San Juan Island Adventures

The weather this week has been beautiful as well as comfortable. That is one of the many aspects of San Juan Island that I love. We are in a rainshadow, so we don't get much rain; probably under 20 inches per year. Also, in the summer months of July and August the temperature is usually in the 70's or 80's. In addition to the great weather, we have had great success on our kayaking and whale watching trips. Our boat trips have been consistently seeing the...

Yesterday's 5 hour trip included myself, a school teacher from Spokane and our dockhand Nick(a.k.a Biscuit). We left the docks at Roche and headed up Mosquito Pass, quickly earning our lunch with a flood tide and a stiff Southwesterly leaning against us..

On our approach to Kellet bluff we were passed by a handful of Northbound Orcas from the J-Pod. We were treated to a few tail slaps , a breach, and several instances where we held our breath as Orcas swam...

Today was a beautiful day to go kayaking out of Roche Harbor. One of our kayak guides, Blake, reported seeing many interesting things out on the water today. He mentioned sighting several bald eagles, a sandpiper, and he even saw his first harbor seal pups for the season. It's currently pupping season here and as the next few weeks go on, we will start seeing more and more on our trips.

What a beautiful day in the San Juan Islands... blue skies and in the 70's. We had a morning whale watching trip depart out of Roche Harbor and at the point of departure, we didn't know where the whales were. Luckily, Captain Brian was the first captain of the day to find the whales up north in Canada, near Saturna Island. According to the crew, J Pod, K Pod and part of L Pod were breaching and porpoising across boundary pass. Good reviews all around!

It always amazes me how a cloudy day often clears up just in time for our 6pm Sunset Kayaking Tour. In fact, the 6pm trip is my favorite of all the kayaking trips for this very reason. So often, the sun creeps out, the wind and waters calm down, the boat traffic dissapears and the wildlife comes out. Last night I had a chance to hop in a boat with a single guest and get out from behind the desk and on the water. After a cloudy, somewhat chilly day, the weather...

Summer seems to be in full swing these days with sunburnt noses on the guides, sandal tans on the dock hands, and whales all around. The orcas have been spotted right outside Roche Harbor for the past two days. Nothing like having whales right out your back door!

Great Whale Watch Tour Sunday. J-Pod had been foraging along the west side of San Juan Island all day, and decided mid day to make their way into the larger straits. By 3:00pm, they were 6 miles southwest of Hein Bank, at the confluence of Haro Strait and the Straits of Juan De Fuca. The entire pod was very spread out, foraging as usual. We had a small group of guest, as well as employees on their day off.

We were fortunate to have some good views of J-16 and...

This week we've been having spectacularly low tides, and as a result of that extra exposure of rock all sorts of animals have come calling. Joe, Tom and I paddled out of Roche Harbor for a 3 hour tour and we were soon rewarded with wildlife sightings! Not only did we see a few raccoons turning over rocks and hunting crabs, but a fox as well! We were able to quietly slip by along the shore as they went about their business of catching a meal.

The absolute highlight...

This is the first entry for our new blog. Our goal is to provide an outlet for discussing everything from our wildlife sightings on tours, to our carbon neutral goals.

This week's fog and clouds lifted in time for a beautiful day on the water as I paddled out for a private 5 hour tour. We decided to circumnavigate Henry Island and lucked out with good currents and great wildlife sightings.

Early on we looked at a number of surf birds and Bald Eagles and were in turn checked out by some curious but wary Harbor Seals as we quietly slipped past. As we rounded Kellett Bluffs we paddled slowly by a noisy and active Pelagic Cormorant...