Getting Ready For The Season

Summer will soon be here and we are working everyday to get the island ready for guests.  Today we put into place the eleven sections that make up our large deck at the southern end of the island.  The sections are stored on high ground for the winter to protect it form winter storms.  

Whale Sighting on Evening Cruise

During an evening cruise last summer with guests form New York,  we came upon this humpback whale.  Although it was a cloudy and rainy day we spotted this whale in the distance traveling in our direction.  Dennis was able to take these photos from the pilothouse as the whale approached our boat.  It was a very exciting experience and our guest were able to get some great photos themselves!

Twelve Days of Christmas

To celebrate the TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS, reservations made with Orca Island Cabins between Dec. 13-25 for the 2013 season will receive a 12% DISCOUNT.  Surprise that special someone with this Christmas offering!

First off, I apologize for my complete laps of blogging since February 2012. It has been plaguing me in the back of my mind for a long time. Well, the good thing is that we have accomplish a huge amount at the island since last I wrote. For instance we now have the long awaited bridge that we have been dreaming about.... and we have two new yurts up on the hillside next to the island! This was all a huge endeavor but it is all there (as the photos will attest) and now we have simply moved our goal marker out so we can reach for future projects. Today's blog is show and tell but the next blogs will show the process of constructing the bridge and the two yurts. This was all completed this spring, in fact the first week of June. Mind you our completion goal was for early May but due to the extra heavy snow fall last winter the delays began right from the start. Here are some photos of the finished work.

Time for me to get some things posted. I have been negligent I'm sorry. Here are some photos of the harbor seal that lives near the island. Last year some guests named her Sasha. We don't actually know if she is female or not but we liked the name and it stuck. We have since been referring to her as Sasha whenever someone sees her. We have seen Sasha near the island for the past 10 years.

In a different area of the cove we began to see another harbor seal quiet often. This seal is bigger with a much bigger head and body. Here are two photos of it. If we see this one again this summer we will have to come up with a name for it. I was kayaking when I took these two head shots of it. This seal is really quite large. These two photos were taken in June 2011.

Today we watched this mother common merganser with her 11 chicks swimming near the island!

On Saturday June 11 we had a guest from New York City staying on the island. He got up early in the morning and went kayaking. As he was returning to the island a whale was just leaving the island and heading in his direction. This photo was taken from the front deck of the Oystercatcher cabin about 7:30 AM. The second photo was also taken from that same deck. This man had a thrill of a lifetime! The whale was first spotted just below the deck of the cabin but we did not have the camera in hand at that time.

On the way to and from the island we can see many great sites. Here are some photos taken this spring form the water taxi ride. Some are of Dall's Porpoise as they and ride along side our boat. And the others are of a sea otter that a guest was taking photos of out the window of our boat.

It was a beautiful spring day today. The temperature was in the mid 50's and the sky was blue with a light breeze blowing. We took a couple from Eagle River, Alaska to the island who were celebrating an anniversary. While we were there a group of Steller Sea Lions came swimming by on three different occasions. It seemed as though they were coming by to see who the new guests were! Each time they came by they came very close to where we were sitting and look right up at us. It was a fine afternoon there on the island with many more to come.

Look what Dennis saw yesterday as he was working out at the island! Two humpback whales were feeding in the cove and around the island for several hours. Our son, Jonah, who was helping him was able to get this video clip!

As I was looking over the past posts I realized I haven't put up very many photos reflecting the kayak activity that goes on at the island. Humpy Cove is a wonderful place to kayak. At least 90% of our guests use the kayaks to explore the area. They come back with wonderful stories of their adventures and the sights they see. One of the favorites is to kayak over to the porpoises that come into the cove to feed each day. When the water is very calm one can kayak over to them and see them as they feed at the surface of the water right next to your kayak. I don't have any photos of that at this time but I will try to get some this summer. For now I am posting photos of guests getting into a double kayak at the end of our dock and also a photo showing guests getting out of their kayaks at the salmon stream and pulling them up on the rocks.

Here are a few nice deck scenes to share. Our guest enjoy relaxing on the large decks that we have over the water and nestled in the trees.

During the summer of '09 we acquired a new boat for our water taxi which takes our guests to and form the island. This is a Hewscraft 27'and it seats 8 (with all their luggage) including the captain. The boat performance is wonderful and can cut through all the chop in Resurrection Bay with ease. Here are some photos.

I apologize for not writing all year. I have been preoccupied with the new Facebook page for Orca Island Cabins that I have been keeping up also. Well, I have some photos to share form summer '09. To start with I have the river otters that live near the island. We have counted four in years past but this year we counted seven! These are very fun little critters that show themselves frequently. They climb on our docks and wonder over the rocks. The family has definitely grown. These are river otters also known as land otters, they are different from sea otters. They are smaller and can walk on all fours while on land.

We are proud to announce that our cabins have been published in a national magazine that is on the news stands now! We can be seen on page 106 of the September 2008 issue of COASTAL LIVING MAGAZINE. I hope you will check it out in your local grocery store or book store!

The photos in this group are from an early morning kayak paddle that I took in the cove while I was waiting for the water taxi to arrive with new guests. It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining and the water was like glass. This big orange jelly fish popped up right next to my kayak and it was so beautiful. As I came beck I circled the island as the sunlight was just beginning to reach it.