Sea to Sky Guiding

09/19/2024

I’ve been up to LOTS of different things this summer, one thing being getting back to my artistic roots! I now have a few items to share here (as I work through how an online store/shop/presence might work).

For the nature-lovers and/or bird nerds, I present 8”x8” Puffins of the World prints, and two different sticker options: a Tufted Puffin with some attitude (🤣😅) and one of my favorite shorebirds - the Black Oystercatcher (both roughly 2.5” in size).

If you’re interested in any of these, prices are as follows:
Puffin prints (not framed): $15
Stickers: $3/each or 2 for $5 (yes you can mix and match).

Shipping for the stickers is an additional $1, for prints add an extra $5.

Email me at [email protected] with your order! I accept Zelle, Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp :)

09/01/2024

Here is the recap for our 8.24.24 excursion that accompanied the Baleen Whales of the Salish Sea Connection Course!

Where are the whales without teeth, you ask? What other wildlife stole the show on this tour? You'll have to read on to find out if we reached our target or not :)

Wasn't this supposed to be a baleen whale tour? Well, we all got a lot more than we bargained for after making some concessions due to the windy weather. Yes, we had killer whales (with teeth :) haha). But we also had an eleventh hour baleen whale that allowed us to officially say this trip was a su

08/16/2024

Coming up this next week!
Still looking to fill in-person and virtual spots. More details can be found here: https://www.seatoskyguiding.com/baleenwhales or email me directly - [email protected]

08/14/2024

On Saturday August 3rd I held a Seabird Scouting and Puffin Prospects trip that benefitted the Northwest Straits Foundation--an organization doing amazing work to restore and protect shorelines throughout the Salish Sea (as well as other marine conservation endeavors!).

The birds and wildlife on this excursion exceeded expectations, and even after eight seasons of being on the water around this area, I had a "first" during this trip.

My recent blogpost dives into the magic this trip had in store for us, here: https://www.seatoskyguiding.com/blog/seabird-scouting-amp-puffin-prospects

If you'd like to know more about the Northwest Straits Foundation, and/or are moved to donate to their conservation causes, you can do so here: https://nwstraitsfoundation.org/

A recap of this marvelous, small group vessel excursion that benefitted Northwest Straits Foundation!

08/09/2024

Some last looks at Alaska from my 2024 season aboard Snow Goose (with Anchor Excursions), including a couple species we only got some distant peek-a-boo looks at: mountain goats and zooming Dall's porpoises.
You can bet I'll be dreaming of next season! There's no better way to explore the wilderness areas, view wildlife, and build "ship life" community than through these small group tours. They already have their 2025 schedule up, here: www.snowgoosealaska.com

08/08/2024

Yesterday featured some things found along the intertidal, today features some wildflowers, ferns, and plants seen along the journey, as well. The bright colors against some of the gray, overcast days were a ray of sunshine all their own.
In order: 1. Chocolate Lily | 2. Giant Red Indian Paintbrush | 3. Dwarf Fireweed | 4. Bride's Bonnet | 5. Dark-throated Shooting Star | 6. Deer Fern | 7. Western Lily-of-the-Valley | 8. Lupine | 9. Some more Giant Red Indian Paintbrush

08/07/2024

There were a few places along both Alaska excursions where we had the right tide and the right place to explore the intertidal. Mussels, cockles, snails, whelks, seaweeds, kelps, chitons, barnacles, crabs, small fish, urchins, anemones, sea stars, sun stars, and more were discovered by all those that joined in these walks. But, sometimes as a guide/naturalist, the excited questions come rolling in and the camera doesn't come out a whole lot! I'm not complaining--I had so much fun introducing a lot of new-to-intertidal-exploration folks to the wonders found in each zone.

Here a few things I was able to nab photos of: Black Leather Chiton, *possibly* an Aggregating Anemone (not sure the exact species), Thatched Barnacles, and some lovely Bull Kelp.

08/06/2024

Two little alcids that absolutely have my heart are state listed (in Washington) as threatened or endangered where I live. When I head out on the Salish Sea, I treasure each encounter, as they can be fleeting around these parts.

Imagine, then, going to a place where you swear you counted at least 3x more Marbled Murrelets than gulls on your total adventure? A place that had not one, but a few bustling breeding colonies where Tufted (and distant Horned!!) Puffins circled the boat you were on like a snow globe that had been swished in circles. A place where, in a kayak, you came within 20-25 feet of a pair of TUPUs that couldn't care less about your little vessel that was drifting near them. How do you process these exceptional experiences?

My seabird heart exploded in the best way. I'm going to try to keep those moments tucked away for rainy days, as I go back to the "few and far between" looks around here. ❤

08/05/2024

My first mom and otter pup experience. When I say Alaska is a magical, wild place... I can only hope some of these pictures help tell that story!

08/04/2024

Not everyone in Alaska is fond of the bald eagle, or other scavenging birds (ravens, crows), and they really do have eagles and corvids in excess--at least in my SE AK experience.
Even though Washington state also has its fair share, and I have enjoyed them locally, I hadn't captured them perched on ice floes or drying their wings after a rainstorm. A small sampling of bald eagle love.

