Your Guides
One of the most amazing things about operating a business like ours is being able to surround ourselves with such incredible individuals. To have them coming back year after year is incredibly flattering. If it weren’t for these great people, we’d be just another tour business. They are the reason that we are so successful and we cannot thank them enough.
Here’s a little introduction…
Andrew Rice
returning guide—8th season
Andrew now has 15 years of professional kayak guiding experience in the San Juan Islands. Earning BS and MS degrees in biology from Walla Walla College in 1995 and 1998 respectively he first came to the San Juan Islands in 1992 for summer school at the Walla Walla College Marine Biology Station at Rosario Beach. Since that time he has focused on marine and coastal ecosystems and their ecology. Andrew is our “inter-tidal expert,” if any of us are stumped by something we find out in the field then he is the one we go to for answers. He shares his enthusiasm and knowledge of the San Juans in fun and engaging ways which you can’t help but remember. In 2000 Andrew started his island ecosystem and marine science school Academic Adventures. This “hands on” field school provides young people from grade 6 to grade 12 with a way to get to know their outdoor environment intimately. Through guiding and Academic Adventures, Andrew shares his love of the outdoors and marine biology year round.
Mira Lutz
returning guide—8th season
Mira has been sharing her passion for the Salish Sea and wilderness adventures with our guests since Anacortes Kayak Tours began running trips. A lifetime of exploring wilderness areas in Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska by foot, sail, paddle, and bush plane have filled her with a love and respect for the earth and ocean and their systems that is nothing less than infectious. Ask her about what’s edible and medicinal on the shorelines and in the woods, the traditional cultures of this Salish Sea, and just about anything you can think of in the sea!
When there’s not a paddle in her hands, Mira teaches K-12 sciences at the Anacortes Home Education Partnership, enjoys gardening, wildcrafting, backpacking, windsurfing, diving and working on ideas for sustainable living so this big playground we call earth stays fun for her boy, and his pals, too.
Ryan Hopkins
returning guide—8th season
Ryan is our “seldom seen” kayak guide and self proclaimed “King of the Razzle Dazzle.” He’s not around too often (his other career is a desk-type job, running the Outdoor Rec. Program for Central Washington University) but if you are fortunate enough to be on a trip with Ryan you are in for a great time. Ryan is a fifth generation Washingtonan from the sunny side of our state. He was born in Yakima and attended college at Seattle University. Lately Ryan has spent his time traveling the world, exploring the American desert, and working abroad. Ryan’s next big adventure started this January when he and his wife Nikki gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! Paddling with Ryan is simply a delight, you will come away from the trip with a wealth of knowledge about the area and a great big smile on your face!
Monica Blanchard
returning guide—4th season
Monica is another Washington native who grew up just north of Seattle in the town of Brier. Her fascination with paleoecology, salmon, alpine environments, and fire ecology brought her to Western Washington University where she earned her degrees in Ecology and Geography. She is quiet about it, but we want to give her a shout out for
being the Thomas Henry Huxley Award winner for WWU (nominated by professors for academics, community service and personality. She spoke at graduation).
Like so many people in this industry, Monica loves to travel. She’s traipsed around Europe, Central America, the Middle East, and a good part of the North American West.
Monica took last summer off in order to work in Southeast Alaska (as everyone should), and now she’s back in Washington and leading tours for us. Although her summers are filled with great sea kayaking adventures, she still manages to get up to the Cascade Mountains for climbing trips and backpacking. Her winters are filled with snowshoeing and snowboarding expeditions.
Monica’s charming smile and sunny disposition complement her great knowledge of the area. Her guests absolutely love her, and she’s a true joy to have on our team!
Blake Crosby
returning guide—3rd season
Blake is a natural born outdoorsman. Growing up in the low country of South Carolina he had the ultimate backyard playground, a 5000 acre plantation on the Tulifinny River that his father managed. With ancient oak groves and swamp lands to explore Blake has spent more time in the woods than most people twice his age.
Blake was a competitive rower at Charleston College for three years but it was while attending Mesa State in Grand Junction Colorado that he had a life changing experience. He had discovered the outdoor paradise that is the West. He spent long hours taking rafting trips through Cataract Canyon, kayaking, and climbing, and went back home that summer to work as a rafting guide on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. The West was calling however and so he contacted us to see about guiding trips in the San Juan Islands. His desire to become a better sea kayaker and outdoor leader fit right in with our philosophy and so he joined the team. We’re very happy that he did.
Blake holds a BCU 3 Star Kayaking Award, Foundation Safety and Rescue Training, Level One BCU coaching certificate, and is a Wilderness First Responder.
