Well, maybe…

We were at Bowman Beach near Deception Pass yesterday after camping at the state park nearby. The beaches here are either rocky or sandy. Today was warm and calm and even with this great weather there were very few people. We happened upon a woman pulling kayaks off the beach with rollers while unloading the RV. I though nothing of it as we walked past he with our food for lunch. We were headed to a park table and had eating in mind. Later as we walked to the beach, the woman was still there pulling another kayak from the beach. Clearly she had not just returned from kayaking the bay. I headed over to talk with her about kayaks, kayaking, and the San Juan Islands.

Her name was Wendy and she was rolling kayaks back to the AKT shop that backs on the beach. AKT, Anacortes Kayak Tours, operates kayak rentals and tours out of Bowman Bay, Anacortes, Orcas Island, and San Juan Island. We spoke some about kayaking and the area. I asked about renting a kayak for an hour or two. Wendy’s happy face went blank as she said, “Sorry but AKT does not rent kayaks here at this Bay. We only run tours. You can rent a kayak at Anacortes, if you have a way to carry it.” She gave me an AKT brochure. Page three mentions that AKT runs multi-day kayak excursions which is very, very cool. We could get a group of our friends together and book a three day orca kayak excursion. There is no guarantee that we’ll encounter orcas or other dolphin. Just paddling around the islands would be fun enough.

With our plans for New England, South America, and Italy this fall, next spring and next fall; it may be hard to chose a time for a kayak trip. And we may not be available at the best time of year to see orca. We’ll see.

Ron