Hege and I paddled out for a 5 hour tour this morning, and while we were hoping to see whales, we were content with a long, hard paddle and numerous bird sightings. The clouds from earlier lifted and we had bright sunny skies with us all day (my sunburned face will attest to that!). As Hege was a great novice paddler and happy to keep moving instead of examining the flora and fauna up close, we sailed around Henry Island and headed down to San Juan County Park back on San Juan Island. From there we worked our way back up along to shoreline to Roche Harbor. All in all, we paddled about 15 miles today, which felt great. Although I often prefer to take it slow and steady, it was nice to mix up the pace and push ourselves. I know we'll both be feeling this tomorrow!
As for the bird sightings, along with multiple bald eagles, we saw a loon out on Open Bay, double-crested cormorants spreading their wings to dry, a few pelagic cormorants tucked into a rookery, crows fly overhead with materials for their nests, and three separate pairs of Canada geese standing guard over their goslings on a grassy bank. It was fantastic to see different birds displaying such varied behavior.