San Juan Islands Sea Kayaking from Anacortes

Our guide Jeff Porter and his guests are having one of those world-class moments right now. They are out on the west side of Fidalgo Island, on our Burrows Island kayak trip, and are paddling with J-Pod, our favorite local family of Orca whales!
It's a little soggy out there today, but sometimes those hardy souls that brave the elements are rewarded with a unique experience.

Harbor porpoise have been pretty commonly seen recently as well, both on our Deception Pass trips, and out at Burrows Island. I was leading a trip last weekend and had the most incredible porpoise encounter yet. Two females and a young calf surface just a few feet away, and uncharacteristically laid on the surface for several breaths. It was a phenomenal opportunity to get a really great look at these diminutive cetaceans. I'm not sure why they stayed at the surface so long, but I'm glad they did!

This weekend we are conducting the first of two 3-day guide training classes that we hire Body Boat Blade International to teach. These guys are such incredible instructors, we are very lucky that they are headquartered out on Orcas Island. In addition to these 3 day formal classes, we engage our guides in weeks of instruction to ensure that our guests are well taken care of. We're happy to hear that, finally, a few other companies are beginning to see the value of investing in professional guide instruction.

So the weather forecast is looking great for the next week. It's about time! Maybe our time in the Sun has finally come.

Snow?!
How can this be, it's Tulip Festival time? We should be enjoying a few refreshing showers as we tip-toe through large fields of Skagit Valley's iconic flowers, not shoveling snow off of our sidewalks! Last Saturday our temperatures nearly reached 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and yesterday there was a foot of snow on the ground near Everett. Apparently it has been over 30 years since we last saw this happen in western Washington.
Well, it should be noted that, once again, Anacortes actually had pretty nice weather even though things were quite nasty up and down the I-5 corridor. It's our luck to be living in the "Blue Hole" of Washington State. Even when it is soggy everywhere else, an aerial photo will often show a roundish patch of clear sky, right over us here in the San Juan Islands, life in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains is pretty nice.
Friday and Saturday's kayak trips did have to endure a little precipitation (way to tough it out guys!) but the scenery was fantastic. Today's kayakers were in luck. It has been sunny and calm all day long, warm too!
We will be sea kayaking around Burrows Island all week long, and the weather is predicted to turn back into our typical Spring days -warm, with a chance of sprinkles.

Labels: kayak tours, sea kayaking

There are buds forming on the bushes, cherry trees are beginning to bloom, the days are warming up. Looks like our winter hibernation is coming to an end. It's time to dust off the kayaks and head out for another summer of sea kayaking in the San Juan Islands.

Did I say hibernation? Not with a 3 year old and an 8 month old in the house! Our boys have kept us plenty busy this winter, and sleeping is not really something either child is too interested in. They are wonderful boys, though, and we'll endure the sleep deprivation. It's nice to have a lifestyle that allows us to spend so much time with them in the off-season.

We've actually been sea kayaking quite a bit this past winter. The San Juans turn into a veritable wilderness in the colder months and you can go days without seeing another party on the water.

Now that the days are longer we are working feverishly to prepare for the 2008 kayaking season. By all measures we should have another fantastic year. Our multi-day kayaking trips are selling like hotcakes as lots of our guests from the last few years are coming back for another vacation in the San Juan Islands. Our strongest advertising has always been word-of-mouth and repeat customers, and this year is no exception. We really appreciate everyone's support!!

We've also introduced a new multiday trip this year. For a few select dates we will be offering guided trips that depart from Orcas Island and head up to the Sucia Island Group. For those of you that know the area, you'll agree that this has got to be one of the top destinations in the San Juans. With abundant wildlife, great camp sites, and stunning rock formations, Sucia Island has long been the "Holy Grail" among Washington sea kayaking enthusiasts. By departing from Orcas Island (less than 2 miles away) we maximize our time up there.

Give us a call if you have any questions about this new expedition, or any of our kayak tours, we'd love to help you choose the experience that is best for you!

It's October, and this year, it feels like it. Last year on this day we were kayaking out there in short-sleeved shirts and complaining about our sunburned noses, but that was last year.

Today is cool and wet, and it appears that the gray skies have no intention of clearing out this weekend. A warm front is expected to pass over us in the late hours of the day, followed by a cold front on Sunday. Next week looks to be more of the same, with storm systems queuing up out in the Gulf of Alaska like sullen pugilists, waiting their turn to hit the Pacific Coast with a nasty right-hook.

But still, it is beautiful this morning.
The air is calm and everybody's lawns are filled with Robins migrating down from Alaska, on their way to warmer climates like Mexico and Central America.
The autumnal bird migration is in full swing now. My favorite time of the year. We never know what will turn up. Yesterday we saw clouds of shorebirds moving into the mudflats of the Skagit River Delta. The local Peregrine falcon population seemed eager to greet these newcomers and we saw multiple attacks on them. There may be no greater beauty that a huge flock of birds flying in absolute synchronization, twisting and swerving and folding in on itself to confuse a predator. Likewise, there may be no scene more powerful than a Peregrine falcon stooping through this confusion of birds at 80 mph and taking one right out of the air in a small explosion of feathers.

