanted to get the word out to all the musicians around! And that of course includes you 🙂

Then, on Sunday:

OPA! will be performing for your dining and drinking pleasure Sunday April 15th 6:30- 8:30(ish). If you have yet to experience this Musical Treat, come on in and hear the unusual sounds of this dynamic Gypsy/Roma Band. You’ll be shouting OPA! It feels so good!!!!!!

Vida is one of the kids featured in the collection...

Tonight (Friday), Griffin Bay Bookstore hosts the Spring Street International School’s special event for middle school authors at 7pm…here’s more from the school:

A SPECIAL EVENT FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL AUTHORS TO ANNOUNCE THE PUBLICATION OF:

 Back When Back Then by Voices from the Middle
of Spring Street International School
April 2012

 Back When Back Then book launch and author event at Griffin Bay Bookstore, Friday Harbor, on Friday, April 13^th, at 7:00 p.m.

Back When Back Then is a stunning compilation of tell-all autobiographies by the writers of the Spring Street International Middle School, located in Friday Harbor Washington. This slim but piercingly honest volume will put to rest any doubts about bad things under the bed. A must-have tome on childrearing, this frank and adventurous collection demonstrates that parents who put the cookies on the top of the refrigerator have only themselves to blame.  Social anthropologists, lovers of poetry, sheep wranglers, rocket surgeons, people who have flying dreams, and anybody who was ever a kid, will swoon before the literary riches of this brilliantly crafted debut.

Advance praise for Back When Back Then:

“I laughed, I cried, I blew my nose.”
Louis O’ Prussack, Head of Spring Street International School

“I am obliged to say, with loathing verging on nausea, that these children are possessed of staggering, mind-befuddling genius.”
Severus Snape, Head of Hogwarts School

“Well this book is just splendid. And you know, children are the future. These are good children to have in the future, tomorrow. And that is why I sort of support schools. Remember, tomorrow is in the future, and it too will have children in it.”
Letter found in BTBW editor’s mailbox, signed “Barack Obama”

Excerpt from Back When Back Then:

When I was little I could not reach the candy on top of the refrigerator. They would put it up there in front of me, which to me kind of said, “Vida, here is a challenge for you.” Also, I liked to make plans. Here is how this one went. I would run into my room and yell, “There is a spider in here.” Then I would run out the back door and around into the kitchen. I had to work fast. I would grab the stools I needed, stack them up, climb, grab all the candy I could, hop back down, and rush outside to my tree-fort to pretend that I had been there for a long time. The problem was that nobody believed I didn’t take the candy because of how I was after I ate all the candy. Also, I didn’t put the stools back. Also, there was no spider. And then everybody including me had to wait while I ran around in circles and talked too fast.
Vida Wight, grade 6

The writers featured in Back When Back Then:

Dylan Allen
Diego Anderson
Lauren Ayers
Dylan Bienenstock
Jilly Brandli
Olin Carlson
Connor Dederich
Zach Fincher
Beatrice Grauman Boss
Emma Heikkinen
Uma Hu
Jacob Kaden
Madrona Jameson
Max Kessler
Quinn Lacrampe
Mark Mazzarella
Gene McCauley
Alifaire Noreen
Devin Oliver
Hailey Ott
Anamika Paulay
Emmie Reynolds
Gemma Richard
Maria Smith
Vida Wight

Copies of the limited first edition will be available for purchase by the general public starting Saturday, April 14^th, at Griffin Bay Bookstore, in Friday Harbor Washington.  Some of the writers might even be loitering around to autograph books, but if they ask for money or food, don’t give it to them.

Jeff Allen Pierce, Dan Mayes, and Erik Gratton in Island Stage Left's "Someone Who Will Watch Over Me."

OK, here’s where I get into trouble writing reviews. The biggest thing is that you go see the play. Then you’ll get it.

See, if you ask me, “What’s so good about it?” I’d have to say, “Everything.”

Brilliantly written play. Excellent acting, with clear connections between the people in the show & the script. But more than that.

It’s an emotional play, which flies from feeling to rage to darkness to that feeling you get when you are washed with hope, and then, just maybe, it ebbs again. But more than that.

See, all that emotion wells up on stage, but it it wells up inside us, too. The stories we tell to take us away from our prisons, for just a moment. The songs we sing to remember what is good, and to forget where we are. I’d have to tell you I teared up with one song (bet you’ll be able to tell which one) and laughed in places that weren’t funny but were funny to me (doubleback irony, a friend of mine used to say.) But…more than that, even.

