San Juan Islands Sea Kayaking from Anacortes

Andaria had another super fun 5 Hour trip around Burrows island yesterday. Her and her guests had too many seal encounters to count and she told us that the Harbor porpoise were out in force all day.
After the trip her guests called in to reiterate how much fun they had (we love it when we get direct feedback like this). One couple said that their favorite part was exploring near the shoreline during the low tide. There were beautiful Purple Sea Stars (Pisaster ochraceus), a couple of gorgeous Striped Sun Stars (Solaster stimpsoni), and even some Sea Pens (Order-Pennatulacea).

Sea pens are colonial cnidarians (like jellyfish) that are generally grouped together with other soft corals. They sift plankton from the water as it drifts by. These animals are rarely seen on our tours because they live a bit deeper in the water column and the water has to be unusually clear to see that deep. It's always a treat to have a glimpse at these beautiful animals!

After the tour I met up with Andaria and two other guides (Ben and Wyatt) and we paddled around Burrows and Allan islands to enjoy the fantastic evening light. It was a flat calm day and once again we were surrounded by foraging porpoise. Hearing their sharp exhalations around our kayaks created a relaxing atmosphere as we watched the sun setting over the San Juan Islands

Labels: kayak, San Juan Islands, san juan islands kayak tours, sea kayaking

Easter weekend was pretty blustery this year as a large weather system passed over the region. Still, the last few weeks have been sunny and warm and we are enjoying the gorgeous display of wildflowers that are blooming on the grassy slopes along Burrows Island.

Our kayaking season started early this year due to the great weather, and lots of folks are joining us on our 3 Hour and 5 Hour trips around Burrows Island. Veteran guide Andaria Crespi has led most of these trips and she has been sharing great stories of seal encounters and porpoise sightings, one group even witnessed a pair of Bald eagles mating in a tree! You never know what will happen out there! Once again the resident pair of Peregrine falcons is nesting on the cliffs in Allan Pass (the narrow waterway between Burrows Island and Allan Island). For the last seven years our kayak tours have enjoyed watching these beautiful animals raise there chicks out there.
Last week we spotted a Gray whale feeding in the shallow water off of Washington Park. Some years we get lucky and one or two will remain in the area for weeks. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Labels: kayak, San Juan Islands, sea kayaking

This has been a good week for wildlife viewing out here in Rosario Strait. We've had whales come by on several days. On Sunday Monica was out with some guests on an overnight kayaking trip and had an incredible encounter with Orcas in Bellingham Channel. Lots of tail slapping and aerial displays were going on. Two hours later James and Ben were out on two different trips at Burrows Island and had a similar experience. On another Burrows Island kayak trip our guests were witness to a classic example of the predator-prey relationship when a Peregrine falcon attacked one of the resident Belted kingfishers. The smaller kingfisher repeatedly made quick dives into the water as the falcon dove upon it and bounced up again to fly in a new direction out of harms way. Evidentally the bouncing technique was a good choice and the falcon grew tired of the chase and moved on. Several years ago we witnessed a similar event at the same place that did not work out as well for the kingfisher.

Labels: san juan islands kayak tours, sea kayaking

Summer is officially here! We enjoyed a busy Father's Day weekend even though the weather was not quite as nice as it had been during the previous three weeks.
The peregrine falcon chicks are getting close to leaving their nest on Burrows Island. Andaria was leading a kayak trip out there the other day and reported that all three chicks have lost most of their downy feathers. Pretty soon we'll be seeing them hopping around on the cliff-face adjacent to the nest.
The seals and porpoise sightings have been outstanding recently, which makes a lot of sense now that there are large schools of bait fish coming back into the islands. The Orca whales, which were gone for nearly a month, are finally back too. The super-pod was seen yesterday as they traveled down from the Fraser River in Canada.

Our kayak camping trips are now in full swing. Once again we are taking folks up to Sucia Island, Cypress Island, and many other great places in the San Juan Islands. Call us, we'd love to show you around!

Labels: San Juan Islands, sea kayaking

We just completed our annual guide training classes with the awesome kayak coaches from Body Boat Blade International. Regular readers of the Reports from the Field might see BBB mentioned quite often because they play a major role in both our personal and professional lives, and because they have been a driving force in helping us to develop our philosophy on safety and kayak guide training out here in the San Juan Islands.

This year's training was great, probably because we have assembled a fantastic bunch of talented kayakers which enabled us to work on many different situations.
In the turbulent waters of Deception Pass we practiced assisted rescues, self rescuing, towing scenarios, and how to more effectively control our kayaks in dynamic water. We also set up emegency situations (hypothermia, heart-attacks, etc) so that the guides would have the necessary experience to deal with them in the unlikely event that something should happen.
Although we would never purposefully take our guests out into rough conditions, our philosophy is that if we train our guides to be comfortable in the crazy stuff then anything they may encounter on a kayak tour should be a "walk in the park".
I'm pretty sure that our guests appreciate this.