08/03/2024

SE Alaska gull, tern, and kittiwake (species) photo rollcall:
Photo 1: Herring gull | Photo 2: Short-billed gull (immature) | Photo 3: Bonaparte's gull (non-breeding plumage) | Photo 4: Glaucous-winged gulls on a bait ball | Photo 5: Arctic terns on an ice floe | Photo 6: Black-legged kittiwake in the fog (one of my favorite photos from the whole trip).

08/02/2024

Those massive tidewater glaciers I've been posting about provide icebergs (ice floes, "berg bits," etc.) when they calve off, and the free floating ice provides pupping and resting spots for harbor seals in these glacial areas. They are not the only creatures using the floating ice though!

Eagles, terns, kittiwakes, and gulls were taking a pause there, as well. It might seem counterintuitive, and even dangerous, to place their feet on the ice for periods of time, but many birds have a thermoregulatory adaptation that helps them resist frostbite! The adaptation is a counter-current heat exchange system in their feet, where warm arterial blood and cold blood pass by closely together as it’s pumped through the system. This reduces the actual temperature of the bird's feet so that their feet are closer in temperature to the temperature of the ice. This aids in keeping heat from escaping their legs, reducing the risk of frostbite!

Now you know!

08/02/2024

Last minute seats up for grabs--follow the steps below!

08/01/2024

Seabird identification tips and tricks and Tufted Puffin talk are happening via Zoom TONIGHT! Saturday we cruise! It's not too late to join!

seatoskyguiding.com/puffins

08/01/2024

Some more glacier photos, up close and personal :)

07/31/2024

Glaciers, glaciers, glaciers!
I had such a wonderful time studying up before heading to SE Alaska to guide, and there were a LOT of things I didn't know about these icy wonders. A crash course, for those of you that like to learn while looking ;)

How they're formed: glacial ice is created in places where snow accumulates annually and does not melt. The weight of the newer snow pressing down onto the older, bottom layers causes a change in crystallization, eliminating air at each level of compression. As the crystalized snow grows larger and the air pockets between the grains grows smaller, the ice increases its density until only 20% air remains, mostly as bubbles trapped within the ice. The glacial process depends on temperature, weather, location, and time, so this process could take between 7-100 years. This ice is not consider a glacier, however, until the weight causes movement, where glaciers either grow in mass (advance), or shrink in mass (retreat).

There are several different types of glaciers, but to keep my post streamlined, I am going to focus on tidewater glaciers and the difference between them and hanging glaciers. Hanging glaciers are formed in inland areas (mostly cold, mountainous places) and advance or retreat within valley areas. Tidewater glaciers form in cold, coastal areas where the face of the glacier meets the ocean. Aside from SE AK, Scandinavia and Chile are the last places on earth that have true, tidewater glaciers.

Fun fact. The brilliant shades of cerulean and icy blues are the colors (wavelengths) of the light spectrum that are not absorbed by the ice, but instead, bounced back to our eyes. Places where calving or cracking in the glacier have occurred, reveal older, denser glacial ice (with only 20% air in it), causing the scatter of short-waved blue light.

Calving--was also awesome! I *may* have another video coming up where I caught a brief look!

07/31/2024

Can you imagine hauling out on some floating glacial ice to WARM up? Seems like an oxymoron, but that's what these harbor seals are doing.
This was one of the coolest things (no pun intended!) to see near the glaciers. I especially love the two photos that show the distinct line on the seal's bodies between the fur that's dry and the fur that's still wet.

SO many more glacial ice photos and stories to come!

07/29/2024

Leaving the coastal brown bears, we continue onto golden-brown sea lions with this next post.

Steller sea lions were also a common wildlife sight as we transited through some of the larger straits and places with smaller clusters of rocky islands in SE Alaska. They occupied haul out sites and appeared in foraging "hot spot" areas, often mixed in with porpoises, whales, and birds--all of them vying for the forage fish found in the bait balls below the surface.

The most memorable Steller encounters happened at Adolphus Point in Icy Strait where there were hundreds feeding right along with a large group of humpback whales. Watching the sea lions do their own version of "dolphin leaps" and acrobatics as they scrambled amongst each other was definitely entertaining, but witnessing the absolute feeding frenzy they'd have at the surface after the humpback group went on their deeper dive was intriguing, and something I hadn't experienced before. They would engage in this behavior upon each humpback deep dive, and it made me wonder if they were going after forage fish that were being corralled in the whales' current as they dove deep beneath the surface. Would seem smart, to me!

We also had three individual sea lions that found our floating vessel (engines off, drifting) and the weird, bipedal creatures onboard, very intriguing. They would come toward the boat for looks at us, stay for a minute or two, and would then swim away, only to race each other back to the side of the boat to do it all over again. The guests were absolutely charmed. I was able to take some phone video and hope to be able to share it in another post!