The pace of the play, the way the words & script roll onto the stage….all suggest this is a well-directed (good job, Helen!) and well-acted (super job, Jeff Allen Pierce, Dan Mayes, and Erik Gratton!) performance. To take this story which has no time & no sense of day or night or sense of place & make sense of it is an amazing accomplishment. But it’s more than that.

At the end, it’s a play about us & the way we are. How we make sense of the most unfathomable, how we deal with things for which the word “ridiculous” is inadequate (as the play shows), and how we get up the next day & take it on head on anyway.

This show by Island Stage Left is a major achievement. It plays tonight (7:30pm) & Sunday (4pm), with Saturday’s show cancelled for reasons outside of the show, then carries on for two weeks after this. I believe you’ll find the show is a wonderful experience that opens your heart & your spirit…let me know what you think when you see it.

This is a great chance to help – here’s more from Steve & the Trails Committee:

San Juan Historical Museum Path Project—-Volunteers Needed!

This is more of a landscaping project than a trail but it is a community effort to improve the Historical Museum grounds for all-season visitor use and enjoyment.  Doug McCutcheon and I are co-leaders working with Director Kevin Loftus and two high school students to design, excavate and then install pavers for a total of 355 feet (36 inches wide) of path connecting several key historic structures.

The first work party will be on Sat., April 14 at 10 am.  We plan to be excavating a shallow and wide trench with a machine but will need shovel and hand work to clean the edges and transport and spread gravel.  We will transport most of the gravel by machine. It is light-medium  construction work only requiring gloves, boots, shovels, wheelbarrows and garden rakes.  Some trenches and narrow lateral “french drains” will be hand dug.  Ground has shallow, rocky soil.  We are looking for 10-12 volunteers for few hours with lots of breaks as needed.  Bring water, a snack or two and gloves as well as any of the above equipment you may have to add to the mix.

We will also be working at the same time for each of the following Saturdays in April to install drain gravel, install crushed gravel and some perforated pipe  and after leveling and tamping will install 2″x7″x9″ reclaimed pavers.

This is a great community improvement project with wide support.

Please call Steve Ulvi at 370.5264 if you have questions or concerns!

Have you seen Alice Shull's new line of greeting cards at The Barking Bird?

Lots going on around the island…let’s see what’s up:

• Island Stage Left‘s spring show Someone to Watch over Me continues this weekend (it runs all month, but only four weeks instead of the usual five), but the Saturday show this week has been cancelled due to a death in the family. The Thursday & Friday shows, and the Sunday performance will go on as planned…

My friend Brenda went last week & said: “It was great to feel the enthusiasm and admiration for an enthralling and gripping night of theatre and tour de force acting. Not to be missed!!!!”

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• It was great to see in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this morning (it’s online, since they don’t have the print copy anymore) one of island photographer Sandy Buckley’s photos as part of their ongoing coverage of what killed that young killer whale two months ago. Check out the story, & check out her photo…

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This weekend...

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• Friday Harbor Art Market applications due: Artist applications to participate in the Friday Harbor Art Market are due April 16. To receive an application or for more information, contact Debbie Pigman, dpigman1234 (at) yahoo.com or  472-0216.

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You'll be glad you came - the Children's Festival is awesome!

• Deanna Eltinge says the Children’s Festival could use a hand:

The 22^nd annual San Juan Island Children’s Festival needs your help. The success of this popular free event depends largely on the wonderful volunteers who help out each year. People are needed to assist with parking, help set up the festival, assist with an activity— no special skills required! The planning committee welcomes anyone who would like to lend a hand so please contact Sally Thomsen, Recreation Director, at 378-4953 to sign up.

The SJI Children’s Festival will be on May 5^th from 10am to 2pm at the San Juan County Fairgrounds. The entire event is free and kids of all ages will enjoy over 30 activity providers centered around this year’s theme “Leap Off the Page” bring your stories to life!

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• Every Fifteen Minutes is on tap for next week – here’s more from the good folks at San Juan EMS:

San Juan Emergency Agencies Collaborate “Every 15 Minutes” Program

One person dies nationally, each fifteen minutes, in a drug or alcohol related auto accident. Every 15 Minutes  is a nationally recognized program that creates increased community awareness and action to reduce alcohol and drug related incidents and deaths.

On April 17^th  and 18^th , the third Every 15 Minutes program will be held in Friday Harbor.  This two day event will include simulated death announcements every fifteen minutes during Friday Harbor High School classes, a catastrophic auto accident demonstration, the arrest and trial of a student for DUI, reactions from the student victims and their parents and a mock funeral.