In other news, the weather has been unbelievable for the last month! We've been enjoying summer like conditions for most of this Spring. I think that we are going on our 30th straight day without any measurable precipitation, and temperatures have soared into the 80's on many days.

We have been having outstanding wildlife sightings as well, seals and porpoise have been seen on nearly every trip, and we even had a Humpback whale swimming in Burrows Bay and down Burrows Channel last week! We think that there is a lot of baitfish out there in Rosario Strait and that may be bringing in the larger animals.
One species that has been conspicuously absent since Memorial Day Weekend are the Orca whales, they have only been seen in the San Juan Islands a few times over the last week. It is thought that the dry weather is keeping the river levels low which is preventing the salmon from moving into the waters surrounding the San Juans, this in turn is keeping the whales away. They are out there somewhere off the coast, happy and well fed, waiting for the salmon to come in.

Labels: kayak tours, San Juan Islands, sea kayaking

J-Pod and some of K-Pod cruised down Rosario Strait this morning at about 10:00, and they were swimming at a blistering pace! The tide was ebbing, and so in effect they were traveling "down hill" which probably was the reason for the incredible speed. This is the fifth day in a row that they've been here near Anacortes, and tomorrow looks good too. Although this is a very typical travel pattern during the summer months, it is clear that the killer whales are using Rosario quite a bit more these days.

James was leading the 10 o'clock Burrows Island trip today and had an incredible encounter with an Elephant seal. These monsters can weigh up to 4000 pounds. We don't see them very often so this is a pretty special event. Speaking of wildlife sightings, our good friend, long time guide, and "King of the Razzle Dazzle", Ryan Hopkins is making a guest appearance this weekend. His Early Bird Burrows Island trip had a super close encounter with a California sea lion.

You've got to love the Salish Sea, where else can you find such incredible biodiversity so near to a major population center?

Labels: orca whales, San Juan Islands, sea kayaking

The wild flower bloom is in full effect right now. I walked out onto Rosario Head this morning to enjoy the early morning sunshine, see the Blue Camas blooming, and take a look for Orca whales out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The previous evening J-Pod was last seen up near Vancouver B.C, which meant that they should have been somewhere near Anacortes in the morning.

While I was out there I got to watch our guide Andaria and her guests on the Early Bird Special gliding by underneath my perch on the rocks. It was a beautiful sight to see the kayaks cruising through the kelp patches from that vantage point. After they passed by I got my "visual highlight of the day", a Harbor seal chasing fish under water. From 40 feet above the sea I was able to look directly down as the drama unfolded. It is a thing of beauty to watch seals swimming. Such a dramatic change from their awkward motions while on land.

Labels: kayak tours, San Juan Islands, sea kayaking

We've been here for five days now and to say that I am impressed would be an understatement. The whole area around Tofino is spectacular! Snow covered mountains rise up behind the densely forested islands of Clayoquot Sound, and the Pacific Ocean crashes against wide sandy beaches and rocky headlands. It is sublime.

Our two little boys really seem to enjoy this environment. Despite the cooler winter weather, we have been out every day combing the beaches for "treasures", inspecting tide pools, and flying kites. Our oldest son Taiga has also designated himself as the official "lookout".
What is he looking out for? Well, pirates of course!
According to him they are hiding out and waiting for a chance to get us. Luckily for us he has been very busy devising all sorts of booby traps and trenches to thwart their efforts. (I'm not sure how we would survive this trip without him.)

Its fun to think of future trips out here and how both boys will develop over the years. It won't be long before they will be showing their dad how to really shred up the surf in their own kayaks. Now that's a scary thought!

The surf kayaking has been a ton of fun. Our house is in the perfect spot for us, we are able to walk right out the door, hop in our kayaks, and enter the sea. I have to admit that the learning curve has been pretty steep for me and I've had a fair share of getting clobbered as the waves closed out on top of me. As one of these images shows, the hardest part is often just getting out past the break. Sometimes, if our timing is off, the wave breaks right on us and throws us right over backwards and upside down. Even worse than being a bit unnerving, this also means that we have to roll back over and start again. It's a heck of a workout, to say the least! The payoff comes when we catch that wave and feel the dynamic force of energy that has traveled a thousand miles to reach this beach.

This has been a great experience that I have been fortunate to share with my wife, kids, and with wonderful friends andI think that I've found a new paddlesport activity to keep me busy in the off season!


If you are interested in seeing some of the most amazing sea kayaking film footage then check out Justine Curgenven's website, she has produces 4 great DVDs called "This is the Sea".

If you are interested in learning how to become a better sea kayaker then you can't do better than taking a class with kayak coaches Shawna and Leon at Body Boat Blade. They run kayak lessons on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington State.

If you have sea kayaking questions about the San Juan Islands, then please feel free to call us here at Anacortes Kayak Tours!

Labels: kayak tours, San Juan Islands, sea kayaking, Tofino

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