Island Hopping Map 

Island Hopping and Water Taxi

We can deliver you to the island of your choice for a hike family outing or week long camping trip.

Rates varry and are charged at an fixed rate for taxi service, and an hourly rate for private charters or tours call  360 376 4855 or
email marty@sanjuancruises.net for more info.

Sucia Island is located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, San Juan County, Washington, USA. It is the largest of an archipelago of ten islands including Sucia Island, Little Sucia, Ewing, Justice, Herndon, the Cluster Islands islets, and several smaller, unnamed islands. The group of islands is about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) in length and just short of a half mile wide. Sucia island is roughly the shape of a hand. The total land area of all islands is 2.74 km² (1.058 sq mi, or 677 acres). The main island of Sucia Island by itself is 2.259 km² (0.8722 sq mi, or 558.1 ac). There was a permanent population of four persons as of the 2000 census, all on Sucia Island. Sucia Island State Park is a Washington State Marine Park.

Patos Island is a small island in the San Juan Islands of the U.S. state of Washington. Since 1893, it has been home to the Patos Island Lighthouse, guiding vessels through Boundary Pass between Canada and the United States.

The island and adjacent islets comprise Patos Island State Park, a 207-acre marine park with 20,000 feet of saltwater shoreline. The entire island is owned by the federal government and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management's Wenatchee Office, and Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission operates a small campground facility at Active Cove near the west side of the island, maintains a 1.5 mile loop trail and has two offshore mooring bouys.

The name comes from the Spanish pato, meaning "duck", which was given to the island in 1792 by Commander Dionisio Alcalá Galiano of the Sutil and Captain Cayetano Valdés y Flores of the Mexicana.

Matia Island is an island in the San Juan Islands of the U.S. state of Washington. The island's entire 145 acres (59 ha) comes under the protection of Matia Island State Park.

It was named in 1792 by the Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza as Isla de Mata, meaning "no protection".

With the proliferation of private boats in the years following World War II, the Parks Commission began using Matia and other local islands as informal parks before acquiring the Matia in June 1959.

The Hermit of Matia Island

For almost 30 years a man, Elvin H. Smith lived in a cabin on a bay in the island's southeast corner (opposite Rolfe Cove). Elvin H. Smith was born in Wisconsin circa 1835. Elvin Smith fought in the Civil War during the 1860's, rising from private to brevet captain in the Union Army. Embittered because Army bureaucrats never recognized his battlefield commission and disappointed by an unhappy love affair, he left home for good and headed west^[2]. After a stint as a newspaperman, he worked for years as a traveling passenger agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad until he gave up railroad business in 1890 and came to Bellingham, Washington^[3]. Once in Bellingham, Smith joined forces with a lawyer to make some money on land speculation. There were rumors that the federal government was going to open Matia Island for homesteading. The lawyer fronted money to buy out a pair who had acquired squatters' rights on Matia. Smith moved to the island in April 1892 to perfect a claim the partners could sell at a profit. He was later dubbed "The Hermit of Matia Island", and remained there until his supply-laden rowboat vanished on in a storm on February 23, 1921 in route from nearby Orcas Island

Stuart Island is one of the San Juan Islands in Washington state, USA, north of San Juan Island and west of Waldron Island. The 7.462-square-kilometer (2.881 sq mi) island is home to two communities of full and part-time residents, a state park, a one-room schoolhouse, and two airstrips.

Two sites, both part of Stuart Island State Park, are on public lands. One is located near the center of the island, and another in on the western coast, the site of the Turn Point Light Station, a lighthouse guiding shipping in the busy waters of Boundary Pass to the island's north. Turn Point Light Station is on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management's Spokane District, Wenatchee Resource Area, Lopez Island Office.

The lighthouse and nearby "Suicide Cliff" are popular hiking destinations accessible by county road.^{[citation needed]} Sheltered anchorages for boaters can be found in Reid Harbor and Prevost Harbor, with public state park facilities in each.

There are no stores or other public commercial establishments on the island, aside from a wooden box, stocked by a local family with printed T-shirts and other souvenir items; each souvenir comes with an envelope through which visitors return payment by mail, based on an honor system.^{[citation needed]}

Satellite Island, which lies in Prevost Harbor on the northeast side of the island, is used by YMCA Camp Orkila as a basecamp for teen expeditions and for field trips by campers. Prevost Harbor is named for James Charles Prevost, captain of the HMS Satellite. Nearby Prevost Island in British Columbia is also named after Prevost, while Satellite Island is named after his ship.

The 2000 census reported a population of 800 permanent residents

Jones Island State Park is coterminous with Jones Island, one of the San Juan Islands in San Juan County, Washington, USA. It is located one mile (1.6 km) west of the southwestern corner of Orcas Island and accessible only by boat. The park features a dock and space for 21 campsites. The island has a land area of 190.33 acres (77.02 ha) and no resident population.

Yellow Island, one of the San Juan Islands, is an 11-acre (4.5 ha) island, located south-west of Orcas Island, and north of Shaw Island, near Jones Island State Park, in San Juan County, Washington, United States. The island is home to a wide array of flora and fauna, including over 50 species of wildflowers, Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, Black Oystercatchers, and Harlequin Ducks. The island was purchased in 1979 by The Nature Conservancy, and is administered as a nature preserve.

History

Before the arrival of European colonists, the island was used by the indigenous population for harvesting plant foods such as the roots of the Camas flower. Intentional burning was a method used to keep the tree population in check, helping to maintain the prairies needed for the Camas flowers. The island was bought by Lewis and Elizabeth Dodd in 1947, and then sold in 1979 to The Nature Conservancy, and is administered as a nature preserve.