This spring Blake is attempting an early season expedition, paddling up the Inside Passage to Alaska! He’ll be sure to have some great stories to tell about that adventure.
Leslie Mix
returning guide—3rd season
If you want to see an impressive resume, then you should take a look at Leslie’s. In college she was an Academic All American, an Athletic All American, and a national champion swimmer. She’s in the Washington Coaches Hall of Fame as a swim coach, a Math teacher at Anacortes High School, and coaches the swim team there as well. If you want to talk to her during the school year then you had better get up early, because she’s out the door at 5 a.m. This woman is driven!
Leslie has another passion too; sea kayaking. I met her several years ago out on the Pacific Coast where she impressed me with her fearless nature, impressive paddling skills, and great problem solving abilities. Naturally we were excited when she wanted to come to work at AKT, we knew that she would have a lot to bring to the company. She currently holds a BCU 4 Star Kayaking Award, Foundation Safety and Rescue Training, Level One BCU Coach certificate, and is a Level 4 (open water) ACA Instructor.
As an added bonus we found that our boys love her! She lives just a few minutes away and often stops by to rile them up. Last summer our oldest son Taiga started taking swim lessons from “Miss Mix,” it’s not surprising that he’s learning fast from such a great teacher.
James White
returning guide—3rd season
Born in New Mexico. James started paddling with his parents (both were whitewater racers on East Coast) on southwestern lakes. When he moved to Washington and began sea kayaking he knew that he had a great paddlesport discipline to pursue so he signed up for a NOLS Patagonia course (sea kayak/mountaineer) and spent two months down in that rugged part of the world. While in college James worked at the WWU Outdoor Center as Excursions Coordinator/Guide (guided sea kayak, mountaineer, backcountry ski). He graduated from WWU with a degree in Environmental Policy and a Minor in Political Science. James has traveled to Nepal (where he reputedly got worked in some big Nepali rivers). He took a year off from the AKT program to work in SE Alaska but is now back in Washington working for us, as well as in the Environmental Resources Department for the City of Bellingham.
Like his "better halfr" Monica Blanchard (see above), James has the great combination of an easy-going personality and a solid skill set that makes for a fantastic kayak guide. His other interests include: whitewater kayaking, mountaineering, photography, and making fun of long-time friend Ben Williamson (see below).
Ben Williamson
returning guide—3rd season
Ben is anything but new to paddlesports. He’s been paddling since childhood, and began guiding whitewater rafting trips as soon as he turned 18. With so much time on the river it was inevitable that he would develop into an accomplished whitewater kayaker, an activity that he engages in on nearly every day that we don’t have him guiding tours.
Like many of our guides, Ben is a homegrown Washington native, raised on a Christmas tree farm by his two school teacher parents who instilled the innate curiosity and leadership skills that makes him such a great kayak guide.
When Ben is not leading trips for us in the summer months he works as a member of the Ski Patrol up on Mt. Baker, or travels to the far corners of the globe as a model for Teva sandals (last spring he was in Fiji, lucky guy!)
Ben holds a 3 Star BCU Award, Foundation Rescue and Safety Training, a Level One BCU Coach certificate, and is a Wilderness EMT
Wyatt Brown
returning guide—2nd season
To know Wyatt is to love him. He is one of the most easy-going and friendly individuals that we’ve ever met and we are glad that he’s back for another year.
Wyatt has been an outdoor enthusiast for his entire life. Literally. He was potty-trained on the Rio Grande, and has been running rivers, big and small, ever since. After graduating from Western Washington University (with degrees in Environmental Ed. and Science), Wyatt took a trip to Southeast Asia where he trekked around Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and while in Nepal he competed in the International Himalayan Whitewater Competition. His skills on the river translated easily to the sea, and he has proven himself to be a solid leader and a wonderful asset to our program.
Jeremiah Reiner
returning guide—2nd season
Jeremiah comes to us from the Adirondacks of upstate New York. He fell in love with the outdoors at the age of 12 and his passion has continued to grow ever since. His outdoor leadership began with being a camp counselor and taking kids hiking and canoeing in the Adirondack High Peaks. His love of skiing has allowed him to be a Telemark and Alpine Ski instructor for the last 9 years.
Jeremiah abandoned the East Coast to attend college in Colorado and studied Recreation with an Outdoor Leadership emphasis. This allowed him to become a rock climbing and backcountry skiing guide. He also began to Adventure Race and dedicated three years of his life to the sport. He quickly excelled and his team Honey Stinger/Princeton Tec was the overall series champions in the Adventure Exstream Adventure Race Series in 2005.