San Juan Island agencies have joined forces to create a “real life” experience intended to impact this community and youth.  “We have heard from past participants that after experiencing this event they made choices that saved their lives. For instance, a group of girls did not get into a car with boys who had been drinking. Later that night the boys crashed their vehicle, resulting in one death. It is gratifying, but rare that we get direct feedback of this kind after events of this sort,” said event director, Lainey Volk.

This event is held every three years and the cost is funded through generous donations and grants from the community.

Julie

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• It was nice to run into Julie Tate (FHHS ’06) yesterday downtown – she’s heading out this week to begin work at her summer job in Montana at a dude ranch.

Here’s a flashback to when I ran into her & her dad Phil back in ’07 – take a look at the San Juan Update Wayback Machine. (Scroll down!)

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• Hey, next week on Wednesday & Thursday at Skagit Valley College, I’m offering four three-hour workshops: Beginning & Intermediate Word, Beginning Excel, and Beginning Powerpoint. It’s time to begin!

Give SVC a call at 378-3220 for more info, and I’d love to see you in class! (Cheers, Professor Ian)

Because the Charter Review this year may result in changes to the way we do things, this is probably how the election process for County Council & Superior Judge will go – here’s more from the County’s Stan Matthews, who explains people who run this year may have to run again early next year:

As Candidate Filing Week Approaches, Questions about Council Terms Remain

Candidate filing week will arrive three weeks earlier in 2012 than last year, because of a change in state law. County offices open for filing this year are Superior Court Judge and County Council District 1 (San Juan South), District 3 (Friday Harbor), and District 4 (Orcas West).  To be on the ballot, each candidate must file a declaration of candidacy and pay a filing fee between May 14 and May 18.

The Council elections will take place against the uncertain backdrop of the upcoming November 2012 vote on the Charter Review Commission’s (CRC) recommendations.

One of the CRC’s recommendations would return the County Council to three “whole-island” districts, similar to the old Commissioner districts. The six current districts are designed to be of “nearly equal population.”

If the CRC’s proposals fail to win voter approval, the newly elected Council members will serve full four year terms on the County’s six member Council.  If voters approve the CRC’s recommendations, the current Council would be abolished just five months after the newly elected Council members are sworn in.

In that case, elections for the new three-member Council would be held in February 2013 with run-off elections in April.  The winners would take office on May 7, when the April election results are certified.

For now, plans continue for the election of the three open Council positions this fall as they are currently construed in the Charter.

The San Juan County Elections Office will accept online candidate filing from 9 a.m. on Monday, May 14, through Friday, May 18, at 4 p.m.  In-person filings will be accepted Monday, May 14, at 8 a.m. through Friday, May 18, at 4:30 p.m.  Mail-in filings may be received no earlier than Monday, April 30, and no later than Friday, May 18.

The names of candidates facing two or more challengers will appear on the August 7 primary ballot. Offices with one or two candidates filed will go directly to the November 7 general election ballot.

Candidates are encouraged to file online.  Candidates who file online will receive not only confirmation of their filing, but also updates when other candidates file for that office.  Candidates may file online using either their personal computers or a computer set up in the Elections Office.  To file online, go to www.sanjuanco.com/elections and click “Candidate Filing.”

If filing by mail, send forms to San Juan County Auditor, Elections Office, PO Box 638, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.  In-person filings forms should be taken to the Elections Office, 55 2nd Street, Friday Harbor.

In addition to the Council and Superior Court positions, Democratic and Republican Precinct Committee Officers positions will also be open for filing. The filing fee for San Juan County Council is $337.19 and for San Juan Superior Court Judge is $1,488.32. There is no filing fee for Precinct Committee Officer.

Those interested in running for office are encouraged to call the Elections Offices at (360) 378-3357 for more information.

Tuck & Patti

They’re set for Friday – here’s more from San Juan Community Theatre’s Jan Bollwinkel-Smith:

Smooth and romantic jazz shines on the Whittier stage when Tuck & Patti return on Friday, April 13 to San Juan Community Theatre for an evening of guitar mastery and magical vocals.

For more than three decades, guitarist Tuck Andress and vocalist/arranger Patti Cathcart have been working musically together (they married in 1981).  Patti exudes the soft graciousness of a gospel singer while Tuck’s guitar skills bring a virtuosity and complexity to their pieces.

