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| SAN JUAN ISLANDS ~ SEA KAYAK CAMPING |
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San Juan Islands Summer Solstice Custom 7- to 10-day Island Hopping Adventures in Northern Washington's Scenic Inside Passage, with Skills Instruction in Single Kayaks. •
400-plus Islands
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Custom Sea Kayak Adventures
Because of the travel involved and the nature of
the trip, Eskape no longer offers this trip to individuals. If you
have a small group of similarly-skilled sea kayakers interested in
improving skills at whatever level, we can put together a custom
adventure to suit your needs. Dates are generally early to mid
June, to avoid summer crowds and to take advantage of stronger
solstice tidal flows or mid September, after Labor Day to avoid
crowds, but still enjoy generally warmer, Indian Summer conditions. Cost depends on number of paddlers. See below. |
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Optional Rough-Water Practice/Play:
Deception Pass Tide Rips! For
more experienced kayakers, or those who would like to become so,
we can set up some optional rough-water experience in Deception
Pass or other areas prone to strong tidal rips. Bay Area paddlers
will never look at Yellow Bluff quite the same after a session in
the 8-knot rips in Deception Pass! Big flow and convenient eddies
make this an exciting and challenging yet very safe play spot.
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Our Itinerary: Options Abound
The Basic Plan: We typically get on the water between 8 and 10 each
morning, depending on which tide we're trying to catch, and paddle until
lunch time, stopping now and again to stretch our legs, gawk at wildlife,
etc. After lunch we sometimes opt to take a hike (or a nap) or to work
on paddling skills before getting back on the water. We generally make
camp between 3 and 5 PM, to leave time for optional activities like
hiking, reading, relaxing, tide pooling, beach combing, an sunset paddle
in an unloaded boat, working on kayak rolls or other paddling skills,
a glass of wine or cocoa around the campfire.
| In addition to leading regular return trips, Roger
spent 2 seasons on Orcas Island, guiding full time and directing a
kayak school, and knows the area well,
so options abound. Generic Disclaimer: The above itinerary is dependent
on tides and sea conditions as well as the mood of the group. As always,
plans remain fluid.
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| Improve Your Paddling
Skills Skills development is a trademark of Roger's tours. He is among a small cadre of American Canoe Association certified Instructor Trainer Educators nationwide (the ACA's highest |
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| level) in Advanced Open Water. For over 15 years, he has helped thousands of students polish their paddling skills at every level from first-time beginners to instructor certification. Throughout the trip we offer informal instruction on a variety of topics. Fine tune your forward stroke for speed and efficiency; improve boat-handling skills; work on braces, rolls, towing or rough water kayaking and rescues; practice kayak navigation and trip planning; learn to “read the water” and to ride the area's tidal currents and tide rips. |
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| Roger is also known for his articles in Sea Kayaker magazine, and for co-authoring Guide to Sea Kayaking Central and Northern California and Sea Kayak Rescue. An adjunct instructor in Marine Natural History for Prescott College, he is trained as a Wilderness First Responder (backcountry first aid) and has extensive experience leading trips internationally for more than 15 years. | |
| About the
Boats We'll be using mostly single kayaks, with double sea kayaks available on request in order to make the trip more accessible to less-experienced paddlers. Those with more experience should specifically request a single kayak upon registration (you'll have first choice, but hopefully you'll be open to sharing your single occasionally with those who may want to learn more skills). |
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TRIP LOGISTICS:
Cost, Gear List, etc.
Cost: *$785/week for group of 6 —includes
boats and kayaking gear, quality instruction, meals while kayaking,
group cooking gear and dry bags.
$875/week for group of 4
$1150 for 3
$1700 for 2
Suggested Prerequisites:
Beginning class with basic strokes and rescues or
equivalent;
suggested: a surf zone class, tides and currents or other training will
make you that much more prepared to work on more advanced skills if
desired.
Gear List: You bring--camping gear, tent, clothes, wetsuit.
Complete list available w/ registration. All campsites are island state
parks with pit toilets and no running water, so basic camping experience
and gear is assumed.
Dates: TBA (tentatively early to mid June, around Summer
solstice)
Weather
Although warm, sun-filled days are the rule, early summer weather in
the area can vary. Expect cool evenings in the mid 50s and pleasant
daytime temps from the mid 60s to low 80s. Storm systems passing to
the north occasionally sprinkle us with showers, so rain gear is highly
recommended. Water temperature stays in the low 50s, so we recommend
wetsuits for extra safety on longer crossings or for practicing rescues
or Eskimo rolls.
