Expedition at Sucia Island in Washington's San Juan Island Archipelago

It is not unusual to find huge steller sea lions hauled out on the rocks around Sucia Island. I was surprised to see two smaller harbor seals right next to them on the little rocky outcropping.

We made it through the entire 1000+ miles of the famed Inside Passage. We started in Juneau, Alaska, went all through the Canadian 'Great Bear Rainforest', and emerged back in the States at the San Juan Islands. We had a full day to explore Sucia Island, one of my favorites.

In the morning we busted out kayaks and our small boats to explore by water. I drove a skiff tour that found harlequin ducks, cormorants, harbor seals, and plenty of steller sea lions. We enjoyed checking out the Pacific madrone trees, and looking for belted kingfishers hiding amongst the fall foliage of the coastline. The geology of Sucia Island is also something to wonder at. The never ending wave and tidal energy has shaped the softer sandstone rocks into wild and intricate formations. So even the rocks themselves have now become photographic opportunities.

In the afternoon we landed on the island to explore by foot. The cool thing about this island is that there is no way to get here unless you have your own boat. There is no bridge, no ferry, no airstrip. This makes it a perfect wilderness location, where man is just a visitor. That is our kind of place. We explored more of the erosional features, including the famous China Caves, where people and illicit materials were smuggled from Canada into the States back in the day. We didn't find any aged bottles of rum, but I did climb into a few of the caves to look.

It was a very peaceful and beautiful walk across the island. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend our last full day on the trip after experiencing so much. I hope you enjoyed following along.

Two double crested cormorants keep one eye on me as I skiff slowly past their rocky perch.

A belted kingfisher in the midst of fall colors along the shoreline of Sucia Island.

Enjoying a pleasant sail near a haul-out of steller sea lions in the San Juan Islands, Washington.

A panorama of Echo Bay, one of the calm anchorages at Sucia Island.

View from the bluff.

Walking down the trail, we got this view.

Jerry leading the gang. He and his wife, Sandy, had the best time ever.

Lotte, from Sweden, showing us how they do it across the pond. That is a true friend of the trees there.

A few of my guests, hamming it up for the slideshow, and for memories.

Checking out the entrance back into the forest after a nice beachwalk on Sucia Island.

Beautiful driftwood on the beach of Sucia Island.

Keeping an eye out for wildlife.

Beachwalk time, now that we've made it back to the USA, in the San Juan Islands.

Sucia Island is known for its interesting geology, and cool erosional features.

Perhaps the most famous of the island's erosional features is this pock marked cliff, called China Caves. They aren't really caves, but weathered holes in the sandstone. The story is that Chinese immigrants trying to illegally smuggle into the country from the opium dens of Victoria would sometimes hide out in these caves. Later the rum runners would use the island to escape the revenue cutters.

I had to climb up into one of the caves to see if a person could really hide out in here. Turns out, I could hide about forty people in this one cave alone.

View from inside China Caves.

Luckily, these steps made the trail a little more doable for the folks.

This little garter snake was our first snake of the entire season.

Beautiful view from the ridge line.

There were a few boats anchored on the other side of Sucia.

We didn't run into anyone else on the trail.

I would have liked to have taken more photos at this spot, as the lighting and framing were just perfect. But I had to lead the group on, so this is all I got.

View across the isthmus.

We skiffed past this interesting erosional sea stack in the morning.

The wildlife was all around us here at Sucia Island. These huge Steller sea lions played nicely with the two smaller harbor seals sharing their rocky haulout.

This pacific madrone tree almost looks painted.

The Safari Explorer, behind a rocky island filled with birds.

As always, keep traveling and keep sharing.

• Dai Mar