The duo’s discography began in 1988 with Windham Hill Jazz’s Tears of Joy.  Their most recent release, I Remember You, is a selection of love songs inspired by Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass.  The late jazz pianist and composer Leonard Feather said of the duo: “Not since Ella Fitzgerald met Joe Pass on stage has there been so felicitous a mating as Tuck & Patti.”

The couple first appeared in Friday Harbor—in part because of underwriters Carolyn Haugen and her daughter, Krissy Soltman—in 2009.  The two are underwriting Tuck & Patti again.  Haugen says the music “speaks to our hearts. I’m sure that many islanders will enjoy this magical evening of musical entertainment.”

The Business Partners for the concert are Island Inn 123 West and VanderYacht Propane.  Tickets are $25 for adults, $13 for student reserved and $5 student RUSH at the door. The SJCT box office is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Hey – drop by the Library to get your picture taken at the Library….and help celebrate not just National Library Week, but having one of the coolest libraries around – here’s more from Marjorie Harrison, the library’s director:

You belong @ your library this National Library Week, April 8-14

Whether you are a job seeker looking for resources to land a new job, a parent looking for free activities for children or a student searching for your next favorite book, you belong @ your library.

Today’s libraries help level the playing field by making both print and digital information affordable, available and accessible to all people.  Libraries provide cultural heritage and genealogical collections, materials in print and electronic formats, job seeking resources, English as second language and early literacy resources, and many other creative and resourceful programs.

Libraries have historically served as our nation’s great equalizers of knowledge. The strength of libraries has always been the diversity of their collections and commitment to serving all people. This National Library Week, join our nation’s libraries and librarians by celebrating the place where we all belong.

Join the San Juan Island Library in celebrating National Library Week by stopping in to check out our newest resources and pick up a free bookmark. New to the Library or the Island? Speak with a staff person about getting your own Library card. Have family or friends visiting? We have resources for non-cardholders, too, from computers to browsing our large periodical collection.

“Today’s libraries provide a wide range of opportunities for people with diverse needs and interests,” says Margie Harrison, Director.  “That means providing our community with tailor made collections and services for people of diverse backgrounds, language abilities and technological skills.”

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

During National Library Week libraries across the state will be participating in “Snapshot: One Day in the Life of Washington Libraries”.  This state-wide project will illustrate the importance of libraries for Washington’s citizens through collection of statistics, stories and photographs.

Library Snapshot Day is an effort to encourage libraries across Washington to participate in conducting special events, taking pictures, and collecting statistics and customer comments showing how Washingtonians are utilizing their libraries that day. Results from Library Snapshot Day will be posted on organization Web sites, where everyone can see these powerful stories.

The San Juan Island Library is celebrating Library Snapshot Day on Thursday, April 12.  “Snapshot: One Day in the Life of Washington Libraries” is part of a broader effort organized by the American Library Association.

For more information about National Library Week, visit the San Juan Island Library at 1010 Guard Street, call 378-2798 or see the library’s website at www.sjlib.org.  The Library is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 10 am to 6 pm; Tuesday and Thursday from 10 am to 8 pm; Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm.

Remember the fading but bright colors of last autumn's leaves?

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
~ George Gordon, Lord Byron
from ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’

Chasing a Steller Sea Lion...photo by Jim Maya

Jim Maya photographed this beautiful breaching transient killer whale earlier this week…

Had this song stuck in my head the last couple of days….good one to wake up to. Here’s Donovan recently, inviting everyone to sing along…you can, too:

You'll be able to tell they're on the island!

Shannon Monroe from Olympia is bringing the bus to the island – here’s more:

Good afternoon, Ian!

Our DSHS Mobile CSO is scheduled to be in Friday Harbor on April 11th & 12th at the Friday Harbor Resource Center located at 500 Market St. Our hours will be from 11am until 5pm on the 11th and then from 9am until 4pm on the 12th.

Our Mobile CSO staff will be available to assist people in applying for state/federal benefits as well as completing eligibility review for current recipients, completing changes to current cases and answering questions regarding our programs and individual cases. Our programs consist of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) cash and medical program, the SNAP Basic Food Program (Food Stamps) and numerous medical programs from pregnancy medical, family medical, children’s medical, disability medical and the medical savings program.

Here’s more about what we do. Thanks for helping spread the word!

Flyin' by...photo by Alex Shapiro

Just a few things to share this morning, including an egg hunt you’ve gone to, all these years:

• Jenny Benedict over at the fire station says they could use a little help (bring the kids!) coloring eggs at the fire station today (Friday) at five…see ya there!

