Meet our Sea Kayaking Guides and Staff

Employment information

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:

Kayak Office Staff

Molly Baker:

If you read ski magazines, or follow ski related online sites, then you've probably already met Molly. She's graced the cover of several publications (usually hucking herself off of a big cliff) and contributes articles to a variety of  skiing web sites. Fans of Outdoor Research know that she's also a sponsored athlete for that great clothing and equipment company.

Molly spent the first twenty-one years of her life in California; growing up in the Sierra Nevada foothills surrounding Yosemite and then obtaining an undergraduate degree in Physical Geography from U.C. Berkeley. Just hours after her last final at Berkeley she packed up her truck and moved to Salt Lake City, where she would spend the next four years of her life competing in big mountain freeskiing events and shooting with a variety of ski photographers. After discovering Mt. Baker, the allure of the northwest magnetized the skier and vagabond-at-heart to Washington state. She now spends summers mountain biking in Bellingham and climbing peaks in the North Cascades, but looks forward to learning more about sea kayaking and spending time in the San Juans. During the winter she can be found skiing and traveling to other snowy destinations.   

Sea Kayak Guides

Andrew Rice: returning guide (7th season)

Andrew now has 14 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 (7th 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!

Ryan Hopkins: returning guide (7th 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!

Tiffan Wannamaker (3rd season)

Tiffan is one of those great individuals who just makes you feel good to be around. Her contagious laugh and good natured attitude make her a favorite among her fellow guides. Her work ethic and comprehensive knowledge of our operations makes her a favorite of ours!

Aside from sea kayaking, Tiffan is addicted to telemark skiing, an activity she picked up after many years of competitve Nordic skiing (5 years competing in the Junior Olympics). Her passion for carving turns took her to the mountains of Argentina where she stayed for five months under the guise of studying Spanish at a foreign language school.

She's a small town girl from Colorado who moved to the Pacific Northwest to study Recreation and Spanish at Western Washington University where she graduated last autumn. Last year she worked in our office while recuperating from a shoulder surgery but this summer she's back in her kayak, bringing smiles to everyone's faces.

Ben Williamson (2nd 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 (this spring he was in Fiji, lucky guy!)

Andaria Crespi  (2nd season)

When Andaria showed up in Anacortes last spring we instantly knew that she would fit in great with our program. Her passion for sea kayaking was very apparent right from the start, and her good natured attitude fit in great with our "family style" kayak company.  Even though this is her second year of guiding with AKT she comes to us with lots of previous experience as a Registered Maine Guide.

Early last summer her fate as a Washington transplant was sealed when she took a trip out to the Pacific Coast with another one of our guides (Leslie Mix) and was able to kayak out to beautiful and remote Cape Flattery to experience the huge sea caves out there. She came back with stars in her eyes and we knew it was all over for her, she was hooked! Her biggest challenge these days is figuring out a way to paddle all year long, and preferably earn a living while doing so! With her great attitude, and solid skill set, we think that she won't have too much trouble.

Blake Crosby (2nd 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 last year he called 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.

This summer Blake's goals are to save money for a kayaking trip in New Zealand, and for an attempt at paddling the Inside Passage to Alaska in 2011.

Leslie Mix (2nd 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.

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.

Jeremiah Reiner:

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. While spending two weeks in Nova Scotia and Maine this spring he completed his BCU 3 Star and his BCU 4 Star training. 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.

Ben Bowen:

I first met Ben (and his girlfriend Melinda) last September during a trip I took up to the Skookumchuck Rapids, a formidable tidal race up in British Columbia. His skills were readily apparent, and his personality was a perfect fit for our company.

Ben Bowen, another Washington native, grew up on a Christmas tree farm in the small town of
Arlington with his schoolteacher parents, sister, and multiple herding dogs. He attended Western Washington University and graduated with a degree in education. Ben’s sea kayaking career began at YMCA Camp Orkila on Orcas Island were he led 3-day to 21-day expeditions with teens throughout the San Juans and the Gulf Islands. In the winters, he works at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort as a ski patroller. In addition to skiing and sea kayaking, he also enjoys playing Wiffle ball, mountain biking, fishing, crabbing, skateboarding, and bird watching.

This Ben is not a Teva model like our other Ben (see above) however he is working on an amateur modeling career with Carhartt Clothing. ;)

Melinda Buttles:

As I mentioned in Ben Bowens bio, I met Melinda while paddling the beautiful wave up at the Skookumchuck Rapids in Canada. She had solid paddling skills and a charming personality and so naturally the conversation began about how we might entice her and Ben to come and join our team. Luck for us they did!

A true North-westerner, Melinda Buttles grew up in Portland, Oregon. As the only sister to
her three eagle-scout brothers, she was camping, paddling, hiking, and biking as long as
she can remember. When Melinda started college in Bellingham she took her first
sea kayaking class; being a true-blue Pisces, she quickly fell in love with the Salish Sea.
Education and travels took her to Western Europe, and independently to Central America, until
she eventually made up her mind and graduated from the University of Oregon with majors
in both Spanish and Linguistics (don’t get her started on the anatomy of speech production).
Meanwhile, Melinda kept paddling each summer while working for YMCA Camp Orkila. For the
past five years she lead teens on sea kayaking expeditions up to three weeks long, traveling
throughout the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands. In addition to guiding, some of her favorite
paddling experiences were trips to British Columbia last fall to paddle the Broken Group Islands,
and the daunting Skookumchuck Narrows.

Dan Pond: (pending)

Wyatt Brown: (pending)

Ken Biddle: (pending)