Captain Pete and Kendall headed out on a whale watch tour on Thursday and were surprised and pleased to see Minke whales. These large animals are not often very active and showy on the surface, so the crew, along with all the passengers were excited to see the Minkes breach up out of the water!
Noelle paddled out on a 3-hr tour this afternoon, and reported back a quiet day out on the water. Her highlight was seeing an eagle soar off the point and hover above the water with talons extended, although it did not catch anything.
Bald eagles have truly incredible vision. These birds see about four times better than a human with perfect vision. Their two foveaes, or centers of focus, allow them to see perfectly both in front and to the side of them at all times...
It's always wonderful to hear again from guests who have gone out with us, and we just received the following email and pictures from Larry Z. Thank you Larry! We are very much looking forward to meeting you and your wife in September!
"Dear San Juan Island Outfitters,
The Roche Harbor sea kayak tour with you today (May 3) was the highlight of my introduction to the Pacific Northwest!
Even though I am 6' 2", I fit fine into the tandem sea kayak. The weather was...
Today was a very windy here in Roche Harbor on San Juan Island. Wind came in gusts, waves were irregular, and the clouds just kept rolling in. Being able to safely navigate these waters at all times is a must, so today when the waves built up too high, we were forced to cancel our afternoon sea kayak tour.
Here at San Juan Outfitters we pride ourselves on our attention to detail and commitment to safety, so while we'd love to paddle out in search wildlife everyday...
The most recent whale watching trip reported back seeing a dozen Bald Eagles on Speiden Island. These eagles were soaring, vocalizing, hunting, displaying and even fighting. Naturalist Kevin and Captain Nancy were thrilled to see so many eagles together, and especially so when at one point an adult and a juvenile met in midair, locked talons, and spun downward for a few rotations before releasing each other! This kind of display is always exciting to hear of, and...
Blake paddled out for a 3 hour tour yesterday and reported lots of harbor seal activity out on the west side. Lately the harbor seals have been coming closer and closer to the kayaks, and seem to be quite curious. We'll see how that progresses as the season goes on!
The highlight of his tour was when a Bald Eagle flew above his group, swooped down to the water, and came up with a fish!
I can't believe it's already almost May- April flew right by! The wildlife sightings have been fantastic this month, and today was no exception. I paddled out for a 5 hour sea kayak tour with Aaron and Bruno this afternoon, and it was a good trip. As there were no whales within our reach we focused on harbor seals and bald eagles, and we had great luck there.
By the time we'd rounded the first tip of Pearl we'd already seen a river otter diving, surfacing and...
Today I paddled out for a day sea kayak trip with European visitors Oliver & Osvaldo, and boy did we luck out! The water was smooth as glass, the currents minimal, and the temperature warm. Although we sorely wanted to see some killer whales or porpoises, luck was not with us, but the gorgeous day and other fantastic wildlife sightings more than made up for it.
Most of the interesting critters we saw were land-based, surprisingly enough. Of course we saw bald...
Today I paddled out with Diana, and although rain had been in the forecast, the skies cleared for some sun by the end of the afternoon. It was a beautiful day for a paddle, and we were both glad to meet better weather than expected. We saw a great variety of wildlife today, from Bald Eagles to auklets, and river otters to raccoons. It was really neat to see the critters that came out and down to the low tide line to look for a meal!
As we were feeling pretty good...