San Juan Islands Sea Kayaking from Anacortes

This has got to be one of the nicest summers, in terms of weather, that the San Juan Islands have enjoyed in years. With the exception of a few moist days after Independence Day weekend we have seen nothing but sunshine for months.
Blake is out guiding a trip around Burrows Island as I post this report, he does not know it yet, but he is about to get "mugged" by J-Pod. They came into the San Juans from out west yesterday and headed north into Canada. We had a suspicion that they would be near Anacortes by morning, and here they are. I hope that he and his guests have a great encounter!

As usual, there have been a ton of seals seen in the scenic waterways between Burrows and Allan Islands. If we linger in the kelp beds long enough they tend to come in very close, occasionally even mouthing the rudders of the kayaks. As the seal pups get a little bigger they will become insatiably curious and follow us around for a while. Although Orca whales get all the press out here, Harbor seals should not be discounted as a "charismatic macro-fauna". They are amazing animals to observe in the wild, and unlike the killer whales they tend to stick around the kayaks longer and allow us to actually see more of their behavior.

[UPDATED REPORT: Blake just called, he's with J-Pod right now! I'm glad that we chose not to call and tell him about it. It's so much better to be surprised.]