Here’s a thought…
“I don’t know why we are here, but I’m pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.”
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
Reservations recommended on Anacortes/San Juan Islands route
||| FROM WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES ||| With the new winter schedule, we’ve noticed vehicle capacity can be limited on westbound sailings out of Anacortes in the afternoons and evenings, Monday through Friday. To make sure you get on your preferred sailing, we strongly recommend booking a reservation. Reservations are also now
Washington State Ferries 2024 Year in Review
||| FROM WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES ||| In 2024, Washington State Ferries worked to sail together in our first year under Assistant Secretary Steve Nevey. Join us in a look back at our year in workforce development, community participation, making our ferries more reliable and much more. 2024 was a year
Reflecting on wildfire risk in the islands in wake of devastating So. California fires
||| FROM BRENDAN COWAN for DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ||| Lea este documento en español: https://www.sanjuancountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/31654/250109-Wildland-Fire-Awareness-ESP Fellow Islanders, The news of the catastrophic fires near Los Angeles is heart-wrenching. As we witness from afar the magnitude of the loss, the relentless winds, and the extreme fire behavior, it prompts us to
County School Districts join together in advocacy efforts
||| FROM BRADY SMITH, LOPEZ SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT, ET AL. ||| Washington State is chronically underfunding education, despite a lawsuit and mandate that the legislature increase education funding. Just as San Juan County is geographically unique, it also has the ability to bring important invested parties, such as labor and management,
Orcas HS Chess Team – Champions!
||| FROM RANDY KAECH, TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR ||| The first Island - San Juan - Skagit Regional Chess Championships is in the books! Congrats to all 35 players who were fortunate enough to participate, make history and enjoy wild adventures in the 64-square jungle. And a special congrats to: Lamai Hons of
The ‘new’ OCS teacher you may already have met: Anna Vedder
||| FROM ORCAS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ||| Although she has been a familiar presence on the campus of Orcas Christian School [OCS) for more than 20 years, this school year marks the first time Anna Vedder has had a classroom of her own. Over the years, she has served as a
A rare alignment of planets is about to take place in the sky
||| FROM SCIENCE ALERT ||| A very rare treat is about to grace Earth's night skies. On the evening of 28 February 2025, all seven of the other planets in the Solar System will appear in the night sky at the same time, with Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars all lining up in a
Southern Resident orcas face uncertain future despite groundbreaking research efforts
||| FROM KOMO TV ||| It’s a race against the clock for scientists and researchers to learn more about two Southern Resident whale calves and their mothers. One calf, J61, was only a few days old when she died in December. Researchers spotted her mother, J35, also named Tahlequah, carrying her
Barcelona uses its tourist tax to tackle the effects of climate change
||| FROM CBS NEWS ||| After wide scale anti-tourism protests over the summer, Barcelona is trying to turn a negative into a positive by spending some of the money raised from the city's tax on visitors to tackle issues caused by climate change. Barcelona is one of the most visited cities
La Niña has officially arrived. Here’s what that means for western Washington
||| FROM KOMO NEWS ||| After months and months of anticipation, we have officially entered the La Niña climate pattern we've been waiting for. La Niña is the opposing end of the spectrum from El Nino, an oscillation between cooler and warmer than normal waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
Port Commissioners special meeting
||| FROM CHIP LONG for PORT OF ORCAS ||| The Port of Orcas Board of Commissioners will hold a Special Meeting on Monday, January 13 at 5:00 p.m. online via Zoom and in-person at the airport terminal. Access information as well as the Agenda can be found at portoforcas.com.
2025 Marine Naturalist Training Program Opens Registration
||| FROM CONOR AGNEW for THE WHALE MUSEUM ||| The Whale Museum has opened registration for the 2025 spring and summer sessions of the Marine Naturalist Training Program! This hybrid program is an intensive multi-day overview of the natural history of the San Juan Islands and Salish Sea, and leaves
It’s tick time again
||| FROM RUSSEL BARSH for KWIAHT ||| Native Blacklegged Ticks are questing again; in fact, they began their search for fresh hosts in the islands nearly a month earlier this year, presumably due to this winter’s unseasonably mild weather. The islands’ conservation biology laboratory, Kwiaht, is calling on islanders to
Midnight Mutterings | The right to rewrite
||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE.BATES ||| We all learned in school that history is written by the winners. We have our own recent experience of that sad fact. After the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, it was called a riot, an insurrection and many other unflattering terms.
The one-page calendar that changes how you view the year
||| FROM BIG THINK ||| Key Takeaways Most of us need to refer to a calendar quite frequently to know what calendar date (day, month, year) corresponds to which day of the week. But rather than having to change your calendar every month, this one-page calendar works for the entire
Sheriff’s Report | January 1 – 7, 2025
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE ||| WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1 25-000010 Citizen Dispute 12:01:40 01/01/25 Lopez Deputies responded to a welfare check. An adult child took their parent's vehicle for a ride without asking for permission. The situation resolved itself without Deputy interference, as they returned home a short