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• Our baseball boys nearly beat a strong Squalicum team on Wednesday, losing only 4-3.

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• This is going to be fun – get your tickets now! Here’s more from Lori Stokes:

“Francie’s Follies,” a don’t-miss, once-in-your-lifetime performance that can loosely be described as a water ballet, will be held on Wednesday, April 18, starting at 7 pm, at the Fitness Club on Argyle.

The island’s inimitable Francie Hansen (creator of the County Fair’s extremely popular “Trashion Fashion Show”) has come up with yet another crazy idea —  this time one that will raise money to provide free swim lessons to island kids. The show will feature Mark “King Neptune” Cunningham, along with these mesmerizing mermaids:
Katie Catfish Askew
Donna Dolphin Baldwin
Brenda Beluga Beckett
Becky Baleen Clarke
Francie Flounder Hansen
Penelope Porpoise Haskew
Diana Dungeness Stepita
Sally Salmon Thomson
Carolyn Coy Wakeman
Christina Crawfish Whitney
Pamela Poisson Williams
Amy Anchovy Wynn

For the requested $10 donation at the door (children are free), audience members are sure to enjoy a laugh-filled evening of outrageous costumes and props, not to mention the graceful performances of our own island mermaids.  Eat your heart out, Esther Williams!!!

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• Looks like the Zip San Juan guys are back n action – here’s more from Janelle Schumacher:

We are excited to begin our 2nd season on San Juan Island and are now accepting reservations for tours. Our family friendly zip line tour features 8 zip lines and is an excellent way to experience the natural landscape of San Juan Island. We have completed hiring and training our Spring season tour guides and they include several local residents. We are excited about the great team that we have put together.

Tours are available 7 days a week and reservations are required. We are now offering an online reservation system that can be reached through our website at www.zipsanjuan.com. Each tour group is picked up in downtown Friday Harbor, just two blocks from the ferry terminal or in Roche Harbor and transported to the site. Upon reaching the site, you are given an orientation and will have the opportunity to practice zipping on our smaller practice zip lines. After this, our guides will lead you to the first of the zip lines. Throughout your tour you will soar from platform to platform past tall Douglas Firs, Western Red Cedars, traverse across a suspension bridge, zip over a lake and wetland area and experience the forest from a viewpoint usually exclusive to birds.

Tours last approximately 3 hours which includes travel time to and from the course. The site is about 10 minutes from Friday Harbor. Rates for youth (age 8-14) $65 and adults are $75. Seasonal discounts are available for local residents.

The Zip San Juan course was designed and constructed by Synergo, www.teamsynergo.com, out of Portland, OR. Synergo was selected for their unique creativity, attention to detail, and adherence to the national standards developed by the Association for Challenge Course Technology. Synergo takes great pride in creating tours that provide exciting experiences for all, while keeping a watchful eye on our environmental impact.

For more information about Zip San Juan and the tours we provide please call 360-378-5947, email info (at) zipsanjuan.com, or visit our website zipsanjuan.com.

We take pretty good care of our islands, and the Stewardship Network wants to put a spotlight on the folks who go the extra mile…here’s more from the Preservation Trust’s Kathleen Foley:

Nominate an Island Steward!

Do you have a friend or neighbor that you’ve noticed takes exceptional care of their land?   Perhaps you know a teacher that inspires their students to understand and care for the environment or a business that has been a leader in sustainable business practices?

Help the Stewardship Network recognize individuals, families, teachers and businesses that have made a significant impact on the conservation, preservation, and protection of the San Juan Archipelago! Many of these people are the “unsung” heroes of our islands; here is an opportunity to tell their story.  If you know someone who deserves this award, please submit your nomination by April 27, 2012.

Nominations will be accepted in the following categories: Shoreline Stewardship, Farmland Stewardship, Woodland Stewardship, Village Stewardship, Business Stewardship, Individual Stewardship, Youth Stewardship and Educator Stewardship. Previous years’ winners, nomination forms and award guidelines can be viewed on the Stewardship Network website at http://www.stewardshipsjc.org/.

Awards will be announced in the media the week of May 21 and at the Sustainable San Juans Event at Lime Kiln State Park on San Juan Island on Sunday, May 27 (information on this event can also be found on the Stewardship Network website).

Nominations and/or questions can be submitted to Kathleen Foley at the San Juan Preservation Trust, 378-2461 OR [email protected].

The Stewardship Network is a consortium of private and public organizations whose vision is a healthy, thriving ecosystem in the San Juan Archipelago from land to sea.