FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. -- Before bed on the night I arrived in the San Juan Islands, the island chain that sits as far northwest as you can go in this country before hitting Canada, I decided, as any reasonable person would, not to set an alarm clock.

The water. The pines. The floating home I had rented for three nights. They would conspire to wake me when seeing fit. The wild, peaceful northwest corner of the United States would be my alarm clock.

Sure enough, as orange light sliced through the blinds the next morning, the alarm rang: the squawk of a sea gull perched just outside my loft bedroom. I peeked through the window, but it was already gone; instead I saw a hulking green-and-white ferry streaming slowly away from the island.

If you go ... San Juan Islands

The most common route to the San Juan Islands is driving 80 miles north of Seattle to the car ferry in Anacortes, Wash. (wsdot.com/ferries). The ferry price for a car and driver from Anacortes to Friday Harbor starts at $35.15 and to Orcas $29.65. Flights also are available from Seattle via Kenmore Air (kenmoreair.com)

There are a handful of options for floating accommodations in the San Juan Islands, including Wharfside Bed and Breakfast (1-360-378-5661, thewharfside.com) and Rick Thompson and Wendy Beckler's floating home (1-360-317-5188, tinyurl.com/fridayharborboat), on San Juan Island.

Several companies offer overnight sailing charters, including Schooner's North (1-360-378-2224, sanjuansailcharter.com) in Friday Harbor and Emerald Isle (1-360-376-3472, emeraldislesailing.com) and Kruger Escapes (1-360-298-1023, krugerescapes.com) on Orcas Island.

I dressed, made a cup of coffee and stepped out into the marina. The air was impossibly bright and clean, and I breathed it deeply as I strolled past bobbing boats with names like Just Right, Sea Hunter and Si Horse. All was quiet. On the boat next to my floating home sat a woman with an airy, bronzed hairdo, a quick smile and a raspy laugh. It turned out to be my landlord.

Wendy Beckler was reading a beat-up paperback as her calico cat, Kismet Ariel Braveheart -- Kizzie for short -- sauntered around her feet. Ms. Beckler told me about life on the islands, where people rarely lock their cars or homes but are diligent about locking their dumpsters because getting trash to the mainland is among the steepest expenses of island life.

She said that she and her husband, Rick Thompson, sleep on the houseboat I was renting for much of the year, but when they find a tenant, they head to a patch of land deep in the island where they park their camper. The land is so densely tree filled, she said, you'd never know you're on an island or even near water.

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Washington's San Juan Islands offer peaceful beauty of water, pines