Kayaking is Kinda Cozy…

Ever since I moved to Seattle I was dying to go kayaking. Somehow it took almost a year for this to happen and what sealed the deal was when John and Vinnie gifted Marc and I for our birthdays with a 3 hour kayaking tour on Orcas Island! They knew we were headed to the island for the 3 day Memorial Day weekend so the timing was perfect. They even contacted Elizabeth and Ryan to give them the heads up what they were planning so they could join the tour too!

Ryan never admitted what a pro he was – dang, was he fast – can you say Row-bo cop?

Our tour with Shearwater Sea Kayaks started at 1pm but somehow time flew that morning and after having 2% difficulty finding the place we got there just in the nick of time armed with bad sandwiches we had just bought at the dock’s local convenience store that we would have to gobble up just to tide us over (no pun intended?). Our group had about 8 people in it and after getting safety instructions and the general “how to kayak” drill off we went. We could not have asked for a more glorious day and the coast was absolutely green and gorgeous!

Next time I’d like to go at a more leisurely pace, I seemed to be rowing like a devil but this was a great experience and I would love to do it again – highly recommend this to anyone who has not yet tried it and has been thinking about it! The tour also gave all kinds of flora and fauna info as well as what critters were on the shores and info about other islands. Good news is we were all strapped in and did not get wet one bit – I was happy about that.

You’d think I would have wanted or needed to head straight to a bar after my kayaking experience but Orcas is all about nature and as we only had such a short time on the island we headed up to Mount Constitution for a scenic view and hike through the woods.

There are tons of different places to hike on Orcas and I wish we would have had more time to really do some exploring. That just means we’ll have to come back (which we will over and over again!).

At the very top of Mount Constitution (which you can easily drive) you get a spectacular view – that is if the clouds are cooperating which oddly enough, that day they weren’t! LIke a big bowl of pea soup so we drove down a bit and found this clearing.

This shot was taken on a previous trip – you really get a great view of the San Juan islands on a clear day.

Another great day on Orcas Island!