San Juan Islands Sea Kayaking from Anacortes

All right! After a long stretch of weather that prevented us from taking anyone out, we had a brief respite from the wind. On Monday our guides James and Dave came into town and, with little resistance, dragged me out the door. We set out from Skyline Marina to head around Burrows Island. The purpose wasn't so much to go sea kayaking around the island as it was to find a place to get out and climb to the incredible views on top of the island. We found a little pocket beach, pulled the kayaks out of reach from the tides, and started up the slope. We must have found the steepest ascent possible, we were forced at times to clamber up using both our hands and feet. After a lung-busting climb we managed to make the summit. We were rewarded to a spectacular view over Rosario Strait and into the inner San Juans. From the top we could even see Vancouver Island over the top of San Juan Island! The Olympic mountains were covered in clouds, we caught glimpses of some of the summits but they were quickly covered in more clouds. We had a great look down into the Deception Pass area, we could see it over the top of Allan Island. Below us we could watch the seals swimming under the surface. There were lots of big trees up there. I guess that the loggers of the early 1900s thought that the wind-deformed trees at the summit were of little value. I was glad to see them today. The way down was just as steep (go figure), but we made it back to our kayaks without much trouble. On the way back we saw large rafts of diving ducks, and other migratory birds that spend the winters in Burrows Bay. I really love this time of the year.