Tag Archives: salish sea

Point Whitehorn   The hike to Point Whitehorn is a delight in any season, a leisurely stroll through luscious rainforest to a rocky beach that invites extended exploration. But it’s especially sublime in spring when the forest comes alive after a long northern winter. Three-quarters of a mile of walking through the effervescent greenery will bring you to the captivating …

Here in Western Washington, perpetual cycles of moisture-laden weather systems move inland from offshore, gifting the Cascades Mountain Range with a bounty of snow and rain that sustains the flora, fauna, and people of the region throughout the year. These images trace water’s dynamic journey from the Evergreen State’s icy mountaintops as it descends through creeks, lakes, waterfalls, and rivers …

I noticed once that if you turn a map of the Salish Sea about 90 degrees counterclockwise, squint with one eye, and allow for some abstract deformity, the general outline of our great inland sea resembles the head and neck of a great blue heron. Vaguely anyway. It’s not a bad metaphor in a place with so many of these …

  Bellingham  Before casting off, we met friends at the Cabin Tavern. It was dark and wet beyond the cold windowpane but warm and convivial around the table. Ordering at the bar, I told the bartender she wouldn’t see me for some time as I’d be sailing the Salish Sea. “Oh, that sounds great!” she said, likely picturing the summer …

The air buzzes with excitement as each smiling guest, aged five to 99, boards the vessel, united by a shared mission to encounter one of the Pacific Northwest’s most captivating maritime treasures: a football-sized seabird that spends most of its life in the vast Pacific Ocean: the Tufted Puffin. As we head south from the marina, a curious nine-year-old girl …

We hear the words “paddles ready…paddles set…and hit” from our steersperson, and the outrigger canoe starts its glide through the water, gaining speed with our paddle strokes. We round the breakwater and out into the open water of Fairhaven Harbor. All of us relish this feeling of getting on the water and moving together. It feels like freedom. On quiet …

In the three years I spent photographing and writing my new book, Soul of the Skagit, I listened to countless people affectionately refer to the river as the “Magic Skagit.” Sure, it has a ring to it. But I was relatively new to the Pacific Northwest, and besides the obvious beauty of the Skagit River and the North Cascades, I …

Breaching killer whales, soaring eagles, and sea lions hauled out on rocks along stunning shorelines—these are just a few of the sights that people travel to the San Juan Islands every year by foot, boat, or plane to behold. Of course, if you’ve been to the islands before, then you know their moniker as “the hidden gem of Washington State” …

For more than 20 years, I’ve been visiting the secluded “Three Amigos” in the San Juan Islands:  Matia, Sucia, and Patos Islands in my sailboat, Elenoa. Each voyage is different: the seasons determine what sections of the fantastical sandstone formations receive glorious lighting, whether Madrone bark is colorful, and whether spring flowers or fall colors dominate. Weather conditions and tides …

In the spring of 1984, a team of scuba divers assembled on the rough cobble beach of Legoe Bay, located on the shores of Lummi Island in the Salish Sea. Along with a crew of archaeology students, their purpose was unusual. They were not there to search out the sunken remains of a ship but rather to investigate stories that …