By By Julie McIntire Corey, Journal contributor

An outstanding travel group called Women Traveling Together has visited the island for many years. The mission statement on their website, “Women Traveling Together®, exists for one purpose – to support women traveling solo by offering escorted high-quality women-only tours to a wide variety of destinations – so that together, each of us can realize our individual travel dreams.”

WTT was founded in 1997 by one woman, Dana Asberry. She was a 40-year-old businesswoman who wanted to travel but did not want to go alone. She hired her first employee, her mom, and then her father, who built her first customer data program. In less than a year, she interviewed women, mostly in their 50s and 60s, who were married, widowed, single, and divorced from all walks of life to establish the guiding principles of WTT.

It is truly a business that caters to women who love to travel and do not want to travel alone.

The 2024 tour was 15 women (including the WTT tour guide) from all over the USA who spent two days on San Juan Island. They start their journey to San Juan Island by walking on the ferry, and they begin to relax and enjoy the scenic ferry ride. They do not care if the ferry is running late; they feel it is worth the wait. The ferry ride was so beautiful. It just adds to the excitement of coming to visit San Juan Island. Their full day here this year was kayaking in the morning and island tour in the afternoon. It is a fun adventure that includes having a great King’s Deli picnic lunch at South Beach, driving the island together, and seeing all it has to offer.

Their visits are always in July, the middle of summer, when the weather is perfect, and the island is full of wonder. This year’s group were all women traveling solo. No groups of two BFFs (best friends forever) or a group of high school buddies, just everyone on their own. They were very friendly and open about discussing the many issues we face today. The conversations were heartfelt and extremely interesting. Everyone was happy! They said: The air smells great here, people are so nice, and locals are lucky to live here.

It is an excellent reminder of how lucky locals are to be living here, even through challenges such as ferry disruptions or lack of parking spaces.

This year’s questions were: How many times a month do locals go off-island? Is there any crime? Does it snow a lot in the winter? Do people see the Orcas a lot? They share their stories about their lives and all their travels. It is the power of Women Traveling Together! Most of them have been on several tours with WTT throughout the years.

This year, the women were unique, funny, and kind. A lovely woman from Florida asked if South Beach has sea shells. Unfortunately, shells on San Juan Island beaches are not like the ones she has on her beach at home. After about 10 minutes of walking on South Beach, she approached the group, held out her hand, and said, “Look, ladies, I found a sea shell!” It was a lovely vacant hermit crab shell that looked like a small conch shell polished by rolling up and down the beach. The smile on her face and watching her hug the tiny shell could make your heart melt!

Their island adventure ended at the vineyard with many toasts, new friendships, and wonderful memories about their time on San Juan Island.