San Juan Islands Sea Kayaking from Anacortes

Wow, has it been nice out here! The sunscreen came out yesterday as we enjoyed the Fourth of July celebrations under clear and sunny skies. I've lived here my whole life and I can probably count on one hand the number of Independence Days that it did not rain. We actually joke about how summer begins on July 5th.

We've been kayaking all over the place this week. Jeff Hoeben has a group up at Sucia Island on a 5 day expedition. Todd has been sea kayaking around Cypress Island with some great folks over the last 3 days. Our Outer Islands trips have been going out every day, and our ever popular Burrows Island trips and Deception Pass kayaking tours have been filling up every day.

Loads of seals are now being seen on nearly every kayak tour. The pups are so much fun to observe as they follow their mothers around.
All three pods of Orca whales finally got together in a "Superpod" celebration last night. It was the first time that this remarkable event has happened this year. Loads of breaching, lob-tailing, and general revelry. The summers are an incredibly important time for these whales to reinforce their social bonds, mate, feed, and teach their babies about how to succeed in their world. We are fortunate to be able to see these iconic creatures and be able to sneak a peek into their mysterious lives. The Superpod occured way up north in the Strait of Georgia. The whales stayed up there all afternoon and then came down Rosario Strait in the evening. I'm still waiting to hear from our multi-day kayaking trip that was up on Cypress last night, it's likely that they saw them. The whales were just off of Burrows Island at sunset.

In other news, this will probably be the last post for a few days. The next time that we post a report we'll most likely be the proud parents of another baby boy! Megan is due on Saturday morning. Keep an eye on this page, we'll post pictures as soon as we can.