Shared Adventure
Since self-sufficiency is a big part of the appeal to most of the adventurers
who join our tours, we use single sea kayaks, with no chase boats tagging
along to haul gear; this means everyone helps carry some of the group
gear (food bags, water, cook stove, pots and pans), which is a good
reason for keeping things light and simple—it takes less time
to break camp and pack up which increases our mobility.
Food for Adventure: Simply Delicious
Food, of course, is an important part of any paddling expedition, and
we do our best to supply a hearty array of wholesome treats, given the
inherent limitations of the kayak kitchen. Food's important, sure, but
secondary in our minds to the adventure. The primary purpose for hauling
a bunch of kayaks into the wilderness, we believe, is for the paddling,
so we try to keep meal prep fairly simple and maximize our time on the
water. On the other hand, it's not as if we go hungry dining on
wild roots and seaweed, as the following menu would suggest.
Sample Menu (from previous trips)
We lean toward a healthy, balanced diet—whole grains, low-fat,
semi-veg—with a few decadent treats tossed in for balance; you've
paddled for miles, after all, and you've earned a few indulgences.
Breakfast—cereal (w/ powdered milk), fruit, bagels, oatmeal, and
a steaming mugs of Seattle-strength java.
Lunch —sandwiches, fruit, etc.
Dinner —Thai coconut-milk curry, Lummi Indian salmon bake, burrito
bar, pasta al pesto.
Dessert —No Bake cheese cake, Pepperidge Farms cookies, chocolate.
Special Requests? Let us know if you have any special needs or requests
and we'll do the best we can to fill them, given the inherent limits
of the kayak kitchen.
A Helping Hand in the Kitchen: Although Roger organizes the meals
and acts as head cook, he generally welcomes a little help in the kitchen
– chopping, cleaning up, etc. We've found that lending a hand
tends to help our trips lose that “guided-tour” feeling
and take on the comfortable feel of a “group of friends out having
an adventure” that our participants tend to prefer.
• San Juan Travel Logistics
Overview: Planes, Shuttles & Ferries
A big part of the San Juans Islands’ charm is the stretch of water,
and the ferry system, that separates the islands from the mainland and
holds the rest of the modern world at bay. Since travel to and
from the mainland means an hour-long cruise across the Puget Sound on
a ferry that sails every two hours or so, the pace of island life is
unhurried, and travel plans revolve around the ferry schedule. But first
you must get to Seattle.
Plane: You'll need get to Orcas Island no later than the evening
of Sat. Sept. 5th for our pre-trip orientation meeting. Catching the
afternoon ferry will require flying in to Sea-Tac by noon or so.
Airport Shuttle or Rental Car: After the two-hour flight from
the Bay Area, it'll take another two hours by rental car or airport
shuttle to get to the ferry terminal in Anacortes. Price is about $50
RT for the shuttle (reservations recommended, 360-679-0600) and $125
for a weekly car rental, which turns out to be not only more convenient
than the airport shuttle but cheaper as well if several people can work
out their schedules and share a car. (We'll help facilitate the rental
car arrangements by as soon as we get a final count.) A faster
albeit more costly alternative is to take the float plane from Seattle
to Orcas for amazing aerial vistas of the islands.
Ferry: You need to be in line at least half an hour before sailing
time. This year it looks like your best options will be to catch either
the 2:45 pm, or the 5:35 pm ferry. (For more info call Washington State
Ferries at 206-464-6400 or check out their schedule
on line), so bring a good book to read.
Where to Stay on Orcas: FYI: Weekend reservations on the
islands can be difficult to come by, expensive, and 2-night minimums are
common. So, you'll need to make arrangements (and make them months early!)
or have us make them for you. Orcas I.
lodging info
Camping is also available on the island, but realize that this will mean packing up all your damp camping gear first thing, so you can meet up with us early the first morning.
Getting on the Water and Getting Home: We'll meet around 9:00 the first morning of the trip to pack up the boats, then paddle to our first night's camp. On the last day, we'll return to Orcas by mid afternoon, unpack, and go out for a farewell dinner, the perfect end to what should be a great trip with a fine group of paddlers. (Please don't make plans to fly out until the next day, because there won't realistically be time to get to Seattle in time to catch a plane.)