Recently Jeremiah has focused his life to the sport of sea kayaking. He is currently enrolled as an Expeditionary Studies student at Plattsburgh State University. This major is an experiential outdoor education and leadership program which has allowed him to work with world class instructors to develop his skills in the sport of sea kayaking. Just this spring he was awarded the 4 Star Leadership Award, which is the second highest personal skills award assessed by the British Canoe Union. Jeremiah is also a Level One BCU Coach, and is qualified as a Wilderness First Responder. He is very excited to share his passion of kayaking with our clients and allow them to discover the enjoyment and beauty of sea kayaking.
Dan Pond
returning guide—2nd season
Like Jeremiah (above) Dan also attended Plattsburgh University and studied sea kayaking under the expert tutelage of Steve Maynard (Regional Coaching Officer for the British Canoe Union, Level 5 Coach, and University Instructor). He recently completed a degree in Expeditionary Studies and so now Dan is enthusiastic to share his knowledge of kayaking and the outdoor adventuring. Dan’s passion for the outdoors all started with his family going on camping and hiking trips to various places in the Northeast and east coast. From there, the skills and leadership developed through the Boy Scouts where Dan became an Eagle Scout. He is well traveled around the world and has been to some notable places to kayak including the Maine coast, Bay of Fundy and Nova Scotia, Baja, Hong Kong and now the gorgeous San Juan Islands. Dan is a proud New Yorker, but he is starting to come around to the idea that The West may be the place to be!
Last fall he and several of our guides undertook a 350 mile expedition into the remote coastline of British Columbia.
Dan holds a 3 Star BCU Award, Foundation Safety and Rescue Training, EMT, Wilderness First Responder, and is a Level One BCU Coach.
Asher March
As a child Asher took to the sea, surfing near his home on the north island of New Zealand. Later on he discovered whitewater kayaking, rock climbing and mountaineering at Aoraki Polytechnic. It was there he studied outdoor education, gained certifications to teach rocking climbing, backpacking and mountaineering and began mastering his leadership skills in water and on land. In between working jobs as an outdoor instructor, Asher boarded a plane to Malaysia for a year-long contract as a lead guide for Nomad Adventure, which featured rafting, kayaking, adventure racing, a high ropes course, caving, waterfall rappelling and a zip-line. His next job took him to Italy, where he helped American students develop skills through rappelling off castle walls.
Some of his other favorite trips include snowboarding in Japan, rock climbing in Thailand, surfing in Tonga and Bali and now kayaking in Anacortes.
Asher has quickly woven himself into the fabric of our AKT family and we feel very thankful that we will have him around this summer!
Jonathan Trzepkowkski
It seems that we are quickly becoming a "post-grad" program for the outdoor leaders coming out of the SUNY Plattsburgh Expeditionary
Studies Department. Jon is our latest acquisition and we are very excited to have yet another extremely well-trained kayaker to help lead our guests on trips in the San Juan Islands. Although Jon has only been sea kayaking for three years he has already earned his 3 Star BCU paddling award, completed his FSRT (Foundation Safety and Rescue Training), and is a Level One BCU coach.
Growing up in a military family gave Jon the opportunity to travel around the world and to live in such places as Georgia, Germany, Colorado, and New York, just to name a few. His parents lived an active lifestyle and always encouraged Jon to develop his adventurous spirit by taking him hiking, camping, and skiing even before he could walk. Consequently this guy is more at home in a tent than under a roof! Although Jon has many different passions in the outdoors that change from season to season, sea kayaking is becoming his primary pursuit. (Lucky for us!)
Adam Kreger
Over the past few years, Adam has worked as an environmental educator and wilderness guide in West Virginia, Alaska, Hawaii, and his home state of Minnesota. He’s psyched to return to the wet marine environment of the Pacific Northwest after spending two seasons in Southeast Alaska, where he led multi-week backcountry paddling expeditions for teenagers and mastered the business of staying dry and happy even on the wettest days.
While earning his degree in Biology, Adam studied Rainforest Restoration and Ecology in Australia and guided for the Grinnell Outdoor Rec. Program. Since then, his work and travels have taken him to six of the seven continents, from the Amazon River to Ghana to the Great Barrier Reef. No matter where he is or what he’s up to, Adam loves to share his passion for the outdoors and is looking forward to bringing his enthusiasm and sense of adventure to the San Juan Islands.
The rest of the crew (send us your bios guys!)
- Rachael Bates
- Mike Olson
