Our kayaking season has begun here in the San Juan Islands. We started operating daily kayak trips from our exclusive dock in Roche Harbor April 1st and it has been a blast. The weather has been fabulous with temperatures ranging from the mid 50's to the 70 degrees, sunny skies, and lots of wildlife. The bald eagles have been out in full force and we have been seeing many adult pairs and several scraggly-looking adolescents that have yet to develop their white head and tail feathers. At the start of the month we saw very large tidal exchanges here on San Juan Island as a result of the new moon, and as a result we saw an unbelievable array of invertebrate life at low tides. I was astounded by the number species that were seen including 4 types of sea stars, orange sea cucumbers, 3 different varieties of anemones, gumboot chitons, huge California mussels, and some of the biggest urchins I have ever seen. Our 5hr sea kayak tour paddles all the way around Henry Island and some of the best invertebrate sighting were along an area called Kellett Bluff; which is one of the many locations that make up the newly designated San Juan Islands National Monument. On one tour last week we were lucky enough to see a small group of the J-pod family of Orcas! We started kayaking from our private gravel lunch beach towards Kellett Bluff when we saw dorsal fins in the distance headed our direction. We gathered as a group as a group of three orcas approached towards us and gave us amazing show from the kayak!
A large leather star grips onto the rocky shore of Henry Island
Here our tour paddles under a large cormorant nesting area on Henry Island
Many of our family-specific tours kayak to Posey Island State Park to see the invertebrate life at low tide.
Our kayak docks at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island. You don't even have to get your feet wet to get in the kayak!
A sea star and sea urchin are nearly exposed at low tide near Kellett Bluff on Henry Island.
With 13 tours so far this season and about 80 nautical miles of total kayaking, it has been a great kick off to the summer season.
Photos and text by yours truly,
Jacob Wagner
Kayak operations manager and guide