Jeeze, ya think it’s August with all the killer whale encounters we are getting!
I had a few moments to catch up with multiday guides Nick and Michael about their recent 4 Day trip (departed Sunday and returned Wednesday). This trip was a pretty neat experience for everyone. This particular group was part of an outdoor therapy program for young men & women. Nick and Michael were the guides, but the program had two of their own specially trained wilderness therapy counselors along on the trip. Nick and Michael both agreed that this trip inspired them to look into wilderness therapy as a future profession.
Remember Katy’s whale encounter from Tuesday? Welp, these guys have a similar story. The whole adventure was jam packed with wildlife! The group spent the first night on Jones Island. On their first channel crossing from San Juan Island, they saw porpoise. On their second channel crossing from Yellow Island to Jones, they saw more porpoise. They also had a sweet night bioluminescence paddle on Jones. And that’s just the beginning!
On the way to Stuart Island (for nights 2 & 3), they all got an amazing look at the exotic species of sheep and deer on Spieden Island. They saw fallow and sitka deer and mouflon sheep. All are non-native animals that were brought to Spieden in the 1920s in order to create a game farm.
They went around the very Northwest trip of Stuart Island to see the Turn Point Lighthouse from a kayaker’s perspective. This is where they had a similar experience to Katy. They were rafted up in the kelp under the lighthouse (mind you, the water is 600 feet deep right there!) and guess who swam by. That would be the superpod! They waited for nearly an hour for the whales to pass. Michael said there was a juvenile killer whale playing, rolling, and tail-slapping in the kelp about 50 feet from their kayaks! Nice!
Michael and Nick added that they saw tons of seals, stellar sea lions, and did end up seeing porpoises every day on the water.