Watercolor and Kayaking in the San Juan Islands

Your Outdoor Odysseys guide(s) will meet you in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Our van will take the group, which generally averages from 6-8 participants (maximum of 12), to our launch site on the west side of San Juan Island. After packing all camping and personal gear into the kayaks, we'll have a thorough orientation covering the fitting of the boat, paddling technique, safety and boat handling. We won't get on the water until everybody feels comfortable about paddling. We’ll paddle north, kayaking along the picturesque Haro Strait, with views of the Canadian Gulf Islands to the west. We'll keep a sharp eye out for whales and other wildlife chasing the Fraser River bound salmon. After paddling for a couple of hours along the rocky, tidally rich coastlines of San Juan and Henry Islands, we'll stop for a long lunch prepared by your tour guide and chef. After refueling, we’ll cross the Spieden Channel to Stuart Island.

Our destination for the night is Reid Harbor on Stuart Island, which is only accessible by private boat. The campsites are nestled in a forest of red barked madronas, cedar, and Douglas fir trees. After camp is set up, you can relax while your guide prepares a three course dinner. Life doesn't get much better than sitting at a scenic, secluded waterfront campsite, sipping a glass of wine and eating gourmet appetizers, after a hearty day of paddling.

On our second day, we'll do "le grand" circumnavigation around Stuart Island, passing by numerous uninhabited islands in the Boundary Pass and John’s Pass and staying in prime orca watching habitat. We'll kayak beneath the cliffs of the Stuart Island fog and light station and look out to Mount Baker all while sharing the coastline with resting harbor seals and nesting bald eagles. We'll explore and look for sea lions, bull kelp, or take a cold plunge, warm up with wine (or hot chocolate!) and grab our paints for a session before dinner. Finish your evening by the campfire and under the light of the stars, or see the “stars in the water” on a guided bioluminescence paddle.

Enjoy a hearty breakfast before packing up camp and crossing over to Speiden Island, a private island with an incredible history that has made it home to a number of exotic animals. Freckled by islands and wildlife refuges, your head will be on a swivel as you paddle the coastline of Speiden Island looking for juvenile bald eagles, seals, and even mouflon sheep! We’ll take a lunch stop before embarking across the diverging and converging currents of the San Juan Channel, and land on Jones Island, one of the jewels of the San Juans. Jones is entirely state park and is ringed by waterfront campsites and a forest of evergreens and Gary oak trees. We'll find a beautiful spot along the beach or forest to do a late afternoon paint. Later, we'll dine on more dutch oven cuisine while you watch the sun dip below the horizon from arguably the best sunset view in the archipelago.

The adventure is far from over on the last day. After a sunrise painting class, we’ll depart from Jones and paddle through the broken chain of Wasp Islands, a unique and numerous cluster that helps comprise the 172 islands of the archipelago. We’ll stop on Turn Island for our final lunch and complete our journey on the east side of San Juan Island. We’ll load our gear and our paddlers and have you back to Friday Harbor between 2-4 PM to meet your Washington State ferry or continue your time on the islands.