Roche Harbor

[Flyhound]

Roche Harbor is a resort in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. In addition to a hotel, rental cabins, a fabulous dock and multiple restaurants, they have a runway and tie-down area. They do charge a $10 landing fee, but they maintain the place so well, I don't object to putting my money in their envelopes. It's just a hop, skip and jump from home, but walking around the grounds feels like I'm a million miles from my home airport.

https://youtu.be/owJTiZLTKrI

[andy]

In 2007 my wife and I took a helicopter flight out of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. The helicopter was a brand new Robinson R44 on inflatable floats. I did my annual Robinson SFAR PIC currency training and then we took an air tour around the islands. Roche Harbor was one of the tour sites. We also visited it once we were on the ground in a little 3-wheel motorcycle/car that would only go 25 mph. I've never seen so many huge, expensive boats as the ones harbored there. I was hoping to see a Kenmore Air seaplane land there but they weren't flying to Roche Harbor that day.

[Flyhound]

Hey Andy: Kenmore has some pretty cool hardware, but Roche is a small enough stop on their routes, it's mostly the 206s that land on the water there. The Beavers (both radial and turbine) and the Otters fly the routes with a lot more traffic - like Friday Harbor and Victoria, BC. Still, it's a treat to see them operate.