In 2009, a group of our friends came up with a summertime adventure: a guided kayak trip in Washington’s San Juan Islands. After doing some research, we chose to go with San Juan Kayak Expeditions, led by Tim Thomsen. As you can see in our words and images from last time, we had an absolutely incredible trip, full of sealife, whales (really close up!), kayak sailing, sun, laughter, and good friends. We said after that trip that we would for sure be back.

Since then, there have been weddings and babies that have delayed us, but this summer we vowed to make our triumphant return! The first weekend in June we headed back to the islands and had another magical adventure. This year we took the 3 day trip instead of the 4 day, which ended up being ok since its basically the same trip. The 4 day trip has a “warm up” day of sorts, and the 3 day trip just skips that which is ok if you already feel comfortable in the water.

Here is the story of our trip, in photos. Not necessarily in chronological order.

This was actually Tim’s last trip guiding by himself, since he’s been doing it for 30+ years. He brought 3 guides in training with him on the trip, and they were all fantastic. We had a great time laughing, playing dice games, and getting to know them as well as chatting with Tim.

Sadly, no whales this time. It was a pretty big disappointment, but we went earlier in the season then we did last time, so it wasn’t totally unexpected. Despite this, getting unplugged and totally out in nature for 72 hours was so good for the soul, we came back with tired arms but happy hearts.