Blog Credits: Olivia Tanouye and Annalise Krabak

The day started off with a 7am wakeup call to grab a quick breakfast, do last minute packing, and prepare to leave for our kayaking trip. At 8:30, the Crystal Seas Kayaking guides picked us up and we headed to Jackson beach to launch.

We spent our morning on the water, making our way along the coast of San Juan for a couple of hours before crossing Friday Harbor. We noticed whale watching boats following a pod of whales near us, and to our delight, the whales passed right by us, and we got to stop and catch a glimpse of a pod of about seven orcas swimming through the water!

We pushed on, and after about an hour we stopped for lunch on a small island. Our wonderful guides, Maggie, Maddie, and Kate, prepared a sandwich station and set out chips and fruit for everyone, which was quickly devoured by 14 very hungry teenagers.

Along the way we saw many cute sea lions and harbor seals resting on the rocks and swimming in the water.

After lunch, we went through the hardest and longest stretch of paddling, and unfortunately, the winds were not in our favor. After more than seven hours on the water, we finally made it to Jones Island.

We set up our tents and rested up until dinner, which was burgers, yum!

After dinner, we worked together to start a fire and made s’mores. Many people were tired from a long day of kayaking, but some chose to stay up till dark in hopes of seeing bioluminescence. Although it was very faint, we were able to see the lights when moving through the water.

We are looking forward to sleeping in a bit tomorrow, so stay tuned to hear about the rest of our kayaking adventure!