San Juan Islands - July 8-9, 2011

I can't believe it's been a month since Jim & I went on a grand adventure trying something we've never done before.....kayaking around the San Juan Islands.  We were invited to join our best friends, the Tolmans, for a couple's weekend.  The idea was to kayak the ocean with Orca Whales, aka "killer whales".  We did kayak, and we saw lots of cool sea life & more, but the orcas happened to show up about 30 minutes too late.  We had finished our tour, packed the van and were ready to drive off when the whales were spotted.  So even though we weren't in the ocean at the same time and place as they were, we got a VERY good show of their greatness....twice.  We watched them in one place for a while then drove in the van to another spot and watched them go by again.  So AMAZING!!!  I personally am grateful we weren't in the water with them, but I think everyone else was a little disappointed.  Still an amazing trip with some amazing friends!!

We stayed in the Anaco Inn & Suites in Anacortes, Washington.  Such a cute little "cottage".

 Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Ship for me!

 Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands

 Just off of the ferry in Friday Harbour

 Satina & I with the ferry we rode in the background.

 Practicing correct kayaking moves.  Ready to get going!

 A lazy Harbour Seal...probably a pregnant female because of her size. (The bump on top of the rock in the middle of the picture) We saw others in the water, too.

 Dead Man's Bay. Ready to eat lunch.

Nathan & Satina Tolman; Jim & myself

 Turkey Vulture....must see his lunch!

 Kayaking was fun but lots of work when rowing against the current.

 Here come the Orcas!  Look at how close those kayakers were.  Wow!!

 So many of them were "showing off" for us by breaching the water.  Beautiful & amazing is all I can say!

 Up, up, up!!!

 Down, down, down!

 You can tell a male from a female by the shape of their dorsal fin.  If the fin is straight on the back-side, it's a male.  If it's curved, it's a female.  There were a couple of male whales with huge dorsal fins, so you'd see the fins pop out of the water a second or two before their bodies would emerge.

 See what I mean about the large dorsal fin on this male?  Wow!

 We never got tired of watching them do their tricks.

  Beautiful sunset on our way back to Anacortes, Washington.  The perfect end to a perfect day!

On Saturday morning, we drove over to Deception Pass near Anacortes, and hiked over the bridge and down to the shore.  Deception Pass got it's name because the original explorer to come through here first thought this place was a large bay instead of a pass.  Early settlers would smuggle Chinese slaves through here in burlap sacks.  If they knew the Coast Guard were close, they would throw the sacks overboard.  The sacks, and bodies of dead slaves, would end up in Dead Man's Bay (where we ate lunch the day before).  Sad story!

I LOVE him!!

 Strawberry Island where the wife of the main smuggler would sit & watch for the Coast Guard.  She'd signal the ships with the slaves on them so they had time to dump their "cargo".

I can't remember the name of this Marine Museum in Anacortes, Washington, but we toured this fun boat that was used to clean up waterways off the coast of Washington.  After the tour, we went to their local Farmers' Market & saw some fun things.  I love Farmers' Markets.  They are all so different, but so similar, too.