red fox

As our morning 3 hour sea kayak tour pushed off from the dock there was a slight drizzle but as they continued on their tour the sky cleared and they were treated to a wildlife extravaganza. They spotted two bald eagles on a beach, a mink scurrying along the shoreline, a raccoon lurking in the grass and two red foxes resting under a madrona tree. The guide, Joe, said that today shaped out to be one of his best days of paddling so far.

I am glad so many folks decided to come kayaking today as it was absolutely gorgeous here on the west side. My first tour of the day was special, as it was just Dan and Joan with me, and we got to really relish the quiet perfection. They were native Washingtonians, so it was a treat for me to be able to show them a side of these islands (and their state) they'd never seen before.
My second tour was also pretty neat as the wildlife really came out for the four...

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 of Roche Harbor for a 5 hour tour with quite an international crew. The first part of the day was quite challenging-- fighting a strong flood through Mosquito Pass before being able to emerge south of Henry Island and ride the flood back north. I was excited about the very low tide today, as often there's a good chance to see all sorts of critters, and today was no exception-- we saw dozens of sea stars, a few river otters, geese and their...