The sea kayaking during this time of the year is great. Never mind the passing sprinkles, just throw on a fleece jacket and some Gore-Tex, we have the San Juan Islands to ourselves now. The crowds of summer have long gone and most everyone else is holed up in their living rooms watching soap opera re-runs. For those who have the mettle to get outside the rewards are fantastic. Besides, the hot cocoa tastes better after you've earned it with a little physical activity.

The sweetest days of summer are here. September is everyone's favorite month here in the San Juan Islands. Warm sunny days are punctuated by crisp, cool evenings and the sunsets are spectacular. As the children go back to school the crowds thin out, and a relaxed atmosphere descends over the communities out here in the islands. The sea kayaking is spectacular right now.

Over the last few weeks we've had some extraordinary days out on our kayak tours. The Sunset Tours in particular have been outstanding, with some amazing cloud formations being lit up by the fantastic evening light. It helps that the kayak trips get in early enough now to catch dinner in Anacortes after the tour. (The images posted here are of a sunset from the campground on Patos Island; and Mt. Baker during sunrise from Pelican Beach, Cypress Island. Taken by our guide Freddie on a couple of recent overnight kayaking trips.)

A few trips have had encounters with the big Steller Sea lions that come into the San Juan Islands to stay for the winter. It's an exciting experience to be so near animals that rival Grizzlies in size! The Resident Orca whales have passed through Rosario Strait on numerous occasions as well, but it is the Transient, or mammal-eating, orcas that have all of us on the lookout these days. In September the waters of the San Juans are flush with loads of freshly weaned seal pups, a favored food source for this population of whales. It's impossible to predict where or when these secretive interlopers will appear, but over the last two weeks we've seen them here in the eastern San Juan Islands more than a few times. Last week we were up near Lummi Island watching a large group of about 10 whales stalking seals. We were lucky enough to witness two successful attacks that resulted in a couple of seals becoming lunch for the most awesome predator in the sea. Just two days ago we had another group come in from the south side of Lopez Island. They appeared to be headed for Deception Pass, but changed course and swam north by Burrows and Allan Islands. In the afternoon they skirted the western shore of Guemes Island and headed up Bellingham Channel and through the Cone Islands. We didn't witness any confirmed attacks on this day, but it was exciting just to watch them pass by. Lots of our guests ask if they should be nervous about having a large predator in such proximity to a sea kayak. We always remind them that there has never been a documented case of a wild orca whale ever attacking humans. It's a natural reaction to get a little jittery around them, but there is no reason to fear Orca whales.

Most of our overnight trips have booked up for the rest of the summer, but we still have a few spots left on some weekend departures. Give us a call if you want to experience the beauty of kayaking in September!

You never know what is going to happen on our sea kayak tours. Just the other day our guide Jeff was kayaking along, minding his own business, when a young seal attempted to hop up onto the back of his kayak. It's hard to say who was more surprised by this. The seal quickly realized that the "log" he had chosen to sun himself on was already occupied by Jeff and so he disembarked with a snort and a loud splash. Jeff was impressed with how smoothly the animal slid up onto the back deck. He noticed the weight, but said that the kayak hardly even shifted.

The Orca whales have been in and out of the Salish Sea region quite a bit this week. Luckily for the whale-watching boats there have been Humpbacks to look at over near Victoria, but the kayak companies who put all of their eggs in one basket and focus on paddling with Orcas have been out of luck. It's nice not to feel that kind of pressure. We'd rather not build up any expectations that we can't deliver.

Our multi-day kayak camping trips have been wonderful this month, especially the trips out to Cypress Island. The hike up to the summit of Eagle Cliff seems to be what puts the whole experience "over the top". It has got to be one of the most dramatic vistas of the San Juan Islands anywhere. Although all of these trips have filled for the rest of the month, we still have a few spots available in September. Give us a call soon to reserve your place!

I love the cycles of the seasons out here. Sea kayaking daily connects us with these ancient rhythms and we watch the quiet drama unfold before us.

The Rhinocerous Auklets are numerous these days. We observe them foraging in the tide-rips off of the shoreline. Auklets are members of the Alcid family, which also include Puffins. These compact little birds are the northern hemisphere's answer to penguins, using their stiff wings to propel themselves through the water in pursuit of small fish. At dusk they can be seen flying low over the water, heading south to Protection Island where 18,000 pairs nest in burrows. "Rhinos" are named for the horny protrusion that forms on the upper side of their bills during the nesting season.

We've also noticed an abundance of Murres moving into Burrows Bay, and the Deception Pass area. In the early summer these birds nest precariously on rocky cliffs on the outer coast of Washington. At the end of the nesting season the mothers abandon their families and fly into the San Juan Islands to forage in our nutrient rich waters. When the chicks fledge (in a spectacular leap of faith into the sea) they are flightless and need to swim into the San Juans with their fathers. We see large rafts of these father/chick pairs a few weeks after the females arrive.

The weather has been great, and the paddling is fantastic! Come join us.