The San Juan Islands are United States territory. They are the islands on the right side of the dotted line, which is an interesting jog in the US/Canadian border. We haven't spent as much time in the San Juans as we have in Canadian territory, but we have toured through there several times. This page is still under construction, (as are all the rest, just not as obviously).

Sucia Island, just north of Orcas Island, is a fascinating collection of water-sculpted rocks, sheltered anchorages, and excellent hiking trails.

Sucia Island is small enough that you can walk right around it in a day, but it has enough hidden treasures that you can spend weeks crawling around the coves and caves.

Sucia Island is not all sculpted rock. Long stretches of sand beaches make for easier walking.

We had come down Lopez Sound and through Lopez Pass, headed east towards Anacortes, when we came across a large pod of whales. There appeared to be two distinct groups traveling together.

The Orca family which we believe is known as J-Pod, cruising along in formation.

The big bull orcas act as guards on the edges of the pod.

Young Orcas in the lead. Our previous boat, all 24 feet of it, for some reason was a cetacean magnet. We frequently had either porpoises or orcas swimming along with us. Paradigm, unfortunately for us, (and probably fortunately for the whales), does not share that attraction.