San Juan Islands Sea Kayaking from Anacortes

My favorite month has just about passed us by. We've had some wonderful experiences out there over the last few weeks. Andrew was out at Cypress Island two weeks ago when a Humpback whale graced his guests with an appearance. I've only heard of one other kayak tour in the San Juan Islands that has been able to paddle with this species of whale. Lucky for me that it was on one of the trips that I was leading about 10 years ago. Humpback whales were once fairly common in these waters of the Geogia Basin. A herd of about 200 individuals apparently lived out here. In the tradition of the times, however, they were extirpated (a fancy way of saying "wiped out") by whalers out of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. I understand that it only took a few years to erase this magnificent creature from the otherwise long list of resident marine animals in the area. Today, nearly 100 years later, the North Pacific herd of Humpbacks appears to be rebounding. Pioneer whales are starting to show up more frequently in the waters of their forbears.

Last week we once again took out the students and remarkable instructors from the Mount Bachelor Academy. We stayed in Shallow Bay on Sucia Island. The weather was terrific so we were able to paddle over to Patos Island out near the Canadian Border. The kids did great, and learned a lot about the benefits of working together to get things done. Like last year, this was a great learning experience for me as well. I love working with young people like this. We look forward to doing it again next year.

As we move into the autumnal weather of October, our Burrows Island trips will still be going out regularly. Yesterday I saw loads of Loons, and even more Marbeled murrelets out on the east side of the island. Grebes are fishing a little further offshore, and flocks of beautiful Surf Scoters are flying in to feed on the mollusks of Burrows Bay. Even if you are not much of a birding enthusiast you can't help but enjoy witnessing the cycle of the autumn migration.