Shearwater Blog

  The San Juan Islands are a unique and beautiful part of the planet. At Shearwater, we are grateful to be able to live and work in such a fantastic setting for kayaking and enjoying the marine environment. Every year our guides share this spectacular place with visitors from all over the world. Our goal…

Kayaking after dark is a magical experience, when your non-visual senses become more attuned to the environment. Bioluminescence (living light) in the form of glowing plankton is a fantastic sight. We offer limited tours on the darkest nights of each summer month to enjoy this wonder of nature. Long, sunny days create conditions where concentrations…

Every spring as we begin our San Juan Islands kayak tours, one of our favorite specialty tours is the Spring Wildflower Experience. The months of April and May see a fantastic variety of colorful flowers blooming on tiny Yellow Island, near Deer Harbor on Orcas Island. Our wildflower tours include a lunch stop on a…

Shearwater Adventures celebrates 40 years in 2022! Started in 1982 by Tom Carter and Lori Wilson, Shearwater has a long history of offering fun, educational, and exceptional experiences on the water in the San Juan Islands. Lori Wilson Tom Carter Now led by Jeff Zbornik and Corey Homewood, we continue to provide high-quality kayak tours and…

The health and safety of our guests and guides are always top priorities for us at Shearwater. Managing risks during fun and exciting outdoor activities is what we do. We are happy to be able to offer our kayak tours with a few changes. This year we have added new procedures to respond to the…

Deer Harbor Marina Deer Harbor is one of our kayak tour locations on Orcas Island. Due to the sheltered location and dock launch, we offer tours here earlier and later in the season than our other sites. Almost anyone can enjoy kayaking from Deer Harbor. For centuries the area was used by the local Lummi people, part of…

One of the most common wildlife sightings while kayaking around Orcas Island is the bald eagle. It is a rare day that we do not see at least one eagle on our tours. Often we see them soaring high overhead or perched near the top of a fir tree on shore, and occasionally our encounters are very…

A curious harbor seal pup has been spending time with some of our tours recently. Usually lone seals are shy and keep a distance. This little one has been swimming right under our kayaks and popping up very close to us. Kids on one of our tours named it “Chubbers”, and it certainly looks well…

The Huffington Post published a very nice article about Orcas Island, featuring Shearwater Kayak Tours, Doe Bay Resort, Rosario Resort, and other island businesses and locations. Check it out, then come for a visit!