Well, with the sun setting earlier and earlier every day, it's time for our evening kayak trips to draw to a close. It's been a great summer full of glorious sunsets, beautiful splashes of color, and of course, Kodak moments. All of our guides have different things they like about the sunset tours-- for example, I like that the water is usually still and relaxing while Blake likes to find harbor porpoise.

Here are some pictures I took of Noelle on her tour last...

Margo writing from the reservation desk and being that it's August, these last few weeks have been quite busy. I just spoke with Tom about his 5-hour kayaking trip today and it sounds as though he had a great time with his 4 guests. He reported that while they were sitting on the beach during lunch, a Red Fox approached them trying to beg or steal food. The foxes around here are quite friendly around people and every once and a while, they may approach very...

Captain Brian and I set off for a whale watch tour on Monday, heading north to Saturna Island, Canada. Just as we crossed the border and drew near the shores we saw what we'd hoped to find-- the elusive transient orcas (also called killer whales). Here in the San Juan Islands we have two species of killer whales --transients and residents. Although superficially similar, they are two distinct types of animals and differ in diet, behavior, social patterns, size and...

The weather was pretty crazy yesterday, with us experiencing everything from a hard downpour to a sunny warm breeze and lots of changes in between. It made for a wet day for all and I started off on a special 5 hour tour yesterday afternoon with some adventurous folks from Wisconsin. They braved the damp cold to paddle out and I'm glad they did as blue skies and sunny days are wonderful, but there's nothing like paddling around the islands when they're shrouded in...

I worked as a naturalist on the whale watching boat yesterday for the first time in a while and it was great to get out on the water again and in addition, we had quite an exciting trip! At the point of departure at 11:00, we had reports of Resident Orcas up north near the city of Vancouver and Transient Orcas were spotted near Trial Island which is close to the city of Victoria, Canada. We decided to go for the Transient Orcas as they were headed towards us and...

Noelle and I spent the last two days paddling with Frank, Gabbie and Debbie who had traveled up to the San Juan Islands for a wildlife filled adventure. Highlights were getting up close and personal with a few harbor seals and being rewarded with a few passes of a Bald Eagle directly above our kayaks.

Last week I accompanied Blake and a family from New York out on an overnight expedition to Jones Island. We were fortunate for great weather (even if it was pretty windy at times) and calm seas.

Heading out of Friday Harbor we moved north until we were in the Wasp Islands. First stopping on Yellow Island we chatted with the steward, stretched our legs, examined local fauna and studied some gorgeous seals from shore. Yellow Island is owned and protected by The Nature...

I think sunset trips are my favorite time of day to paddle! Tonight I ventured out with Crystal, Will and Jared from Santa Barbara, CA. It was a gorgeous day with blue skies and as the sun started to descend we headed over to Posey Island for a quick break and an opportunity to stretch our legs. With a brief nod to the other kayakers camped out there, we walked around and checked out the very small island. Jared was the first to discover the mother and two fawns...

I just got off the phone with Captain Brian who has just returned to Roche Harbor from his 11:00 whale watching trip. He said it was amazing! He reported that J-Pod and about 15-20 members of L-Pod were traveling south through Boundary Pass from Canada. By the time our trip went out, the whales were right outside of the harbor in Haro Strait. Captain Brian and Naturalist Kendall as well as their guests viewed the whales traveling south and had some up close and...

I paddled out on a 5 hour tour today with Martin, Tina, Jerome and Stan. We were on the hunt for whales and even though we didn't see any, we were rewarded with great Bald Eagle and harbor seal sightings. Paddling down the west side of Henry Island, we saw many mothers with pups and two males slapping the water and fighting. The other night when I saw that behavior I wasn't sure what I was looking at but after talking with other naturalists, I learned what that...