Hello all, hows things? We've been great here. The weather has finally turned and the last week or so has been fantastic. Summer is finally in full swing and the island life is picking up...but only a little bit.
All last week I had training for the guiding gig. Went over everything from creatures we'll see in and around the water to first aid and safety issues. Overall it was fairly straight forward and at times a little boring. Sorry Clark! By far the nicest part was the two trips I got out on. All of the newbies (myself and three others) accompanied Tom Murphy on a three day trip out to Steward Island. Stewart is north of San Juan and about 12 miles worth of paddling from the put in. After prepping for the trip we got into the water around 2pm to find that a rather large tide was pushing north along with us. As we were crossing the final channel to the island we happened upon a big male Orca and a peppy little juvenile. They were both coming up for air all around us and got to within 20 yards of the boats. The juvenile was hucking his entire body out of the water when he came up for breath. He must have come out of the water 5 times in the 15 minutes we watched, each time he cleared by no more than a few inches. It was a great show. The best part was that we were away from the main body of the pod which meant that all the whale watch boats were a mile away. We had our own little show.
Spent the next day on Stewart checking out the island. The whole place is off the grid and I didn't see a car the entire time. The roads are all dirt and the local school has two kids enrolled. We got up to Turn Point (the point of land that all boat traffic heading for Canada turns around) which is a few hundred feet off the water. Just down the path was also a cool old light house on the water. It was a good walking tour all in all. Left the next morning and had to fight the tide all the way back to the put in, but it was worth it.
Then on Friday the entire crew paddled out to a local island which is also a wildlife refuge. We brought a bunch of food, beers, wine and the ingredients for dark and stormys. Everyone got very loose and had a great time. I was cooking out of the dutch oven for the first time and had to take some pics for posterity. The next morning we packed up camp and attempted to paddle out. The tide was super low and we ended up carrying the boats (tandems too) a 1/4 mile down to the water to find a place with enough water to launch. The paddle back home was otherwise uneventful, and even a little relaxing.
Unfortunately when I arrived back to the beach the battery in the van was pooched. I left my parking lights on all night... I found an old hippy that had some the means to jump me but he couldn't wrap his mind around what that involved. He claimed he couldn't get at his negative terminal on his battery so he was trying to find a ground on the hood, bumper and just about anywhere he could think of. He ended up convincing me (no idea how that happened) to try and push start the van. With six people pushing we got the old girl moving and I tried bumping it 4 times before everyone tired out and quit. "Battery must be really screwed", was the only thing the long haired hippy could mutter as he walked away. I think it must have been all that acid he did back in Nam. I stayed with the van while Kris and a friend ran back to the shop and grabbed a vehicle. Once I hooked up to the shop truck the van fired up on the first try...guess my battery was ok the whole time, go figure.After unpacking and getting showers we headed back out to the local asian restaurant The China Pear
l. The place is affectionately called "The Hurl" by the locals so you can imagine what it's like. But we weren't there to eat, we were there to dance. The band was T-Flow, the music was from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 1994 and the 2000s... a definitive list. Before long the entire staff from our shop plus many from other outfitters were on the dance floor making fools of ourselves. T-Flow really brought down the house when their third and final set was the exact same as their first set. Guess they really wanted to get it right. Nobody seemed to care since we were on the deck drinking during the first set and didn't get a chance to dance to it. We closed the place down and Kris and I walked back to the apartment which is all of a mile away.
l. The place is affectionately called "The Hurl" by the locals so you can imagine what it's like. But we weren't there to eat, we were there to dance. The band was T-Flow, the music was from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 1994 and the 2000s... a definitive list. Before long the entire staff from our shop plus many from other outfitters were on the dance floor making fools of ourselves. T-Flow really brought down the house when their third and final set was the exact same as their first set. Guess they really wanted to get it right. Nobody seemed to care since we were on the deck drinking during the first set and didn't get a chance to dance to it. We closed the place down and Kris and I walked back to the apartment which is all of a mile away.
The next day Kris, Tony (OO employee) and I went out for a paddle and once again we saw the whales. It seems like I see them every other time I go out on the water. It's great.
We hope your all doing well. If your reading this drop us line. Would love to hear from you all.
Check out Tony and Sarah with Mt. Baker in the background. It was clear enough on Saturday that we could see Rainier clearly too.
Can't wait to see you all this Summer!
